≡ Menu
Share

On the altar at Bhakti Fest. Photo courtesy of Kailash Ananda.

For all the festiveness of Bhakti Fest, the nonstop bhav was tinged with an underlayer of shock and sadness as the news spread that one of bhakti’s own had died suddenly just two days prior to the gathering in the desert.  Geoffrey Gordon, master percussionist, producer, composer, wallah and Neem Karoli Baba flame-keeper, was gone.  Gordon was one of the original bhakti brothers from the Ram Dass era who helped sow the seeds of the Western kirtan movement, drumming alongside Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Bhagavan Das, and many others.  

It was fitting, perhaps, that so many heard the news first at Bhakti Fest, because, as Girish told the fest’s emcee, Shiva Baum: “There is only a Bhakti Fest today because of the work that Geoffrey started with Jai Uttal all those many years ago when it wasn’t widely popular yet to sing kirtan.”

We first heard the news from the Bhakti Fest Main Stage, early on Day 1.  Ben Leinbach was about to launch into a song in his set with Prajna Vieirra, when he silenced his guitar abruptly, whispered “I just thought of something…”, then put his head down, hand at forehead, as if trying to collect himself.  His voice deep with emotion, he told us of Gordon’s death and dedicated the set to his friend and collaborator.  The morning crowd hushed and people exchanged perplexed glances, heads shaking in disbelief.

Photo Courtesy of Mike Crall

Leinbach’s was the first of many heart-rending tributes to a man who — while not exactly a household name in the broader world of kirtan — was deeply loved and respected by the brotherhood of bhaktas that forms the core of modern Western kirtan.  The wallahs knew him, without exception, and their love for him poured forth.  Sruti Ram fought back tears as he dedicated the Hanuman Chalisa to Gordon during SRI Kirtan’s set.  Sean Johnson recounted how Gordon, in their last conversation, had told him how pleased he was to see the next generation of artists moving kirtan forward.  Girish moved half the crowd to tears with a poignant tribute at the end of his set on Sunday.  Krishna Das called him “a good friend for a long time” in his Sunday afternoon workship (Gordon played tabla on KD’s debut CD, One Track Heart, and they have collaborated many times since).

Jai Uttal:  ‘A Great Buddy’

Gordon and Jai Uttal. Photo courtesy of Jai Uttal.

In his headline set Thursday night, Jai Uttal told the crowd that Gordon was “a very very dear friend of mine and of the bhakti community here in the United States.” He said he had first met Gordon in 1969 or ’70, when they “were both young yogi kids looking to get high.”  (“And we did,” he added with a wink, to a ripple of chuckles.)  But then, normally joyful Jai got uncharacteristically serious.  And quiet….He quickly introduced the next song — an 18-minute joyride of a Hare Krishna chant interspersed with his now-signature “Help!  I Need Somebody” Beatles-inspired chorus.  Perfect.

In an email, Uttal said “Geoffrey and I played so much music together for so many years.  He was a key member of the Pagan Love Orchestra and he also played tablas and sang with me for literally thousands of kirtans.  He was deep into the devotional path and also a committed musician, always trying to learn and grow.  He was also a great buddy.”  

“I trust that by now Geoffrey is jamming in the heavenly Kirtan band, gazing into Maharajji’s shining face, and showering love and bliss upon his family and beloveds still here on Earth,” Uttal wrote in a facebook post Sept. 6, the day of his Bhakti Fest performance.

Shiva Baum: Gordon ‘A True Bhakta’

Shiva Baum recording Girish's tribute to Gordon at Bhakti Fest.

Shiva Baum, who as the former head of A&R/Triloka Records pioneered the mantra music movement in the West and views Gordon as a “beloved uncle…friend, mentor and co-conspirator,” told us in an email:  “Geoffrey was loved by all who knew him. He was extraordinarily passionate and always on the side of the artist. He was an advocate for the “little guy” — the musicians behind the scenes who the spotlight often missed but whose contributions were essential.  His heart was massive and he was able to pull you over to the right side of the road if you ever fell astray. He was someone who truly valued friendship and knew that the value of life was love. He was a true Bhakta.”

And, Baum added:  “Perhaps most importantly, he sang one of the most beautiful versions of the Hanuman Chalisa I have to this day ever heard.  You can only sing like that if you are truly a devotee. Geoffrey was and will always be.”

Influenced Early On by George & Ravi

Gordon’s love affair with the tabla apparently begain in 1971, when according to a biography on Gordon’s website, he went to see The Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, the epic East-meets-West event organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar and featuring Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and many others.  Ravi Shankar and tabla maestros Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Allarakha — Gordon’s future teachers — performed as the opening act. 

“This concert had a profound effect on Geoffrey,” his bio says.  “He knew there and then that he wanted to study North Indian classical music and learn to play the tabla.”  

A year later, he met Ram Dass and became a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba.  His bio details a long and rich history as a student-turned-teacher and professional percussionist for recordings in many musical genres as well as plays, films, and dance theatre.  “He wasn’t ‘just a drummer,'” says long-time friend Mohan Baba.  “He was a full-on, professional world percussionist.”  To which Baba quickly adds: “Of course, his real love was his spiritual focus, and his drumming reflected that.”

