The Bhakti Beat

Contrary to recent reports, a new study finds that in fact, kirtan is NOT good for your brain.

A study just published in the Journal of Alternative Brain Research found that kirtan seems to actually shut down the prefrontal cortex, the “thinking” part of the brain involved in higher cognitive functions such as executive control, planning, and impulse regulation.  Kirtan, a call-and-response form of mantra repetition set to music and performed in group settings, is not to be confused with kirtan kriya, a more meditative and usually solo form of chant recitation that also includes hand movements and visualization, which was the focus of earlier research.

The authors of the new study used functional brain imaging to assess neural activity during a simple task in subjects who had just finished a 12-hour kirtan. Remarkably, they found a complete absence of activity in brain areas involved in logical thinking, emotional control, and reasoning. Instead, they found extremely heightened activity in the pleasure circuitry of the brain, including reward-related structures such as the ventral striatum and nucleus accumbens — the same brain areas activated by illicit drug use.

These results seem to add credence to the vernacular phrase “stoned on the bhava,” which was often repeated by the late great bhakti scholar and kirtan wallah Shyamdas, lead author Vrinda Bhavananda said in an interview with The Bhakti Beat. The findings are also in line with pamphlets distributed by early followers of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Indian monk who brought Krishna Consciousness to the West in the 1960’s, that used the slogan “Stay High Forever: No More Coming Down” to implore LSD-loving hippies from the counterculture movement to chant instead of take drugs.

Dr. Bhavananda, a kirtan practitioner herself who undertook the study to shed light on her observances of people post-kirtan,  also contended that the results help explain the well-documented phenomenon of “bhav brain,” which has seen a startling rise in kirtan hot spots as diverse as Southern California, Brooklyn, N.Y., and the little town of Burlington, Vt. Bhav brain, a condition marked by hugging strangers, tendency to lose things, and an inability to use simple devices like gas pumps, is particularly prevalent after multi-day kirtan festivals, which have become more common as the call-and-response chanting practice has exploded in popularity. In fact, the Bhakti Alliance, a kirtan-accrediting organization that has stirred great controversy in the bhakti world, was established in part to help contain the spread of bhav brain.

The scientists plan to continue their research on the brain effects of kirtan to better understand what it is about chanting the Names that seems to shut down the “monkey mind” and increase feelings of bliss and joy. They are also collaborating with experts in heart research to examine exactly how kirtan causes a “heart-opening” feeling, as many practitioners describe it.

Dr. Bhavananda said her team was particularly impressed by the kindness and resilience of the study subjects. “Despite the grueling nature of the study — undergoing hours of testing and long periods inside the MRI scanner — every single participant came out after and hugged each one of the researchers. My team had never seen anything like it.”

If you are a kirtan lover who would like to participate in this ongoing research, call 1-800-BHAVON2.

Happy April Fool’s Day from The Bhakti Beat!

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The Bhakti Beat needs your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit, a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain. In loving service...

Burning Bhakti Question of the Day: Why do so many kirtan enthusiasts insist on divorcing the practice from its spiritual roots?

The article linked below, “Kirtan: The Easy Meditation That Can Improve Your Brain,” has been making the rounds on social media, and while we applaud the recognition of kirtan as a meditative practice in a mainstream publication (Psychology Today), there are a couple things that are troubling here.

1) Kirtan, like meditation, may indeed be great for your brain, but the scientific studies cited by the author as evidence all refer to Kirtan Kriya, a practice that includes chanting but — very importantly, from a brain-fitness perspective — also integrates finger movements and visualization. The research studies did NOT study kirtan in the group call-and-response format, making the headline a huge leap, scientifically speaking.

2) Aside from one dismissive phrase, there is ZERO deference to the cultural roots of kirtan in India nor the historical tradition as a practice of bhakti yoga nor the contemporary South Asian practitioners who practice it in the West. This contributes to a cycle of cultural appropriation that, like it or not, casts a shadow on “Westernized” kirtan.

