Barely a month after his 15 minutes of fame in the Grammy spotlight and fresh from a tropics tour of Costa Rica, Sivananda, Bahamas, and Florida, Krishna Das showed up fully for the headline show at Chantlanta last month — even after fighting a spring snowstorm in the Northeast to get there. Tablist Arjun Bruggeman was his sole bandmate. No Nina Rao. No Genevieve Walker on violin. No Mark Gorman on bass or David Nichtern on guitar. The band was stripped down to KD and Arjun, harmonium and tabla, the newly Grammy-nominated Yoga Rock Star and “his partner in crime,” as KD has called Bruggeman.
It was like we were in Russia or something…
Just before the kirtan started, I said as much to Bruggeman, and he offered that he actually preferred it that way — that it allowed him to be more attuned to KD’s chanting, to get deeper into the rhythms of the bhav. (These are my words, paraphrasing him.) As the night unfolded, you could feel the difference, subtly, in their interactions between and during the songs.
He even had Arjun Bruggeman cracking up.
Krishna Das was in a good mood.
He came onto stage to resounding applause, settled himself before his harmonium, adjusted his ear piece, squinted out at the full-house crowd jammed into the soaring sanctuary of the Druid Hills Baptist Church, and waved. “Hey y’all,” he said in his best Southern drawl (for a New Yorker).
After his traditional invocation to grace, he looked out at us and deadpanned: “Please open your hymnals to page 108.” The crowd cracked up.
"My priest won't steal."
The pared-down duo went on to deliver the Best of Krishna Das Live, commencing with Sita Ram (what else?), flowing into Om Namo Bhagavate, then to our favorite tear-jerker, My Foolish Heart /Bhaja Govinda, complete with the story of its writing (you’ve heard that one, right? The old man who was told by the traveling guru to stop wasting time and just “Bhaja Govinda” — glorify God…?). Then it was time for Durga Ma, and his classic story of when Neem Karoli Baba made him, KD, the pujari of the Durga Temple at Maharaji’s ashram after all the “real” priests were caught stealing from the donation box. Jesus was there too, Mainlining to a mass of writhing dancers, built up to with the story of the unusual statue in the secret temple high in the Himalayas where they chanted in a very esoteric language…English! The crowd cracked up.
The next day at the workshop, KD joked about how happy he was that there were so many newcomers at the concert, the kind who still laughed heartily at all of his old stories. The crowd cracked up…
Krishna Das was Still the Same. Grammy fame hadn’t gone to his head, as far as we could tell. In the Sunday workshop he was playful but prescient, wise and wise-cracking all at once, dispensing timeless bits of insight in between the notes of Hare Krishna and Hanuman’s Chalisa. Like this one on “bringing the light” through spiritual practice:
The audience was in love with him, including a sweet little girl in the front who kept trying to give him pictures of Neem Karoli Baba. He answered questions till there weren’t any more, way past the allotted time, and ended the love affair with a long, sweet Chalisa, fulfilling a special request from a participant.
Who needs a Grammy anyway, when you’ve got Hanuman? (Photoshop by Susie Anderson)
Mark this day in kirtan history: Krishna Das played at the Grammys, invoking Narayana (that’s God) and the Yardbirds, the British invasion band of the 1960’s. What could be more perfect for the Rock Star of Yoga?
Okay, so he didn’t win the coveted Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. We’ve brooded. We’ve pounded our fists on the ground. We’ve screamed NOOOOOOOOO! on social media. But somehow we’ve managed to dig ourselves out of the deep dark pit of “so close!” despair to take a step back, chant an Om or two, and contemplate what this all means, win or lose.
What it means, folks, is that kirtan was at the Grammys. ‘Nuf said, no?
Krishna Das was introduced as a “world-wide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time” by David Alan Grier, the host of the Grammys pre-telecast. He even called it “kirtan” in the introduction — not “yoga music” or “mantra music” or “sacred music” or any other euphemism being applied now to the ancient form of Sanskrit-language call-and-response chanting. And not, thank Narayana, “new age music.” Okay, so Grier couldn’t pronounce the word (he said KURR-tahn), but at least it was there. (If you missed it, don’t despair: the webcast version of the Grammys’ “non-mainstream” awards is available for 30 days at www.grammy.com.) And, okay, there was that snarky remark by Grier after KD’s performance (“I’m so blissed out”). But still….kirtan was at the Grammys.