Gordon’s passion for devotional music stayed with him to the end.  He reportedly received a standing ovation for a percussion solo at a concert in Sedona the Sunday night before his death.  He was on his way home to Santa Fe that Tuesday when he suffered a massive heart attack along the way,  Mohan Baba told The Bhakti Beat.   He said Gordon was evacuated by helicopter to the nearest hospital but resuscitation attempts en route failed to revive him.

‘Turn Off and Float Downstream’

My first kirtan with Gordon leading was at Bhakti Fest just last year.  It was a morning set, and the low desert sun was already blasting its intensity onto the musicians on stage and the small crowd of early risers.  I remember the set being quietly powerful somehow, in a way I can’t readily describe — it was as if it really didn’t matter to Gordon if anyone was there, because he was singing to something deeper…

When I searched my files for the photos I was sure I had taken that day, all I found was a single three-and-a-half-minute video:
 

The song, Tomorrow Never Knows, was written by John Lennon.  Jai Uttal covered it, with Geoffrey Gordon on percussion, on the 2001 Grammy-nominated CD Mondo Rama by Uttal and the Pagan Love Orchestra, where it was fused with a Shiva chant.  It seems to have been a favorite of Gordon’s in his fairly new incarnation as kirtan wallah; he sang it again at his last kirtan in Sedona the Sunday morning before he died, according to Sedona kirtaneer Natesh Ramsell, who met Gordon for the first time that weekend.

Here are the words, as Gordon sings them in the video:

Relax your mind, turn off and float down stream
It is not dying, it is not dying

Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void,
It is shining, it is shining.

That you may know the meaning of within
It is being, it is being

Om Namah Shivayah, Shivayah Namaho…

Or play the game “Existence” to the end
Of the beginning, of the beginning, of the beginning, of the beginning.

Photo Courtesy of Mohan Baba

Memorial Services Honor Gordon’s Life

A memorial service for Geoffrey Gordon was held Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Open Secret Bookstore in San Rafael, Calif., where Jai Uttal, Ben Leinbach, and dozens of other artists offered their musical tributes.  And on Sunday, Sept. 30, friends will gather at the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Taos, N.M., to chant and celebrate his life.  The Ashram’s page includes a link for contributions to assist in the funeral and memorial expenses and other financial needs of Gordon’s long-time wife, Sandra.

Also see: www.geoffreygordon.com

To contribute: http://www.nkbashram.org/community-geoffrey-fund

 ———————————————————————————————

Additional Coverage from The Bhakti Beat’s Big Bhavalicious Adventure to Omega Chant, Bhakti Fest West and Sat Nam Fest East:
 
Bringing Home The Bhav: Bhakti-Fried Bliss-Chaser Faces ‘The Laundry’ of Life (Video)
Wallah to Watch: Jai-Jagdeesh, Songstress & Classical Dance Artist, Dazzles at Sat Nam Fest (Videos)
With Deva’s Miten, Krishna Das Does Dylan & Shyamdas Does the Blues (Videos)
‘It Is Not Dying:’ Geoffrey Gordon (1952-2012) Remembered in Bhakti Fest Tributes and Haunting Video
Photo Journals from all 3 festivals on our facebook page.
Check our YouTube channel for the latest video uploads.
 
Stay tuned to this site for more coverage coming soon! Subscribe here.
 
Share
{ 6 comments }
Share

 

In the Bhav at Bhakti Fest Finale

“After the ecstasy, the laundry.”  In those few words author Jack Kornfield captured the essence of the seeker’s search for that “something else” and the back-to-reality recognition that, having tasted it even fleetingly, one cannot escape the laundry of life that awaits us in this 3-D world. 

Go ahead and taste the ecstasy.  Savor it.  Relish every moment of it.  But don’t forget to wash your underwear.

Kornfield’s popular title rings in my ears as I return home after an 18-day sojourn chasing the bhav from one end of the country to the other.  The Bhakti Beat’s Big Bhavalicious Adventure took us from Omega’s Ecstatic Chant in the heart of the “Bhajan Belt” in Rhinebeck, N.Y., to the high desert of Joshua Tree, Cali. for the 4th Annual Bhakti Fest West, and then back East to the cornfields of Pennsylvania for Sat Nam Fest, the kundalini yoga and chant retreat organized by Spirit Voyage Music.  Sandwiched in between was the  NYC premeire of Jeremy Frindel’s new documentary, “One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das.” 

That’s a lot of kirtan, even for a confessed junkie.  

Me & my cameras, chasing the bhav. (Photo courtesy of Maie P Jyoti)

I savored it.  Relished every moment.  And in the end, couldn’t wait to come home, with a resolute determination to bring the bhav right back with me.  Surely this immersion in the ocean of devotion, this tidal wave of spiritual energy generated from the ultimate Kirtan Trifecta — or Tri-Festa, as GuruGanesha Singh labeled my journey — would keep me high on life for days, weeks, maybe even months, right?  Right?

Ha.  Tell that to the dirty underwear.  And the stack of bills screaming for my attention.  And the deadlines looming for the day job that pays the stack of bills.  Videos to edit, pictures to post, blogs to write.  A boyfriend who has forgotten what I look like and secretly wants to heave my laptop out the window.  And so on. 