3) (and most troubling for us). The author states that “the practice itself has no inherent religious implication.” This is akin to asserting that yoga is nothing more than a fitness work-out. Why are we so afraid to call this practice what it is: a spiritual practice centered on chanting the names of God?

What say you, Bhakti Beaters?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/living-forward/201812/kirtan-the-easy-meditation-can-improve-your-brain?fbclid=IwAR1NgETHD49xftuMi47rZTT9oey5VHsak0ThV7PxNh95xt06zkdStl_t9nI

Neuroscientists have found that the motor cortex of certain string musicians have exaggerated brain “maps” devoted to the left hand, a consequence of the hand’s repetitive handiwork along the fret. I suspect Zakir Hussain’s brain holds the maps for at least four very large and finely elaborated hands.

It seems impossible when listening to this tabla maestro that he doesn’t have four hands. Like a David Copperfield of drums, Hussain’s hands are in perpetual motion, often just a blur of flesh-toned ribbons that the human eye can’t quite catch up to.  His performance at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts March 19 with bansuri flute master Rakesh Chaurasia was a magic show of divine order. Hussain coaxed and caressed and cajoled a mind-boggling array of rhythms and riffs, blips and broops, tiks and taks, from the trio of tablas that sat before him like an altar. Appropriate, given that the evening was for all intents an offering to the Rhythm Gods.

It’s as if each part of this man’s hands is its own instrument: Fingers, thumbs, palms, heels of the hand — each part works on its own yet in perfect synchronicity with the others, producing a musical stew that defies the logic of what a single musician can do. Each hand, moreover, plays a distinct role in the composition, separate but perfectly merged in rhythm and timing.

But Zakir Hussain doesn’t play his drums just with his hands: His entire body is involved, his facial expressions punctuating every note. Throwing an arm up in a flourish, cocking his head, squinting, glaring, grooving his torso with the tune, raising eyebrows, shaking his full head of wild dark hair, eyeing his flautist with an exchange that requires no words…like his hands, the movement of his body is constant, dynamic. When he goes into a prolonged solo riff, fingers all ablur, eyes ablaze, beads of sweat on his forehead, it’s as if he’s lifted off to another plane entirely, a place where he and his drums merge like impassioned lovers oblivious to the world of matter and form. Mercifully, he takes you right there with him.

It’s challenging to describe this dance among drums without dipping into the language of love and sensuality. And why not? It’s perfectly clear that Zakir Hussain is in love with his drums. This is not to be confused with any ordinary human love affair…

At the concert’s beginning Hussain was pensive, restrained, allowing the flute strains of Chaurasia to take the lead with a serene meditative raga, the Raga Marwa, appropriate to the pre-dusk hour of the show’s start. Tabla is typically an accompaniment, Hussain explained, a rhythmic partner who follows the lead melody. And so he offered the lead with praise to his musical compatriot Chaurasia, a nephew and protege of the great bansuri maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. As the evening progressed, the tikka-takka of the tabla entered like a wave, starting as a mellow swell barely noticeable beneath the undulating sea of bansuri, then gradually rising to mingle with the melodies of the woodwind, and inevitably building to a crashing, whirling crescendo that leaves your head spinning as if caught in the torrent of a big breaker. Formless, fluid, ever-changing ocean of sound, sweeping you along in its waves of bhava.

The 90-minute performance included three distinct works. The somewhat “serious” (in Chaurasia’s words) Raga Marwa was followed by a light-hearted Carnatic raga known as Raga Hansadhwani, and lastly, a folk tune based on the Himalayan Raga Pahari, which evokes a melancholy mood, as of love lost. Each was punctuated by the masterful improvisation for which Hussain is famous.

The maestro’s playful side was also on display throughout the concert. He cracked subtle jokes and rocked an expressive, entertaining call-and-response riff between tabla trio and bansuri.  At one point he surreptitiously added an exaggerated scraping sound effect as he scratched the side of his face. I think most of the crowd missed the gesture altogether, but he chuckled at his own irreverence.