Kirtan at the Grammys. (Photo by Bob Sinclair)
In fact, Krishna Das was the first performance of the special pre-telecast livestream of the less-known awards. Right along with what he might wear (was he really going to buy a red tux?), what he would sing had been the subject of much speculation…would it be the world’s shortest Maha Mantra? The all-time fan favorite Om Namah Shivayah? Could he even “perform” a traditional call-and-response chant without a response choir backing him? One could hardly expect the Grammys pre-telecast audience to jump into the role, but maybe he would bring along a whole posse of responders — who knew? It was a well-kept secret in the kirtan world. What would an artist whose average song is say, 15 minutes long and depends heavily on repetition from a chorus of responders, play live in a front of a kirtan-naive audience in a 5-minute time slot?
KD didn’t disappoint. Backed up by Nina Rao, his long-time assistant and the person he credited for making the Grammy nomination happen at all; Arjun Bruggeman, his trusty tabla player; David Nichtern on guitar, and Steve Ross on vocals — along with a full-fledged orchestral Grammy House Band — the Yoga Rock Star delivered a rock-and-roll classic worthy of the Grammys, with a kirtan twist of course. With a squeeze of the harmonium and that characteristic Ommm drone of his vocals, he launched into the original medley he created for Heart As Wide As the World (the brilliant 2011 CD that would have made so much more sense as a Grammy nomination, in our humble opinion). In the end, it was For Your Love.
Narayana, meet the Yardbirds. World, meet Krishna Das.
Yeah, there were sound issues. Archit Dave, KD’s intrepid sound engineer, was apparently not in the house. And we were watching it livestreamed — surely not our preferred way to experience KD’s debut on the world stage of the Grammys. But still, it was kirtan at the Grammys. Our hearts were all aflutter. Here is the highest quality recording we’ve seen:
Afterward, there was the not-so-long wait for the actual award-granting (“Oh, yeah, there’s more!” seemed to be the collective opinion on social media). It all happened very fast. Before we knew it, they were announcing the nominees for Best New Age Album. We were struggling with an internet connection that kept skipping on both laptops we had set up to ensure we didn’t miss a beat. And scrambling to capture the announcement on video, recording from the skippy, pixelated livestream. Before we could even hit record, the winner was announced — not the name we were looking for, needless to say.
We’d share the video with you but all you would get is a wide crowd shot as the Grammy producers searched their camera feeds for the winner (L.A.-based pianist Omar Akram) and a blood-curdling scream of NOOOOOOOO! in the background (that would be me, reeling with the shock of rejection). We’ll spare you the ear-split.
So, there it was. Hopes shattered in an instant. Pacing-the-room excitement transformed to disbelief faster than you could say Ommmm. *Sigh* So close, but yet so far…
Aided and abetted by the kirtan support group that is The Bhakti Beat community on facebook, we pulled ourselves up from the pit and saw the light. Barriers were broken. History was made. Win or lose, Krishna Das had introduced call-and-response chanting to a world audience. A very mainstream world audience.
Kirtan was at the Grammys.
‘Baba Plaid’ at the Grammys. L-R: Krishna Das, Steve Ross, Nina Rao, Arjun Bruggeman. Photo by Amy Dewhurst
Oh, and the red tux? Naaah. Thankfully to fans everywhere who wouldn’t recognize him in anything else, he stuck to a Hanuman red T-shirt and a Baba Plaid button-down. But we’re still wishing he had been interviewed on the Red Carpet, because we were dying to hear his response to the obligatory question, “Who are you wearing?”
“Genre unknown.” Have you ever gotten this message when you download a kirtan CD into iTunes? We get it a lot.
More often than not, the iTunes database pulls up a blank in the “Genre” category. Sometimes it pulls up as World Music, sometimes Alternative, sometimes Folk (Shyamdas in particular), and sometimes — get this! — Country (GuruGanesha’s Kundalini Surjhee). Occasionally, the disc is downright Unclassifiable (Marti Walker’s rEVOLution). And yes, sometimes it even registers as New Age, which usually elicits a sarcastic snicker from this downloader.
New Age? Hasn’t that almost become a kind of throwback-to-the-70’s joke? Something that is spoken of with “air quotes,” maybe with a roll of the eyes thrown in? Is kirtan New Age? Does it want to be?