The crash came hard and fast.  Leaving me wondering:  Where’s the bhav now?

Easier said than done...

This, I gather, is where that “great magic trick of existence” comes in…how to “snatch the eternal from the desperately fleeting,” as Tennessee Williams wrote.  How to sustain the “blissful love or loving bliss,” as the religious studies scholar David Haberman defined “the bhav” in a workshop at Bhakti Fest, even when the fest is over and we’re faced with the unpleasant minutiae of daily life.  

Krishna Das has said it in so many workshops: “When you leave here, you’ve still got to pay the bills.”  His advice?  “Practice.”  He doesn’t care if you chant, meditate, do asanas…whatever;  just do something. “There’s a reason they call it practice,” he always says.  You’ve got to do it.  As in, every day, chant fest or no.

Note to self:  a crowd of 5,000 isn’t required.  A festival of One works too.

Shyamdas, the respected author, Sanskrit scholar, and master of Hare Katha (sacred teachings interwoven with bhav-inducing kirtan)  was asked what it means to “be in the bhav” during the Bhakti Panel workshop on Day 4 of Bhakti Fest.  Among other gems you can hear in the video below, he said this: 

“The bhav makes us understand that there is eternity within the present moment, and that makes the individual unconcerned with what is going to happen next, because everything is already a perfect manifestation as it is.”


 

In the bhav, Shyamdas told us, “everything is directed for the pleasure of the Beloved.”  By which he means the Supreme.  The Divine.  It matters not if you call it God, Krishna, Christ, Grace, Universal Oneness, Higher Self — label it as you will, or not at all.  The point is that when everything we do is offered up to the greater good, then — and only then — can we get anywhere near the bhav.  

Need a pay-off?  Shyamdas says: “When a person can have that attitude, I think they receive a response from the Source Bhav.” 

“A response from the Source Bhav.”  I like the sound of that.  I want that.

 

Tulasi & Purusartha Dasa

A remarkable woman I met on my journey, Tulasi Devi Dasi (whose husband, Purusartha Dasa, plays bass for The Hanumen), made this exact point to me a week before I heard Shyamdas say it, in a casual breakfast conversation at Omega the morning after four days of Ecstatic Chant.  She told an innocuous story of a large gathering at their home in the community of Krishna devotees in Alachua, Fla.  She said all the preparation and labors were seen not as effort, but as joy, because all was done in service to Krishna.  Every act, no matter how small, was offered up as a prayer to the Beloved. 

Her words had that goosebump effect on me.  You know, that tingly “hit” you get when something resonates deeply in your soul.  I nearly wept right there in the cafeteria. (Chanting for four days will do that to you.) 

Gong bath at Sat Nam Fest

Tulasi’s words stayed with me. 

“I offer my service to Krishna” became my mantra (I would interchange Krishna with Christ, God, Universal Oneness, The Divine, because to me they are all one).  I did this as I posted pictures.  I did it as I wrote emails and returned phone calls.  I did it as I sweated my way through NY rush-hour traffic to make my flight at JFK after Google Maps sent me on a ridiculously convoluted route.  And so on. 

Well, call me crazy, but you know what?  Doors started opening.  Interviews came through.  Connections were made.  Relationships were healed with a hug.  Helpful people were showing up precisely at the right time.  Oh yeah, and I made the plane.  With perfect timing.

I ran into Tulasi again on Day 3 of Bhakti Fest, five days later and 3,000 miles from our breakfast chat.  I told her how she had inspired me with her words, how it had made all the difference.  We hugged.  I wept.  She wept.  (Chanting for eight days will do that to you.) 

So here’s what I’ve learned…

You can chase the bhav all you want — and you might even snatch it for a fleeting moment.  But until you can find that sweet spot of devotion and gratitude, that attitude that life is a gift — that “ever-expansive loving feeling that we’re all thirsting for,” as Haberman put it — right in your own home, your own heart, even with the stack of bills screaming and the deadlines looming and the boyfriend glowering, you’re just running on empty. 

Make your life a prayer.  Then stand back and watch what unfolds. 

Sridhar Silberfein: Grace in Action

Or, as Bhakti Fest founder and executive producer Sridhar Silberfein so says:

“Do what you can.  Then get out of the way and let Grace take over.”

 

Additional Coverage from The Bhakti Beat’s Big Bhavalicious Adventure to Omega Chant, Bhakti Fest West and Sat Nam Fest East:
 
Bringing Home The Bhav: Bhakti-Fried Bliss-Chaser Faces ‘The Laundry’ of Life (Video)
Wallah to Watch: Jai-Jagdeesh, Songstress & Classical Dance Artist, Dazzles at Sat Nam Fest (Videos)
With Deva’s Miten, Krishna Das Does Dylan & Shyamdas Does the Blues (Videos)
‘It Is Not Dying:’ Geoffrey Gordon (1952-2012) Remembered in Bhakti Fest Tributes and Haunting Video
Photo Journals from all 3 festivals on our facebook page.
Check our YouTube channel for the latest video uploads.
 