It is no wonder Zakir Hussein is lauded as the world’s greatest percussionist and indeed, one of the greatest musicians of our time. Widely considered to be a chief architect of the contemporary world-music movement, his contributions to the genre include a long list of historic collaborations with musicians as diverse as George Harrison, YoYo Ma, Mickey Hart, and Ravi Shankar, to name just a few. You can see his full bio on his website.

We really can’t wait till someone does a brain scan so we can get a look inside his brain…

Visit The Bhakti Beat’s facebook page to see the full album of photos from the concert.

The concert was presented in association with the University of Vermont’s President’s Initiative for Diversity.

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The Bhakti Beat needs your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit, a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain. In loving service...

There’s a revolution going on in the bhakti world. It’s happening in living rooms all across the country. It’s called community kirtan.

Chantabridgia, a new double CD/DVD project in the final days of crowdfunding (DONATE HERE!), celebrates the power of community kirtan to soothe the soul, lift the spirit, and heal the heart. Chantabridgia features more than a dozen of Greater Boston’s favorite bhakti bands and solo wallahs — some of whom are well-known artists and some who are recording chants for the first time — on a three-disc set with over two hours of professionally recorded music and a video documenting its making.

It’s the first community kirtan compilation CD we’ve heard of, but we’re really hoping it starts a trend…

The Kickstarter campaign for Chantabridgia ends at midnight on Wednesday, November 15.  To support this project, please visit the campaign page and choose your level of support from among the many perks.

Chantabridgia is the brainchild of kirtan couple Tom Lena (aka Tamal Krishna Das) and Shakti Rowan, whose monthly Kitchari Kirtans in Cambridge, Mass., have become somewhat legendary local gatherings for Eastern Massachusetts bhaktas. (Chantabridgia, the name, is a nod to Cantabrigia, the Medieval Latin name for Cambridge, England.) Now in its 10th year, Kitchari Kirtan started as a few friends sitting around chanting together in Lena’s living room, and has grown into a mainstay event drawing local musicians and kirtan enthusiasts in joyful community to share kirtan and kitchari, a nourishing concoction of beans and spices that is said to be energetically cleansing and grounding.  The sessions often feature a touring or regional kirtan leader joined by local musicians holding the beat. Regular open-mic sessions give everyone — from veteran to newbie — a chance to take a turn at holding the bhava.

The Chantabridgia CDs will capture the spirit of these open-mic sessions of Kitchari Kirtan.  A number of beloved regional chant artists will donate a track, including Adam Bauer, Irene Solea, Shubalananda, Prajna Hollstrom, and guitar maestro Richard Davis. Boston-area favorites who will be featured include the Prema Bhakti Band, Jaya Madhava and Govinda Sky, and The Solar Dynasty Band featuring Ravi and Lisa, among others. Lena and Rowan offer two tracks: a joyful Shambo Shankaraya/Fire on the Mountain mash-up the pair co-wrote, and Lena’s cover of the title track from Girish’s “Diamonds in the Sun” album, a luscious Lokah melody that Lena finishes with the feel-good singalong classic, “This Little Light of Mine.” In all, more than 40 musicians are collaborating to make Chantabridgia a reality.  Mirabai Devi also makes a special appearance.

Lena said he was inspired to launch the Chantabridgia project out of a desire to “mobilize and challenge everybody in these difficult times to come together and share this practice of chanting, to empower other people to live in love, harmony and unity.”

“Looking at the world we live in, I was very troubled by what I was seeing,” Lena told The Bhakti Beat in an interview. “The political discourse has gotten very divisive. Economically, there’s growing inequality. There’s growing fear, and a kind of a resignation that nothing seems to matter anymore. What matters to me and is very near and dear to my heart is this chanting practice, and the community I helped start and have nurtured for almost a decade, Kitchari Kirtan.”

“I see that people are healed by this practice of kirtan; people are transformed right in front of my eyes.  It makes a difference in people’s lives.  They get connected. They don’t have to feel that they’re isolated or alone.”