Well, according to the Grammys, it is. That’s the category for which Krishna Das is in the running for Best Album, marking an historic moment in bhakti history (watch the livestream Sunday, Feb. 10 from 1–3:30 p.m. PT at GRAMMY.com and CBS.com.). No, he’s not the first kirtan artist to get a Grammy nomination — Jai Uttal earned that honor back in 2002 with his barrier-breaking, genre-bending Mondo Rama. But this is Krishna Das. The Yoga Rock Star. The King of Kirtan. The Chantmaster. And Live Ananda, the recording nominated for this year’s Best New Age Album, is pure and traditional unadulterated call-and-response chanting. In the live. No apologies for the harmonium.
Will the tux be in plaid?
Still, we have a hard time imagining Krishna Das describing himself as a “New Age artist.” We could be way off base here, but we’re not seeing it. You?
Either way, that’s where we are folks. We don’t know about you, but we’re putting our bets on Krishna Das actually winning this thing. Why else would he be performing live at the Grammys pre-broadcast livestream? (New Age nominees are never featured on the Grammys live television broadcast, which is reserved for the big “Mainstream” categories.) We’ll eat crow if we’re wrong. Whilst brooding. Heavily. And chanting along with the Cosmic Kirtan Posse at Ananda Ashram to soothe our pain.
But let’s just say it happens: Krishna Das wins the Grammy for Best New Age Album. That would put him in the same Winner’s Circle as Paul Winter (6 times), Enya (4-time winner), Yanni, Pat Metheny, and David Darling, among others you’ve probably never heard of. Notably, Peter Gabriel won the award for Best New Age Performance in 1990. KD’s competition for the award this year? L.A.-based pianist Omar Akram; Michael Brant DiMaria, an integrative psychotherapist who creates music for relaxation and meditation; Celtic artist Loreena McKennitt; renowned cellist David Darling; pianist/composer/producer Peter Kater, and Steven Halpern, whose 1975 release, Spectrum Suite, often gets credit for beginning the whole “New Age Music” movement.
There are a couple interesting kirtan connections among these other nominees. David Darling collaborated with Canadian kirtan artist Brenda McMorrow on her 2010 album Love Abounds. Peter Kater just last year released Heart of the Universe with Sikh-tradition chantress Snatam Kaur, and his 2012 nomination, Light Body, features vocalist and executive producer Trish Bowden. We’re clueless, we confess, about the others on the list, but a quick review of their offerings puts them pretty far away on the musical spectrum from call-and-response chanting ala Live Ananda.
Incidentally, in the World Music category, both Ravi Shankar (for The Living Room Sessions, Pt. 1) and his daughter, Anoushka Shankar (for Traveller) are nominated for Best Album. Which makes us wonder why Krishna Das isn’t in the World Music category. Live Ananda even comes up on iTunes as World Music.
Indefinable?
New Age music has always been difficult to define, seeming more like a catch-all for downtempo “relaxation music” than anything else. Early pioneers include the aforementioned Steven Halpern and English composer Brian Eno, who is credited as a principal innovator of so-called ambient music. New Age first earned its own Grammy category in 1987 — about the same time New Age bins started showing up in major record stores and big record labels starting paying attention to the genre.
The dawning of the New Age Grammy category was not met with glee by all. Music critic Steven Rea, writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1987, said: “It’s a category of music to which few artists want to be assigned – the winner of the Grammy is likely to accept his award with a bag over his head – and which even fewer can define.” The same year, Musician magazine predicted that “all new-age artists will claim to be ‘not really new-age.’ ”
My how things have changed. Or not.
Parsing the Name Game
All of this talk brings up a related issue that is astir throughout the kirtan world: what to call kirtan. “Kirtan,” some have argued, is just too hard for Westerners to wrap their tongues around, let alone their minds. A few artists are steadfastly moving toward the use of “mantra music” to define what they do; among them are Gaura Vani, a Krishna devotee who typically practices traditional call-and-response Sanskrit chanting (unless he’s in his role as one-fourth of The Hanumen, in which case all categorization goes right out the window), and GuruGanesha Singh, best known as the long-time touring partner and manager to Snatam Kaur, who infuses sacred Gurmukhi-language chants with funked-up rhythms and soaring electric-guitar riffs.
The new Krishna Das channel on Sirius XM radio eschews both these monikers in favor of “Yoga Radio” — a decision that came from Sirius, KD told us in an interview. Nowhere in the description of the channel will you find the word kirtan, but you will find “Chanting, sacred and spiritual music” in the channel’s subhead.
Kirtan. Mantra music. Yoga music. Chant. Sacred music. Spiritual music. World music. Alternative, Folk, Country…turns out there are almost as many names out there for this “music genre” as there are artists presenting it. Which begs the even bigger question: is it a “music genre” at all?
Or is the Mantra Revolution simply “Unclassifiable”?