Stay tuned to this site for more coverage coming soon!  Subscribe here.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share
{ 5 comments }
Share

Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge, arts, science, and music, so it’s not surprising that her name gets thrown around a lot at chant fests.  The daughter of Shiva and Durga, Saraswati represents the free flow of wisdom and consciousness.  She has four arms representing four aspects of human learning:  mind, intellect, alertness, and ego.  She is usually depicted playing a veena, a classical Indian stringed instrument, and the symbolism around this and her other accoutrements is rich.  In the Hindu tradition, Saraswati alone can grant Moksha, the final liberation of the soul.

Moksha, huh?  Not a bad goal.  No wonder kirtan artists are always chanting to Saraswati-Ma.

Today we want to share two versions of call-and-response kirtan invoking Saraswati, from Joni Allen and Dave Stringer.  Because we could all use a little help in achieving final liberation, couldn’t we?

Joni Allen at Shakti Fest, where she sang with Wah!

We’re starting to think of the first version, from Joni Allen, as her signature song.  She has sung it on tour with Stringer (she has been his vocal accompanist for nearly a decade).  She led it on stage at last year’s Boston Yoga & Chant Fest alongside Boston chantress Irene Solea (see that video here).  And a few months later, on the opposite side of the country, she belted out a slightly slowed-down rendition of it during Mike Cohen’s set at Bhakti Fest 2011, with Cohen and Brenda McMorrow singing response (video below).  

We really hope she keeps on singing it, because it gets us every time. 

 

Dave Stringer at Bhakti Fest Midwest

That’s video No. 1.  The second in this two-for comes from Dave Stringer himself (with Allen and Brenda McMorrow on response vocals), and has a completely different feel.  Stringer called in Saraswati Maha Devi early in his Bhakti Fest Midwest set ,with a slow, sumptuously intensifying call-and-response co-performance.  It was a classic kirtan slow-build culminating in a prolonged ecstatic climax.  The Heartland bhavsters were leaping and throwing their arms to the heavens as if they had already achieved Moksha. 

Witness the gyrating crowd under the full moon in Madison midway into this 8-minute snippet capturing the peak of the chant.  And don’t miss the inspiring one-armed guitar riff by Yehoshua Brill at the end.  Is he channeling Jerry Garcia  there?  (He said on facebook that that “seems to happen with Dave gigs for some reason.” )  Love that.

Is this Moksha in the making?


 

Saraswati Ma Ma Ma…

Share
{ 2 comments }
Share

Nina Rao, known for her Chalisa

Have you noticed a growing fascination with the Hanuman Chalisa, the 40-verse ode to the Hindu monkey-god who embodies the heart of devotional practice?  We’ve noticed it cropping up in more and more live kirtan sets, and Bhakti Fest Midwest was no exception.  Both SRI Kirtan and Brenda McMorrow offered rocking original versions of this long and fairly complicated chant during their respective sets on Saturday and Sunday.

Brenda McMorrow

Krishna Das and his long-time assistant (and chant leader in her own right) Nina Rao might take credit for helping make the Chalisa so popular.  KD’s “Flow of Grace” CD is  devoted completely to the Chalisa, with six different versions of the prayer.  The one by Nina Rao, the sweet “Nina Chalisa,” has formed the foundation for her own Chalisa chanting in her home ‘hood of Brooklyn, at KD workshops and at Bhakti Fest West in Joshua Tree.  Her morning Chalisa sessions have become a fixture, and are well-attended despite their early-morning hour.  She continued this trend in Madison, Wisc. at the Midwest fest.  Her traditional Chalisa is featured in this video from Vermantra 12-hour chant fest last fall.

SRI Kirtan (Sruti Ram & Ishwari)

Kirtan geeks that we are, we get pretty excited when wallahs mix the Chalisa into their sets — typically with an introductory warning that if you don’t know the words, have no fear, there’s a nice simple chorus that everyone can join in on.  Imagine our delight when this scenario occurred with not one, but two of our favorite up-and-coming kirtan wallahs at Bhakti Fest Midwest — SRI Kirtan on Saturday at high noon and Brenda McMorrow on Sunday afternoon.

Check out both shakti-shaking versions below.  Warning: the videos are long (did we mention it’s a 40-verse prayer?), but we think this is one of those chants that needs to be seen, heard and felt in its entirety.

(I have no idea why YouTube is not putting up a thumbnail on this, but I assure you, there’s a beautiful picture of Sruti Ram and Ishwari that SHOULD be coming up.  Please watch despite the blackness.)

 

See our full coverage of Bhakti Fest Midwest!

Bhakti Fest First: Krishna Das In the Spotlight, Reluctantly, at Midwest All-Wallah Finale
Hanuman Chalisa Rocks New Melodies from Brenda McMorrow and SRI Kirtan at BFMW (Videos
Bhakti Fest Break-Out Set? Wallah-to-Watch ‘Kirtan Path’ Wows ‘Em (Video)
Sridhar Silberfein: Changing the Pace of Kirtan in the West, One Bhakti Fest At a Time
Plus Photo Journals from Each Set on The Bhakti Beat on Facebook
 
And from Shakti Fest 2012 & Bhakti Fest 2011:
Jai Uttal Captures the Essence of Bhakti Fest
You Want Shakti?  Larisa Stow’s Got Shakti
Loco for Lokah and the Bhakti Dance
Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted in Woodstock in ’69
Shakti Fest On-Stage Proposal a First
Amazing Grace from Krishna Das after Bhakti Fest Rain-Out
 