Once it is released, 100% of the net proceeds will be shared equally by three charities: C.J Maa Music School, Rishikesh, India (http://cjmaamusicschool.org/); Call & Response Foundation, Northfield, VT USA (http://www.callandresponsefoundation.org/); Tunefoolery Music, Inc., Boston, MA USA (http://www.tunefoolery.org/).

Also see:

Visit the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1320771045/chantabridgia-answering-the-call-of-love-cd-dvd-do

Visit Tom Lena’s website: www.tomlenamusic.com

Visit Kitchari Kirtan: www.kitcharikirtan.com

Kitchari Cooking Class:

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The Bhakti Beat needs your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit, a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain. In loving service...

BREAKING NEWS — A consortium of record companies, event producers, harmonium makers, and chai brewers today announced the establishment of a nonprofit organization that will be responsible for accrediting and regulating kirtan artists from this point forward.

The announcement comes amid growing concern that the practice of call-and-response chanting can induce a rare but rapidly increasing brain disorder called kirtananandanitis, named after the wallah-scientist who discovered it three years ago. (Read our story on the discovery.) The condition, commonly known as “bhav brain,” was the subject of an alert by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control last April after cases were discovered in every town and village. Previously, kirtananandanitis was rarely seen outside of chant festivals, Krishna temples, and kirtan retreats, though there have been clusters of cases in Southern California, Burlington, Vt., and parts of Brooklyn.  Officials were alarmed by what they saw as a rapid increase in random cases of bhav brain as the practice of kirtan has spread to living rooms across the country, where people gather in community to chant for free.

A key condition of Bhakti Alliance certification will include how to recognize and address kirtananandanitis.  Kirtan wallahs will need to show proof that they have mastered the induction of bhav brain as a condition of accreditation.

The Bhakti Alliance will collect dues and certification fees to support its administrative personnel and fund a marketing campaign to promote the importance of a kirtan wallah being “BA-certified,” but will not provide guidelines for best practices, offer instruction, or enforce its principles.

“Basically, we just want your money,” said Bhakti Alliance CEO Ima Poser.

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If you like this, you might also like “10 Signs You Might Be a Kirtan Addict”

The Bhakti Beat needs your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit,  a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain. In loving service...

Mark this day in bhakti history.  White Sun, the Los Angeles-based Sikh-tradition mantra-music band, has won The Grammy for Best New Age Album. This is the first Grammy for any artist in the sacred chant/kirtan/bhakti/mantra-music genres of music.

The band’s second album, “White Sun II,” was announced as the winner of the one and only award in the New Age category on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 12, during the pre-broadcast awards ceremony in Los Angeles.  The album comprises a line-up of powerful mantras popular in the Kundalini yoga tradition of Yogi Bhajan, delivered with the stunning, ethereal vocals of the band’s lead singer, Gurujas, whose voice has a haunting, otherworldly quality that cuts straight to the soul.  She is backed by Harijiwan, Grammy-winning kora player Mamadou Diabate, the Punch Brothers’ violinist Gabe Witcher, tabla player Abhiman Kaushal, and Adam Berry, who provide the richly layered foundation for her vocal magic.  The band was founded by Berry, a two-time Emmy winner best known as the music director for the animated television series, “South Park.”

Gurujas, Harijiwan and Berry accepted the award jointly during the webcast of the Grammy winners.  Speaking at the podium with deep emotion, Gurujas said: “We just want our music to make something better for somebody somewhere.  It’s our dream to see this world a more beautiful place.  Anyone who shares that dream: thank you, we love you, and let’s do better.”

“White Sun II” has been highly acclaimed since its release in August 2016, and rose to the No. 1 position on Billboard, iTunes, and Amazon music charts.  The band announced recently that the album had been streamed one million times on Spotify.  The album won despite competition from a very competitive field of New Age stalwarts that included four-time Grammy winner Enya, Greek composer Vangelis, and 12-time Grammy Nominee Peter Kater.