Kirtan at the Grammys? Now that would be cool. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…
Chantmaster Krishna Das, the legendary “rock star of yoga,” has earned a nod from the Grammy nominators for Live Ananda, which is up for Best New Age Album of the Year. It is only the second time in history, to our knowledge, that a kirtan album has been in the running for the music industry’s top prize; the first time was in 2003, when Jai Uttal’s groundbreaking Mondo Rama was nominated in the same category. (No, there is no “Kirtan” Grammy category, or even “Yoga Music” for that matter — yet.)
That’s right. From here on out, KD shall be known as the Grammy-nominated chantmaster of American yoga.
Well, that is, until — and if — we can call him the Grammy-winning blahblahblah. That would be a first for the little devotional-music niche that is call-and-response chant, itself a mere drop in the catch-all bucket of “new age” music.
Live Ananda was recorded, well, live at Ananda. Ananda Ashram, that is, the Yoga Society of New York’s retreat and spiritual center in Monroe, N.Y., at the feet of the Catskills and the heart of the Bhajan Belt, where KD used to hold yearly workshops. Live Ananda captures five long, sweet songs — each a KD classic from his early recordings — co-performed with an exuberant audience of chanters during a three-day retreat in 2007. It was released in January 2012 without a lot of fanfare as far as we could tell, digitally only and only through iTunes (much to the dismay of Apple haters everywhere, and those of us who still like to have and hold an actual CD, complete with cover art and liner notes). UPDATE: Nina Rao tells us that Live Ananda is going to be re-released this month in “hard” form — cover art, liner notes and all.
I have to confess: this was the one KD release that I did not own. I mean, I’m as big a KD fan as you can find (bias alert!), but somehow I couldn’t get too excited about this CD. After the brilliance of Heart as Wide as the World (2010), KD’s first studio album in 12 years (with Grammy-nominated producer David Nichtern), maybe it felt anti-climactic — I played that disc night and day for months. Plus, I already owned — and loved — every single live recording he ever did. That and a pesky password problem with iTunes kept me from downloading it when it came out, and I just never went back — until this morning’s announcement. A Grammy nomination? How come I don’t own this?!
Well, now I do. And you’ll want it too, because, well, it’s Grammy-nominated. That, and it’s classic KD all the way: soulful, deep, heart wide open to the world, singing for his guru and taking us right along with him to that place he goes…
The much-anticipated Grammy nominations were announced by The Recording Academy Dec. 5 at a concert broadcast live from Nashville, Tenn., marking a count-down to the 55th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 10. Nominees are selected by voting members of the Recording Industry Association of America, who can each vote in up to nine music categories.
What would KD do?
So, now that KD is officially a nominee, we can’t help but wonder if he’ll capture one of the coveted live-performance slots at Music’s Biggest Night (even if he is scheduled to be at Blue Spirit in Costa Rica at the time — that’s what satellite feeds are for, right?). What would KD do? Wouldn’t it be something to witness the chantmaster and his band on stage at the Grammys, leading the superstar crowd in the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, broadcast live to the world?
Stranger things have happened at the Grammys. Have you watched this awards show lately? This is the night the music world’s biggest stars pull out all the stops, and sometimes go right over the top. (What was up with that Nicki Minaj “exorcism” last year?) With that kind of act to follow, KD might need to take a page from a memorable music video in the closet of his past (one we venture he’d prefer to forget)…something involving snake-dancing goddesses and a decidedly Christ-like KD, perhaps?
Naaah, that’s not gonna happen. A duet with Sting for Mountain Hare Krishna has been suggested, a nod to Pilgrim Heart (1998). Or how about a pair-up with Bob Dylan for Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, ala KD’s surprise move at Omega Ecstatic Chant last fall — have you seen this?
Play along with us: if Krishna Das was going to sing at the Grammys, what song would you want to hear? Tell us in the comments!
How does one person in suburban California manage to raise $20,000 to fight sex trafficking in India?
Enlist the kirtan troops!
That’s been a big part of the winning strategy for Srutih Asher Colbert, a Palo Alto yogi mom and hair stylist who is now within sight of meeting her ambitious fundraising goal by the end of the year. The troops who signed on to help include none other than the Chant Master himself Krishna Das, who contributed his share of the proceeds from NYC’s Bhajan Boat charity cruise in late September (check out the video here). That pledge alone added $3,000 to Colbert’s coffers.