Share
{ 4 comments }
Share

The Bhakti Beat @ Bhakti Fest Midwest:  There was heat on the stage Saturday night at Bhakti Fest Midwest, and it wasn’t just from the fire-spinners.  Backed by an all-star cast of musicians, Shyamdas lit up the late-night crowd in Madison, Wisc. – already primed after three hours with Krishna Das – with his inimitable style of Hari Katha (sacred story-telling). He masterfully weaved classic stories of Krishna and Radhe inside crescendo-building chants that went straight to the heart of the bhav and engulfed the sea of chanters in a blur of ecstatic joy.  It’s a wonder the stately old weepers on Willow Island, where the main stage was situated, didn’t pull up their roots and join the lila.

Shyamdas’s talents as Sanskrit scholar, translator of sacred texts, revered teacher, and wallah extraordinaire were on brilliant display.  He enthralled with stories of the passionate love affair between Krishna and Radha, slipping in bits of wisdom amidst a slowly climaxing “Radhe Krishna, Radhe Krishna, Krishna Krishna Radhe Radhe, Radhe Shyam, Radhe Shyam, Shyam Shyam Radhe Radhe” chant.  Breathless.

He told of the Sadhu in India who was inching his way around a sacred mountain, bowing to Krishna in full prostration (with the body laid flat out on the ground) 1,008 times before he would take the next step on his yatra. The man was 5’2” tall, and the journey was 14 miles long.

“He was not in a hurry,” Shyamdas deadpanned with one of those killer expressions. Then, the segue.  “And this is what he sang all day long…” Music up.  Voices together. “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare….”

He told the story of Krishna as a young boy toying with his mother about “eating dirt,” a Hindu metaphor for worshiping false gods, then busted into a 17-minute-long Gopala raga that peaked in a tidal wave of fervor on stage and off.  Brilliant.  (Video below.)

The stories and the chants flowed seamlessly for two hours, one deep sacred river of bhav.  By the end of it the crowd of bhaktas were eating out of his hand and eager for more nectar.  We’re guessing Shyam-Ji could have gone on like this for hours longer, swimming in the vibestream and taking us all along for the ride.  But alas, Emcee Shiva Baum was waiting in the wing, and that was the signal to wrap it up.  Sigh.

Shyamdas let us down ever so gently with the final morsel of young Krishna’s miracle-making and one last sweet round of “Gopala Gopala Devakinandana Gopala.”  It ended in a whisper and a deep silence that was broken only when Shyamdas, with a look of sweet satisfaction, uttered simply: “That was exquisite.”

In the Bhav with Shyam

The crowd punctuated his sentiment with a roar.  He wasn’t patting himself on the back.  It was more an acknowledgement of the quality of the bhav, the delicious flow of energy from “caller” to “responders” and back, then all as one — the depth of the emotion of devotion we had all just shared.  Long exhale.

Joining Shyamdas for this luscious Bhakti Fest lila were: Nina Rao on kartals, Arjun Bruggeman on tabla, Yehoshua Brill on electric guitar, Sruti Ram and Ishwari of SRI Kirtan on vocals, break-out violinist Samuel Salsbury, and Hanuman Das on sitar.

Who needs fire-spinners when you’ve got Shyamdas and this band on the stage? (No, really, we love fire-spinners…)

Here’s the video.  What do you think?

See also:
The Bhakti Beat’s Photo Journal of Shyamdas’s set at Bhakti Fest Midwest
www.shyamdas.com
www.bhaktifest.com
 

See our full coverage of Bhakti Fest Midwest!

Bhakti Fest First: Krishna Das In the Spotlight, Reluctantly, at Midwest All-Wallah Finale
Hanuman Chalisa Rocks New Melodies from Brenda McMorrow and SRI Kirtan at BFMW (Videos
Bhakti Fest Break-Out Set? Wallah-to-Watch ‘Kirtan Path’ Wows ‘Em (Video)
Sridhar Silberfein: Changing the Pace of Kirtan in the West, One Bhakti Fest At a Time
Plus Photo Journals from Each Set on The Bhakti Beat on Facebook
 
And from Shakti Fest 2012 & Bhakti Fest 2011:
Jai Uttal Captures the Essence of Bhakti Fest
You Want Shakti?  Larisa Stow’s Got Shakti
Loco for Lokah and the Bhakti Dance
Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted in Woodstock in ’69
Shakti Fest On-Stage Proposal a First
Amazing Grace from Krishna Das after Bhakti Fest Rain-Out
 

 

 

 

 

Share
{ 5 comments }
Share

Pascale LaPoint: "It just comes through me."

To witness the Bhakti Fest debut of Pascale LaPoint and her band, Kirtan Path, was to witness the unfolding of a bhakti dream coming true.  Having just begun leading kirtan a mere three years ago, the Minneapolis-based chantaholic found herself sitting center-stage at the biggest bhakti bonanza the Heartland has ever seen, singing her heart out and basking in the bhav flowing from her own soul-stirring vocals.