With the Grammy win, White Sun has accomplished what no other kirtan artist has been able to.  Krishna Das famously nabbed the New Age nomination in 2012 for “Live Ananda,” and also became the first kirtan artist to play at the Grammys.  Jai Uttal broke the ground a decade earlier with his nomination for “Mondo Rama.” And just last year, a relatively unknown kirtan artist from the Krishna tradition, Madi Das Brinkman, was nominated for the groundbreaking charity album “Bhakti Without Borders.”

You can listen to and purchase “White Sun II” here.

Here is the band receiving the Grammy:

Also see: www.whitesun.com

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The Bhakti Beat welcomes your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit,  a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  All contributions are used exclusively to cover the direct expenses of bringing you News, Reviews, Interviews and Videos from the kirtan and mantra-music world.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain, heart and soul. In loving service...

Mondays have always been a little gentler for me because of Monday Night Kirtan.  The little weekly community kirtan* in my home ‘hood of Burlington, Vt., has been a welcome ritual for several years.  But this past Monday night it was the last place I (Vrinda) wanted to be.

(Wondering who the hell Vrinda is? Read to the end.)

A series of incidents — small and large, local and global, personal and collective — had left me in a funk: discouraged, disillusioned, disgruntled…generally feeling “dis”ed on many levels and definitely not feeling social. The introvert in me wanted to hole up in my woman-cave and try drowning out the dis-es with a very dry vodka martini.

Plus, it was snowing.

Winter had descended on Northern Vermont in the 48 hours since I had been kayaking on the lake in 60 degrees at sunset.  One more reason to sulk inside.

Alas, I had an obligation to be there.  So I forced myself off the laptop and away from the sickening newsfeeds of Standing Rock protestors being blasted with tear gas and water cannons in subfreezing temperatures, of a new tsunami warning at Fukushima, of the latest xenophobic cabinet pick by Trump, and 10,000 other bits and fragments that suck your energy straight through your eyeballs and into the World Wide Web of Propaganda, Manipulation and Fear.  I dragged a comb through my hair (not really), dabbed on some Javadhu powder in a lame attempt to mask the fact that I hadn’t showered all day, packed my to-go altar with extra sage and raced out the door, last-minute as usual.

But, it was snowing.

I spent the next 10 minutes scraping snow-covered ice off my car. Now I was late AND agitated. I got to Sacred Mountain Studio barely in time to throw some blankets and cushions in a semi-circle before the room filled in for the kirtan. I was all business, head down, task-focused, fairly daring anyone to engage me in conversation.

Nonetheless, this being kirtan, I was hugged. More than once.

As the room settled down and the night’s guest wallah, Heidi Champney, started to Om in, I assumed the cross-legged position on my purple cushion, scarf over splayed knees, spine straight, eyes closed, ready for lift-off from this hate-filled mundane material world. Take me away Calgon…I mean, kirtan.

Ha!

It happens during kirtan too…

My mind refused to catch up to the present. It was still racing back and forth from one situation to the next, replaying each interaction like a stuck tape,  re-creating each perceived slight or awkward confrontation, playing its slide show loop of Images One Can’t Forget.  The group was on the third Om by the time I dropped the mental mind-f*ck long enough to tone in to the sound frequency.

The chanting started with praise to Ganesha, remover of obstacles. Immediately, up welled another round of bogus inner chit/chat about this/that followed predictably by self-flagellating loathsomeness for not dropping my over-analzying, self-conscious judgmentalist ego at the door and just sinking into the mantra. And on we went…me and my monkey mind, dancing our silly dance, while the mantras played on.

Then I noticed something.  I noticed myself noticing the mantra.

Hari Ommmmm… Hari Om.

You know how a radio station fades in and out if you’re not quite in full range of the signal? The mantra was coming through in fits and starts amidst the background static in my brain of everything that was not mantra.  It was breaking through the mental orgy. I wasn’t even singing it — that’s how distracted I was — but it was breaking through. This is the power of mantra.

I felt a little inner smile for the observation, for the noticing. Then quickly as it came, I lost myself back into the static.  And I noticed that….with an inner roll of the eyes.

Then came Kali.