Coast-to-Coast Kirtan Fundraisers
The drive also benefited from a gathering Oct. 20 at Brooklyn Yoga School when the best known bhaktas in the borough, Nina Rao, Devadas, Ambika Cooper and friends, joined forces to lead a four-hour kirtan in support of the project. The chants to fight sex slavery continue this weekend, back in Colbert’s home ‘hood in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Prajna Vieirra and David Estes leading the call. Local favorites in NoCal, Vieira and Estes are among the rising stars on the national kirtan scene as well; each had a debut set at Bhakti Fest West in September,Vieira with producer/multi-instrumentalist Ben Leinbach and Estes with his band Ananda Rasa Kirtan.
"Kirtan is not about getting blissed out and escaping life..."
Both jumped at the chance to help raise money. Vieira told us: “As kirtan leaders, we’re here to serve the devotees in their practice and help provide the conditions for exploring the depths of love and devotion. To me, expanding that sweetness of devotional service into the world is the whole point.”
“As a woman,” she added, “sex trafficking is an issue that is very dear to my heart, and I wish I could do a thousand kirtans for it…If we have an opportunity and the means to contribute even a little bit of time, energy or resources toward the solution, it’s a great blessing. Kirtan is not about getting blissed out and escaping life’s problems. It’s a call to wake up, to broaden our capacity to love and our willingness to serve.”
Off the Mat Into the Bhav
Colbert’s funding drive is part of the Global Seva Challenge, a worldwide service project created by Off the Mat Into the World (OTM) that has raised over $2 million since 2007 for a range of international humanitarian causes. The 2012 campaign is focused on battling sex trafficking in India through locally based empowerment and rehabilitation programs, and Colbert is one of about 200 yogis who have taken the $20,000 challenge this year; so far about half a million dollars has been raised, collectively. (OTM is the charitable organization founded by Seane Corn, Hala Khouri and Suzanne Sterling with a mission to “use the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change.”)
Suzanne Sterling: Not resting
Colbert got involved with Off the Mat at Wanderlust Festival three years ago, where the OTM session is always a favorite. (No wonder: two years ago at Wanderlust VT, Michael Franti and his band joined Seane Corn on stage for a rockin’ 2-hour party-for-a-cause. This summer, MC Yogi riled up the troops with a rousing rendition of “Give Love” (watch it below), then Suzanne Sterling knocked it home with a foot-stomping, soul-stirring rendition of a civil rights anthem called Ella’s song — “We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes” — that flowed right into the yogi’s anthem, Om Namah Shivaya.)
A top fundraiser for OTM three years running, Colbert kept earning herself a free ticket back to Wanderlust — and doing it all over again. When she heard that the 2012 Global Seva Challenge was directed at helping the young victims of sex trafficking in India, she signed on.
‘We Live in This Little Bubble’
“I have two daughters myself — 5 and 8. I just felt moved to try to help these girls, and inspired to show my own girls how important it is that we help people who can’t help themselves,” Colbert told The Bhakti Beat. “We live in this little bubble. There’s so much suffering in the world and we can do something to help other people.”
OTM works with six different charities in India that are working in local communities to rescue, rehabilitate and empower women and girls affected by the sex trade. “They [OTM] talk to people who are already doing this work to create sustainable change, instead of just throwing money at the problem.” The funds might be directed, for example, to build a new wing on a safe home, or to teach women self-sustaining skills.
Nearly $2,000 was raised at a Brooklyn kirtan (Photo by Srutih Asher Colbert)
Reaching out to friends in the yoga and kirtan worlds to support the drive was natural, she said, because “those are the two things I love and practice regularly. It’s been an amazing blessing to reach out and have people say, ‘absolutely, how can I help?'”
People like Krishna Das. Not bad.
Colbert first met Krishna Das at her Yoga Teacher Training at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas, at a time when she “didn’t know anything about chanting and thought it was weird.” After five straight nights of kirtan with KD, “it really clicked for me,” she said. “I totally fell in love with chanting. It completely changed my life from that moment forward.”
Ten years later and $3,000 away from her goal, with bhakti yoga strongly at her side, Colbert is paying it forward, hoping to help change the lives of girls trapped in India’s sex trade, from this moment forward.
With the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, a few hundred people crowded the upper deck of one of NYC’s Circle Line cruisers to chant with an all-star line-up of musicians on the 2nd Annual NYC Bhajan Boat, a fundraiser presented by the Mantralogy record label.
The four-hour joyride circumnavigated the City That Never Sleeps, passing under iconic bridges, getting up close with Lady Liberty, and offering stunning panoramas from every direction. But for all the world-class sightseeing outside the ship, the real magic was happening right on the cramped and crowded “stage” in the bow of the boat.