You know how some singers’ voices just touch you deeply?  That have that indefinable something that goes right through your skin, leaving goosebumps on the way, to resonate deep within?  Krishna Das has one.  So does Pascale LaPoint.  (There’s a video below to prove it, but keep reading.  Please.)

Big Love for Newbies

Kirtan Path: (L to R) Mark Baker (percussion), Deana Downs (vocals), Pascale LaPoint (harmonium, lead vocals), Nancy Lemke (violin)

We were not alone in our surprise at this break-out performance.  The German-born LaPoint had the mid-afternoon crowd in the palm of her hand.  Chanters gathered tight to the stage, huddling in the little bit of shade that offered refuge from the blistering sun and giving the set an intimate feel, like one big family.

Pascale LaPoint and the Minneapolis kirtan crew, after Sunday’s morning set with Sitara, Kalyani and Pavan Kumar, the other Mpls band making its Bhakti Fest debut.

The Minneapolis kirtan community — which chanters like Pascale and fellow Bhakti Fest debuters Sitara, Kalyani & Pavan Kumar  have built with tireless effort — was in full force, dancing and cheering on one of their own.  They twirled and whooped and Hari Bol-ed the crowd right into a standing ovation for the little band from Minnesota.  Folks, Krishna Das didn’t get a standing O at Bhakti Fest Midwest.  Emcee Shiva Baum raved, calling the band “a definite highlight of day one.”  He asked the crowd if they wanted to see Kirtan Path back at Bhakti Fest, and the people roared their approval.  You couldn’t help but get a swollen heart from this outpouring of love for a newbie.

Shortly after her set, she told us:  “I’m not a singer.  It just comes through me.”  Huh?  You’ve never been a singer?  She said she attended David Newman’s Kirtan College in 2009 and started leading chants soon after, getting her feet wet at Sacred Rearrangements, a healing center/shop owned by Sitara and Pavan Kumar (aka Susan Shehata & Keith Helke of www.raisingtheconsciousness.com) that had become the “hub of the kirtan scene in Mpls,” according to Sitara.

On The Bhakti Fest Radar

In the Bhav at the All-Star Finale

Pascale had traveled to Bhakti Fest in California, and was beyond thrilled when they announced a Midwest Fest.  When she “applied” (along with perhaps 1,000 others) for one of the coveted slots on the main stage, she was told the line-up was already set.  The following day she got an email from Bhakti Fest Founder Sridhar Silberfein inviting her to be part of said line-up.  Kirtan Path was already on the radar.

Well, their blip on the bhakti radar map just blossomed.  Their set was full of classics:  KD’s Baba Hanuman, The One I Love ballad Gina Sala and Shantala regularly play, traditionals like Govinda Jaya Jaya and Jaya Mata Kali, and original melodies for Sita Ram, Rama Bolo and a skin-tingling Hare Krishna Maha Mantra that Pascale said is her favorite chant.  See if you can feel the energy flowing in the rousing Hari Bol near the end of their set (below).

Something tells us we’ll be hearing more from Kirtan Path and the Minneapolis kirtan crew.  Just watch…

See also:
www.KirtanPath.com
www.raisingtheconsciousness.com
www.bhaktifest.com
 
See our full coverage of Bhakti Fest Midwest!
Bhakti Fest First: Krishna Das In the Spotlight, Reluctantly, at Midwest All-Wallah Finale
Hanuman Chalisa Rocks New Melodies from Brenda McMorrow and SRI Kirtan at BFMW (Videos)
Bhakti Fest Break-Out Set? Wallah-to-Watch ‘Kirtan Path’ Wows ‘Em (Video)
Sridhar Silberfein: Changing the Pace of Kirtan in the West, One Bhakti Fest At a Time
Plus Photo Journals from Each Set on The Bhakti Beat on Facebook
 
And from Shakti Fest 2012 & Bhakti Fest 2011:
Jai Uttal Captures the Essence of Bhakti Fest
You Want Shakti?  Larisa Stow’s Got Shakti
Loco for Lokah and the Bhakti Dance
Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted in Woodstock in ’69
Shakti Fest On-Stage Proposal a First
Amazing Grace from Krishna Das after Bhakti Fest Rain-Out
 
Share
{ 10 comments }
Share

Krishna Das. Like a rock...star.

The Bhakti Beat @ Bhakti Fest Midwest (June 30-July 1, 2012)  The grand All-Wallah Finale has become a Bhakti Fest closing tradition.  It’s also become one of those love-it-or-leave-it affairs, depending on who you ask.  Over the course of attending five of them since 2010, we’ve observed a lot of mixed feelings about the inevitably raucous everyone-gets-to-be-a-wallah jam-out that officially closes out each Bhakti Fest.  Some wallahs avoid it altogether, as Krishna Das has managed to for three years running at the West Coast Fest in Joshua Tree.

A pillar of stillness in the cacophany of the Bhakti Fest Finale

But there he was stage center at the Madison, Wisc. fest, a pillar of maroon-shirted stillness in a sea of bhaktified motion, his gravelly repetition of the Maha Mantra standing out even amidst the cacaphony unfolding all around him.  At least 50 musicians, yoga teachers, workshop leaders, staff and volunteers jammed the stage, dancing, leaping, twirling, and conga lining in ecstatic joy as everyone chanted as one.