Oh boy, I thought with a bit of trepidation, here we go. Kali, with her bloody sword drawn and severed head in hand, poised to cut through the ego’s bottomless pit of judgment and self-conscious blather.  The head-talk flooded in:  Do people even know how powerful Kali is? Do they have any clue what they are invoking when they start calling out to Kali? Are they even remotely prepared for the kind of energy this formidable warrior goddess can whip up?  And then I was chanting it.

Kali Ma, Kali Ma, Kali Maaaaa.

Chant by chant, the layers fell away. I noticed the mind chatter subsiding as my chanting became steadier, less intermittent. The monkey mind was gradually but inevitably losing ground to the mantra. The inner chanter was displacing the inner chatter.

By the time we got to Radhe, I was all in.

It was the trio of Krishna-Radha chants that got me up on my feet and spinning in the corner of the room, inhibitions shed. Not caring about anything or what anyone thinks for at least one blessed moment in time. Letting my freak flag fly. Feeling the world fall away with each repetition of the Name, each spin of the feet. This is the power of mantra.

It was Tara, the Bodhisattva of compassion, who brought me back to Earth, her mantra like warm milk taken before bed. Cradled in the current of Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha, I felt at home, at peace, aware, present, content, unafraid. The monkey mind quiet at last.

This is the power of mantra.

After the kirtan ended, after the goodbye hugs, after re-folding the blankets and repacking the altar and taking out the garbage, I was dropping off a young man who lived near me, Kyle, who was fairly new to the Monday Night crew. Unprompted, he confides to me that when he had arrived at kirtan this evening he was not in a good headspace, that he wasn’t sure he even should have come.  Over the course of the night, he said, he felt his emotional state shift, leading to what he called a “huge release” toward the end.  He said he felt sure that “spirit” was in the room healing people.

I just stared at him. I felt like I was looking in the mirror…except the face looking back was a 20-something hipster dude with old-soul sapphire eyes and a beard twisted into dreadlocks, which stuck out of his chin like little goat horns.

That is the power of mantra.

Here’s a peek at the last chant of the night, a mashup of the Maha-Mantra and an old Gospel hymn called “Sanctuary.” The perfect cap to Thanksgiving week kirtan. Heidi Champney on harmonium and lead vocals; Jesse Taylor on acoustic guitar.

*Monday Night Kirtan in Burlington, Vt., is currently funded by the Call and Response Foundation as part of their initiative to kickstart recurring community-based gatherings that make the practice of kirtan accessible to all.  Contact them if you’d like to start your own community kirtan.

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The Bhakti Beat welcomes your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit,  a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  All contributions are used exclusively to cover the direct expenses of bringing you News, Reviews, Interviews and Videos from the kirtan and mantra-music world.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain, heart and soul. In loving service...

Editor’s Note: “I, Vrinda” is an occasional first-person series on TheBhaktiBeat.com in which I, Vrinda (aka Brenda Patoine) say what I’m thinking, whether you want to hear it or not.  Call it op-ed, editorialism, commentary, satire — hell, call it whatever you want.  Vrinda is opinionated but open, largely unfiltered, at times irreverent, and sometimes downright sassy (don’t say I didn’t warn you).  She’s pure Gemini, part wise, part wise-ass; the good the bad and the naughty all rolled up into one messy, messed-up, hopelessly imperfect, doing-the-best-she-can kinda’ gal, er, woman. She — I mean, I — may offer two cents or more on subjects from the ironies of the yoga world to the injustices of the corporatocracy,  the ins and outs of the bhakti community, or the ups and downs of internet dating. She/I may even occasionally try to be funny, undoubtedly with mixed results. Vrinda really just wants everyone to wake the f**k up (I warned you).   For more on Vrinda, including why she uses that name, click here on this link…oops, you’ll have to wait until I get that piece written. *sigh*

How does one describe the sound of a soul’s yearnings?

