“I almost never know the words when I am falling in love with a different type of music,” says the singer. “It’s really everything else in the music: the feeling of the phrases, the melody, the rhythm, and the mood it creates… that is touching me.”

Sometimes, the moods in Ahluwalia’s collaborations are joyful, as in “Jhanjra,” a traditional Punjabi folk-song she recorded with the Celtic fiddler Natalie MacMaster. At other times, she has collaborated with traditional Afghani musicians and Inuit “throat singers.”

Ahluwalia says that she is drawn to collaboration because as an India-born woman raised in Canada, “I myself am a collaboration. Culturally and musically, those two influences are very much within me and my own identity. On the other hand, I’m a citizen of the world. And the entire world is there for me to be influenced by.”

Just where Ahluwalia’s travels will take her after her current tour is anyone’s guess. However, one thing is certain: while remaining rooted in her own musical heritage, she will continue to honor the traditions of others to create a musical world where geographic boundaries need not apply.