The Bhaktified Gratitude Dance

Bhakti Fest Founder/Executive Producer Sridhar Silberfein with Shyamdas.

Sridhar Silberfein, the founder and executive producer of Bhakti Fest who is rarely seen on stage until this finale, poured out gratitude to his staff, the wallahs, teachers and everyone who made Bhakti Fest happen.  He somehow maintained order in the chaos of celebrating the successful completion of The First Ever Bhakti Fest Midwest, assuring the cheering Heartlanders that Bhakti Fest would be back.

Sridhar did a gratitude dance across the stage with one person after another.  He sashayed with Shyamdas, rapped with Ishwari, got down low with DJ Lakshmi, and spun circles ’round Ragani.  But when it was time to reach out his hand for KD to join him, KD wasn’t going for it.  He responded — playfully of course — with a certain arm gesture that fellow New York native Sridhar was sure to understand.  Did you catch that?  Yeah, he gave him “the arm,” the Italian salute. We can’t prove it with a picture but we saw it with our own eyes.


But Sridhar wasn’t about to give up.  He pulled on KD’s arm while Ragani pushed from her seat next to him on stage.  Finally, the kirtan rock star gave in, reluctantly rising to receive the thunderous approval of the crowd.  He did not dance a jig across the stage.  After barely a moment he gave a look to Sridhar that seemed to say, “Can we get this over with now?” and went back to his lotus, back to his chanting.  Classic KD humor, legendary humility.

It’s moments like that that make us really glad we hung around for the Last Hari of Bhakti Fest.

 
See our full coverage of Bhakti Fest Midwest!
Bhakti Fest First: Krishna Das In the Spotlight, Reluctantly, at Midwest All-Wallah Finale
Hanuman Chalisa Rocks New Melodies from Brenda McMorrow and SRI Kirtan at BFMW (Videos)
Bhakti Fest Break-Out Set? Wallah-to-Watch ‘Kirtan Path’ Wows ‘Em (Video)
Sridhar Silberfein: Changing the Pace of Kirtan in the West, One Bhakti Fest At a Time
Plus Photo Journals from Each Set on The Bhakti Beat on Facebook
 
And from Shakti Fest 2012 & Bhakti Fest 2011:
Jai Uttal Captures the Essence of Bhakti Fest
You Want Shakti?  Larisa Stow’s Got Shakti
Loco for Lokah and the Bhakti Dance
Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted in Woodstock in ’69
Shakti Fest On-Stage Proposal a First
Amazing Grace from Krishna Das after Bhakti Fest Rain-Out
Krishna Das, Bhakti ‘Rock Star,’ Keeping It Real
 
www.krishnadas.com
www.bhaktifest.com

David Newman and the moon.

 

Share
{ 9 comments }

You Want Shakti? Larisa Stow’s Got Shakti

Share

The first time I experienced Larisa Stow & Shakti Tribe was at Bhakti Fest 2010, and I pretty much spent the whole set in jaw-drop disbelief.  I know I wasn’t alone;  the mid-day crowd on hand — many of whom, it seemed, were also new to this band from Long Beach, Calif. — was riveted.  This was not your average kirtan.  It was edgy, urban, hip-hop-infused modern “mantra rock.”

I fell in love with the Tribe’s vibe, and have seen them live at two Bhakti Fests since — each one more powerful than the last.  When their latest CD, “Rock On, Sat Nam” (a work of conscious art) came out, I listened to it incessantly (and wrote about it).  I interviewed Larisa Stow about her music and her bhakti path, followed the Tribe’s news about shows around SoCal, and pined to road-trip with them to the Holi Festival in Utah, where they played before a crowd of 50,000 or so drenched in flourescent colors.

So I figured I knew what to expect from Larisa and the Tribe this time around.  I was wrong.

Benj Clarke on Bass

What transpired on the stage over the midnight hours of Night One at Shakti Fest 2012 was beyond expectation. (There’s a nice long taste of it in the video below.) I can’t quite even put my finger on what it was that made this Shakti-fied set stand out so. Maybe it was the late hour or the fact that we’d been “in the bhav” for 15 hours or so, but those who stuck around (most of the crowd) after the Mayapuris finished know what I’m talking about.  It was like the perfect storm of exquisite musicianship, connection between “performers” and “audience,” and straight-from-the-soul message of forgiveness, transformation and hope. Larisa Stow has this inimitable way of connecting at a heart level — there I said it — that just seemed to resonate deeply with the throng of bhaktas crowding the front stage.

Richard Hardy

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that she is backed by four top-notch musicians, who are resonating right along on that heart-vibe with her.  This band is tight.  For “just” three guys and a drummer, they conjure incredibly rich melodies. Woodwinds wizard Richard Hardy (who also played with Marti Walker and C.C. White at Shakti Fest) performed his magic on the sax and the flute and…how many other instruments did he have in his bag of tricks?

Kimo Estores

Kimo Estores is masterful as the guitar hero, Benj Clarke lays down the funked-up bass grooves, and Paloma Estevez, the newcomer in the Tribe, rocks on drum kit.  Everyone sings response.