Rockin’ & Rollin’ on the River
Gaura Vani
Shyamdas, who has really pioneered the kirtan cruise, captained this showboat as he has many in the past. He warmed us up with Radhe and got us off the Pier 83 dock with Krishna. Then Gaura Vani put some wind in our sails with his crew of kindred spirits from New York as the boat headed north up the Hudson River, culminating in a rousing Krishna-Radhe mantra by NYC bhakta Acyuta Gopi that ended way too soon. See it here, at about 15:40 into this clip from Gaura Vani’s set, posted by Om Factory NY.)
SRI Kirtan, the Woodstock, N.Y.-based divine duo of Sruti Ram and Ishwari, took over just as the George Washington Bridge loomed overhead, and rocked our bhakti all around the northern tip of Manhattan with their signature Chalisa and a new anti-fracking rap they played live for the first time. Kamaniya Devi and Keshavacharya Das, aka Prema Hara — who have just launched an ambitious 12-state tour — accompanied SRI Kirtan and others.
SRI Kirtan rocked the boat
Now we were rockin’ and rollin’ down the crowded East River, with Roosevelt Island and Queens on our port side, midtown Manhattan’s cityscape starboard. Nina Rao, the first mate of Krishna Das’s organization, took the helm at her boss’s harmonium (he sang back-up) and offered up a preview of her own upcoming debut album, Antarayaami – Knower of All Hearts, a 12-track double CD that will be released this fall. (As one might hope, the CD will be heavy on Hanuman Chalisas, including a duet with KD, Rao told us.) Sign up to receive CD news and more at www.chantkirtan.com.
Excerpted in the video below is a track from the upcoming CD (“Bhajagovindam/Narayana”) that melds three traditional chants in a slow-starting, fast-finishing fusion of mantra melodies. Don’t miss little Bodhi, nestled in Grandpa KD’s lap, tapping right along on his own mini-drum (watch how he studies Arjun Bruggeman’s hand gestures on the tabla and mimics them).
Lady Liberty Dancing With Shiva
Lady Liberty: serenaded by Shiva
The special guest of the day, Krishna Das, had his chance to lead kirtan as well, just as the Williamsburg Bridge dominated the view ahead. (Bodhi kept right on drumming, this time from the lap of Devadas.) We all did the Krishna Waltz as we passed under the three massive spans bridging the lower East River, then Shiva danced with Lady Liberty as we rounded the iconic statue of the Roman goddess of freedom — symbol of chains unbound — while chanting Om Namah Shivaya to the Hindu god of destruction and transformation.
Captain Shyamdas, dressed in a traditional dhoti kurta and a blue Nantucket baseball cap slightly cocked to one side, returned for the final leg up the West Side to seal the journey with a kiss to Radhe. Krishna Das sang right alongside him as the boat steamed north again, the two occasionally exchanging private laughs like schoolboys with a secret. Pier 83 appeared far too soon, but Shyamdas promised that the next boatride would be longer — to the Caribbean perhaps. The crowd cheered. With a final Radhe Shyam, the boat was docked, and the crew forced us to leave (they had to shoo a lot of us out…)
Charity Cruise Trend Setting Sail
This was the Bhajan Boat’s second cruise in Manhattan, but Shyamdas has been organizing kirtan cruises on the mid-Hudson River for a few years now as benefits for Food for Life Vrindavan, a non-profit organization that feeds poor children in India. Three other charities — Share Your Care,The Seva Foundation, and Off the Mat Into the World — also benefited from the Sept. 30 NYC cruise.
As word gets out about these charity cruises, it seems that everyone is clamoring for one of their own. Boston wants one on the Harbor, Toronto wants one on Lake Ontario, Midwesterners want one on the Mississippi, California wants more than one…this is the beginning of a trend folks. Look for it to grow.
Ki JAI to that.
The Bhajan Boat back-up band, the musicians and vocalists who supported various wallahs, reads like a who’s who of East Coast kirtaneers: Arjun Bruggeman (tabla), Steve Gorn and Sundar Das (flutes), David Nichtern and Richard Davis (guitars), Adam Bauer (bass), Devadas (cymbals), Ananta Cuffee (mrdanga), Janaki Cuffee, Acyuta Gopi, Kamaniya Devi and Keshavacharya Das (vocals), Jaya Sita Lopez (cello), and more…Who have we left out?