That’s how it feels to try to describe “Radio Nada,” the latest album from the Maine-reared, Brooklyn-ripened singer/songwriter who is known simply as Devadas. The name, given to then Andrew Labrecque by his guru, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (aka Amma, the “Hugging Saint”), means Servant of God.

Somehow “Servant of God” seems far more fitting here than singer/songwriter, as “Radio Nada” seems to scrape a little dust off your soul with every track.

Released February 23 and now available in all the usual places (see links below), “Radio Nada” is a study in contrasts, standing out both for its striking simplicity and its unobtrusive intricacy.  It is  simultaneously stripped-down and complex. Dark yet hopeful. Its shadowy nuances reveal an understated, almost inexplicable radiance. Like light emanating from a dusty bulb.

With an even split of ancient mantras juxtaposed with inspired modern lyricism, Devadas guides us along an undulating river of slow, steady traditional chants interspersed with a Ferris wheel of English songs spun from swallowed moons and wretched roses.  If you really listen, “Radio Nada” will bend your mind, then crack open your heart. Then it will do it all over again.

“I don’t want to live forever, I’m just waiting for the sun. I have seen a million moons and I’ve swallowed every one…”

One of the things we love about this album is how Devadas has intermingled traditional call-and-response kirtan with original songs culled from the depths of his own seeking soul. He has resisted the overplayed urge to shoehorn English lyrics into the middle of sacred mantras and has instead effectively integrated the two forms while keeping them separate.  This lets these powerful mantras speak for themselves without being muddied up with someone’s English interpretation of them.  And it lets his fantastical dream-like poeticism shine, in all its shadowy spin-your-headiness.  This is a good thing.

We asked Devadas what compelled him to make a hybrid CD like this, which is not nearly as common as the mantra-fusion trend where English and Sanskrit try to coexist within a song.

“The songs seemed to fit together well with the traditional kirtan and I thought they might give a clearer picture of who I am and where I’m coming from, and maybe make the whole story deeper,” he said. “Not that my story’s so important; it just happens to be what I’m burning through and what I figure I ought to be showing.”

“Sleep sleep wounded child. Sun in your mouth, stars in your eyes. The world awaits like a lioness pacing, so dream dream dream.”

It could easily fall apart into a disjointed mumbo-jumbo of maniacal musings mingled with mantras, but somehow it all works.  Maybe it’s the steady underlying rhythm and bass that reappears track in and track out like an old friend greeting you, whether the subject is Radharani, Queen of the Gopis, or a wounded child with the sun in her mouth and stars in her eyes.  Maybe it’s the recurring soundscape of hypnotic electronica and understated guitar.  Or maybe it’s the constancy of Devadas’ haunting vocals, rife with the earnestness of a young Bob Dylan or a less raspy Tom Waits.  Something, somehow, keeps the brilliance of these disparate tracks from dissipating into the brooding dreamscape on which they appear to be built.

It’s one of those things that’s hard to put your finger on, but in the end it really doesn’t matter because you know it’s in the right spot by the way you feel afterward…

“Through darkest shadow I disappear, through smoke and dream I ride. Where all angels fear to move in the wastelands I do hide. Built up a fire and I burned it all down. Slept in a bed built under the ground. Waiting still, this weary heart…the wretched for the Rose.”

There’s an unmistakable darkness to this album, a ruminative mood that bleeds through on every track. Even the chants to Radharani, Narayana, and Amma, with so much potential for ecstatic abandonment and joy, are grounded in a heart-felt melancholy, a yearning that seems never quite fulfilled, a seeking not quite satisfied.  One cannot help but be affected by it.

Does “Radio Nada” represent the dark side of this urban Jedi hipster-wallah? Here’s how Devadas responded to that query: “To me, they’re songs about searching, about questioning, about falling down, trying to get back up, trying to figure things out. It’s hard to say if that’s a ‘shadow-side’… Maybe it is? To me I’m just trying to show my ‘human side’ in a truthful way.”

Ah, authenticity.  How very refreshing…

All we can say is Bravo, Devadas.  You’ve done it again.