Center stage and weaving it all together is Shakti Sister Larisa, alternately playing the harmonium, dancing with Benj or Kimo, and belting out lead vocals.  But it’s more than her voice, with its incredible range; underneath it all is a warm, approachable authenticity to a depth that is surprisingly rare even in the “love-all, serve-all” world of sacred chant.

Before long she was sitting at the front of the stage, eye-to-eye with everyone, touching palms, connecting personally, physically, soulfully, with each one.  Later she declared from the stage midway through a soaring Radhe-Krishna mantra: “I just want to climb right down there with all of you!”  Then she did just that, leaving the spotlights behind to dance and chant with the throng in the shadows. It was a Larisa Lovefest!

The set electrified from the start: a HUGE Shakti Ma chant that woke everyone up and commanded attention. In a loving sort of way.  But that’s sort of the point with this music:  “Wake Up and Pay Attention.  LoveLoveLoveLoveLove.”  While that may be an oversimplification, it’s the message that, to us, pervades the multi-layered lyrics laced with mantra.

This ethic is on glorious display in the Tribe’s anthem-like “Peacemakers” song (video below), which gives us chills every time.  Do you feel it?

For more Shakti Tribe love, visit www.larisastow.com

"I just want to love you all."

 

 For more Shakti Fest coverage, see also:

Jai Uttal Captures the Essence of Bhakti Fest

Loco for Lokah & the Bhakti Dance

On-Stage Proposal a Bhakti Fest First

Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted at Woodstock in ’69

 

Share
{ 7 comments }

Loco for Lokah and the Bhakti Dance

Share

Lokah Bhakti

The Bhakti Beat @ Shakti Fest: We’re crazy about the “Bhakti Dance” with the dancing, rapping Latino yogi known as Lokah (“Loco Lokah” to some!).

He jumped on stage toward the end of Deepak Ramapriyan and Breath of Life Tribe’s set Saturday afternoon at Shakti Fest and led the crowd in an exuberant dance lesson that jumped and weaved and twirled its way throughout the front-stage seating area before settling back into a meditative prayer.  Deepak and the Tribe provided the soaring soundtrack for the choreography with a joyous Radhe chant.

Watch what Loco Lokah does at about three minutes in.  Sure caught us by surprise!

Earlier in the day, Lokah jumped in — literally — to the Temple Bhajan Band’s set and delivered three original songs in the conscious hip-hop vein that had most of us jumping for joy along with him.  (Was it possible NOT to dance during that Krishna rap?)

Lokah Bhakti jumps in with the Temple Bhajan Band for a little Krishna rap.

Now, we realize this trend for edgy, urban hip-hop/chant fusions is not for everyone, but we personally are loving it!  Bhakti yogis like Lokah, Srikalogy in NYC, Govinda Sky out of Boston, and a slew of other young hipsters (see this Facebook group for a sampling) — not to mention established pathfinders like Larisa Stow & Shakti Tribe, who have been marrying rap beats to Sanskrit for years — are pushing the envelope and opening the calling of the names up to a new generation who might not otherwise be drawn to “sacred music.”

We say ki JAI to that.

More Shakti Fest coverage:

Jai Uttal:  The Essence of Bhakti Fest

Shakti Fest On-Stage Proposal A First

Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted at Woodstock in ’69

Share
{ 8 comments }

Shakti Fest On-Stage Proposal A First

Share

The Bhakti Beat @ Shakti Fest:  It was one of those quirky moments that Bhakti Fest is becoming famous for, like the two weddings last year.  No matrimonials occurred during this year’s fest, but a young man named “Irish Dave” did get the ball rolling after Jai Uttal’s set Saturday night at Shakti Fest.

Slender and blonde with a pierced lip and a shock of long hair off one side of his crown, Dave jumped up on stage (at the invitation of Bhakti Fest emcee Shiva Baum) just as Jai and his musicians were putting down their instruments.  Then he turned to his beloved…

Huh? Proposing to....Daniel Paul??

Ooops that’s not it.  Hahaha, couldn’t resist this crop.

No, it wasn’t Daniel Paul Dave wanted to marry.  He called his girlfriend to the stage, a lithe, tattooed young woman who promised to “get him for this,” and he made a short, touching speech before pulling a small black box from his pocket and dropping to one knee to …well, you can figure out the rest.  Right there in front of 1,500 or so bhavved out bhaktas glued to the drama unfolding on the stage.  Just look at the faces on the back-stage onlookers…

Daniel ducks just in time...

It was a match made in kirtan heaven: apparently the couple met at a concert with Deepak Ramapriyan and his Breath of Life Tribe.  “Thirteen months ago I had no idea this community existed,” Dave told the crowd in a slight Irish brogue before turning to his beloved.  “Before I met you I was in darkness and you brought me into the light.  I truly, madly, deeply, love you.  Would you be my wife?”  Yes, the proposal even rhymed

Talk about pressure.  Thankfully for Irish Dave’s ego, the object of his adoration, Tonia, said yes. Make that, SCREAMED yes!

And perfectly on cue, the music rose up again.    See for yourself:

File this under “Only at Bhakti Fest.”

More Shakti Fest Coverage:

Jai Uttal:  The Essence of Bhakti Fest

Loco for Lokah & the Bhakti Dance

Bhakti Fest Seeds Planted at Woodstock in ’69

 

Share
{ 9 comments }