Well, Swami-Ji apparently left his harmonica behind, so what’s a blues lover like Miten to do? Get Shyamdas in on the act, of course. You just knew it was going to be good when Miten called him up to the stage toward the end of Miten and Premal’s set during the Labor Day session of Omega’s Ecstatic Chant weekend.
Nothing quite like the Radhe blues…
Later that same evening (yes, sticking around Omega for that final, fourth day of chanting IS worth it), there was an even bigger surprise. And yes, it too involved Miten…who was kind of hiding in the dark corner for this one:
Whoa! Krishna Das singing Bob Dylan’s famous ballad (often credited to Eric Clapton, who made it famous). Never seen that before.
In fact, Krishna Das told The Bhakti Beat, this was the first time he has sung Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door at a public concert, and only the second time he has sung it at all. A week prior to Omega, KD joined his Russian friend Boris Grebenshchikov — who KD called “the Bob Dylan of Russia” and Wickepedia calls the “grandfather of Russian rock” — on stage at a private gathering for a spontaneous rendition of it. We can’t help wondering if this signals a return to rock ‘n roll for “Ex-Rocker” Krishna Das.
Omega Moments — highlights for us from a long weekend of inspired, blissful (and decidedly more traditional than these two videos suggest) chanting, in all the deliciously diverse incarnations of the contemporary practice of kirtan. What were yours?
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.
“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.”
We often get asked: “What are the can’t-miss chant events of the year?” It’s a loaded question, for sure, since everyone has their own idea about what is “can’t-miss.” Including us. So we’re sharing our picks for “The Big 5” chant events that are worth getting to, no matter where you’re coming from. Here’s part 1; stay tuned to this space for the rest (subscribe here). And tell us what your top picks are!
Omega’s Ecstatic Chant is the original. Now moving into its second decade as the annual destination for hard-core chantaholics, its roots can be traced back to Ram Dass’s annual retreats at the Rhinebeck, N.Y. campus in the ’80’s.
Omega Co-Founder Stephan Rechtschaffen told us that, in those days, Ram Dass would invite Krishna Das or Jai Uttal to come and chant with the gathering as evening entertainment, and it became so popular that chanting became a central aspect of the weekend. When Ram Dass could no longer attend due to his health, the chanting continued. These days, Ram Dass beams in from Maui through the magic of interactive video, delivering his wisdom, humor and reflections of Neem Karoli Baba from a large screen.
What’s So Special About Omega?
Radhanath Swami (ctr) with Shyamdas and Deva Premal
Omega is different from everything else on The Big 5 list because it is chant and only chant. It’s also the only one that is not a “festival” per se — more like a “retreat.” Or, in Omega parlance, a weekend workshop (The Yoga of Voice). The program is chanting. That’s it. No simultaneous yoga classes across campus. No lectures or experiential workshops to compete for your time. Just chant, chant and chant some more.
Manose
On the second day, there is an extraordinary all-night session that, if you are game, is pretty much guaranteed to take you so deep into the bhav that you just might, as Swami Satchidananda said, “forget everything.” Participants fairly camp out in the Main Hall, variously dancing furiously or quietly meditating, dozing or chatting in between sets… and before you know it, dawn is rising, right in tune with the lilting flute-play of Manose and Steve Gorn.
Miten, with Omega Co-Founder Stephan Rechtschaffen
Jai Uttal once famously called Omega Chant “the Super Bowl of chant fests,” maybe because only a handful of artists make it to the line-up and the competition to be on the schedule is intense. (Each artist typically plays at least two full sets over the course of the weekend, and many play a third time at the Labor Day bonus session.) Rechtschaffen, who makes the line-up decisions, says he is inundated with artists’ CDs and promo tapes and is always on the look-out for bands with a “unique” sound, but knows that bringing in someone “new” means someone else gets bumped, even if they’ve been on the Omega line-up for years.
C.C. White was at fall Chant for the first time last year, and Dave Stringer returned after a few years’ absence. Snatam Kaur and Wah!, both long-time Omega regulars, were noticeably absent last fall, as was David Newman (Wah! played at Omega’s smaller Spring Chant in May; Newman and Kaur both led workshop at the retreat center this summer). Rechtschaffen openly lamented the absence of each of these favorites at fall Chant.
The 2012 Line-Up
KD and Arjun Bruggeman
Krishna Das, Shyamdas, Jai Uttal (with Daniel Paul) are constants on the Omega schedule. They have been leading the Omega Chant pack since the early days and it’s hard to imagine Chant Weekend without all of them. They can usually be counted on to be stage center during the famous closing session, when all the wallahs and musicians join together on stage for a final free-for-all. Typically, you can find Shyamdas directing the action, Jai Uttal playfully rebelling, and Krishna Das playfully grumpy at having to be in the spotlight at such an “early” hour (it’s only 11:30 a.m. or so, after all).
The ever-popular Deva Premal and Miten and Sikh songstress Snatam Kaur round out the top-bill headliners at this year’s Chant.
Vishal Vaid astounds
Vishal Vaid, who has trained in traditional ghazal (an ancient form of poetry in song that translates to “conversation with the divine”), astounds audiences every year (watch this for example) and seems to have a pretty solid position on the Omega roster. The Mayapuris, the Florida-based band of “Krishna Kids” who have leaped — literally — into the international kirtan scene are back for a third year, and if previous years’ pattern holds true, will join just about everyone else’s bands as well.
C.C. White
C.C. White is back for her second year, having solidified her return with two crowd-rousing sets last fall showcasing songs from her debut solo CD, This IS Soul Kirtan, which was “pre-released” at Omega. Gaura Vani and bansuri flute virtuosos Manose and Steve Gorn complete the bill of musicians. Radhanath Swami, who caused all sorts of excitement last fall when he joined Deva Premal and Miten on stage for an impromptu (and seriously wailin’) harmonica solo, will also be on hand. We hope he brings his harmonica.
Where: Omega Institute is located in Rhinebeck, NY, smack in the middle of the “Bhajan Belt,” the upstate New York region known for a confluence of kirtan. It’s about 90 miles north of NYC and roughly the same distance from Albany. There’s an Amtrak station nearby and a commuter train to NYC.
How Much: This is the only bug in the ointment. Tuition alone for Ecstatic Chant is $395. The Labor Day session is $125, or $75 if you’re doing the weekend retreat also. Accomodations are additional, and on-site cabins or dorms tend to be, shall we say, “rustic” (but pleasant enough). See http://eomega.org/workshops/ecstatic-chant for details.
What Else? Rhinebeck is a quaint and boho-chic Hudson Valley town with lots of restaurants, shopping and an indie movie house. But you may never want to leave the Omega campus, a rolling oasis with a small lake where you can kayak, hiking paths, great vegetarian meals, a wellness spa with all manner of body-work and subtle-energy treatments available, a soothing sanctuary at the top of the hill, and the charged energy of 30 years as a destination for spiritual masters and seekers of all stripes.
So, what do you say? Will you be going to Ecstatic Chant this year? Why or why not?
Barely a month after his 15 minutes of fame in the Grammy spotlight and fresh from a tropics tour of Costa Rica, Sivananda, Bahamas, and Florida, Krishna Das showed up fully for the headline show at Chantlanta last month — even after fighting a spring snowstorm in the Northeast to get there. Tablist Arjun Bruggeman was his sole bandmate. No Nina Rao. No Genevieve Walker on violin. No Mark Gorman on bass or David Nichtern on guitar. The band was stripped down to KD and Arjun, harmonium and tabla, the newly Grammy-nominated Yoga Rock Star and “his partner in crime,” as KD has called Bruggeman.
See also:
Photo Journal: Krishna Das at Chantlanta (on The Bhakti Beat facebook page)
Southern Bhav Rising: Chantlanta Demonstrates How To Do a Regional Chant Fest (Video/Photos)
Chantlanta’s ‘Unknown’ Bhakti Bands Reveal Depth & Diversity of Southern Bhav (Part 1)
Chantlanta’s ‘Unknown’ Bhakti Bands Reveal Depth & Diversity of Southern Bhav (Part 2)
Photo Journal: Chantlanta (on The Bhakti Beat facebook page)
Chantlanta Video Playlist (on The Bhakti Beat YouTube Channel)
www.krishnadas.com
www.chantlanta.org
www.swahaproductions.com
And don’t miss these classics on Krishna Das from our archives:
Krishna Das, Bhakti Rock Star, Keeping It Real
Kirtan First: Krishna Das Invokes Narayana & Yardbirds at 55th Grammy Awards
Krishna Das’ ‘Live Ananda’ Earns Grammy Nomination; Kirtan Grammy Would Be a First
With Deva’s Miten, Krishna Das Does Dylan & Shyamdas Does the Blues
Bhakti Fest First: Krishna Das in the Spotlight, Reluctantly, at Midwest All-Wallah Finale
Amazing Grace by Krishna Das After Bhakti Fest Rain-Out