We say this because his last album, “Brooklyn Mellows,” is one of our all-time favorite kirtan CDs.  So much so that it literally got stuck in our car CD player from playing it so much.  “Brooklyn Mellows” is pure bhakti brilliance — a thoroughly delicious double-disc set that devotes an entire CD to iterations of the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra in the style of the late great vaishnava Aindra Das, who famously started the 24-hour kirtans in Vrindavan, India and published an epic series of live CDs called “Vrindavan Mellows.”

“Radio Nada” picks up where “Brooklyn Mellows” ended and dives deeper, revealing more of the humanness of the God-Servant than even he may realize.  We even detected a subtle sonic nod to the carnivalesque theme of “Brooklyn Mellows,” which featured soundbites recorded at New York’s legendary amusement park, Coney Island.  Listen carefully and you’ll hear the tinkle of the carnies’ bells embedded in “Radio Nada’s” tracks …

“Rain …it keeps falling it’s filled the canal where we used to play, tossing coins in a well. All of that’s gone now, it’s a different world changing. It’s midnight and soaking, the streets are all empty.”

Devadas has just launched a rare little tour in Northern California before he heads back home to the East Coast for gigs in his home ‘hood of Scarborough, Maine and other New England hot spots.  If you get a chance to sing with him live, don’t miss it: it will be some of the most moving kirtan you will experience.

But don’t take our word for it, take this for as example, recorded a few years ago at Vermantra:

See also: www.devadasmusic.com

Buy “Radio Nada” at CDBaby, Amazon, or iTunes (way better for the artist than streaming!)

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The Bhakti Beat welcomes your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit,  a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  All contributions are used exclusively to cover the direct expenses of bringing you News, Reviews, Interviews and Videos from the kirtan and mantra-music world.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain, heart and soul. In loving service...

Ever dreamed of having Jai Uttal sing the Names in your living room? How about a little kirtan lesson from Uttal himself? Or maybe you’d love to hear him retell — in his inimitable style — some epic scripture, like say…the Ramayana?  Well now’s your chance.

As part of his quest to “share my music, my heart and my experiences with people without being on the road all the time,” Jai Uttal is trying something new (to him anyway): offering an online course for fans and followers, webcast from the comfort of his own home to the comfort of yours.  It’s called “Awakening Bhakti” and you can register for it here.

We asked Uttal why this course, why now, why online? He said that traveling “has taken a bigger and bigger toll on me, physically and emotionally” in recent years, and that this course is part of his effort to create a “sustainable lifestyle” that lets him be at home with his family.

“I LOVE SINGING WITH AND FOR PEOPLE!!!” Uttal told us (in all caps, yes) in an email interview in between recording sessions for his album in-the-works, “Roots, Rock, Rama,” which he is making with long-time collaborator Ben Leinbach plus Jeff Cressman and Peter Apfelbaum, the horn section of the Pagan Love Orchestra, Uttal’s band for the Grammy-nominated 2002 album “Mondo Rama.”   Despite his obvious passion for live, up-close and personal sankirtana, Uttal says he just can’t take the travel. The online course is “a way for me to share with everyone in a deep, meaningful and relaxed way from my own home.”

‘Hang Out’ With Jai

There’s a full description of the course at www.whereismyguru.com, which is hosting it.  Uttal told The Bhakti Beat that it’s a chance “to learn about bhakti and how it can became the central core of our lives and how some of my life experiences have deepened my own relationship to this path; to hear where some of the songs come from, and stories about my Guru, Neem Karoli Baba; to receive never-before-seen videos of my live performances; to hear the entire Ramayana in five chapters; to receive audio recordings of many live kirtans, and to just hang out with me and get to know me a bit better…”

“Awakening Bhakti” takes place over three weeks beginning March 1.  At the core are four live, interactive web-conferences with Uttal that can be downloaded and viewed at any time.

The $99 price includes everything.  Seems like a reasonable investment to bring Jai Uttal into your living room, no?  Sign up here.

Call & Response Scholarship Available

Still, not everyone has an extra 100 bucks lying around waiting and available to awaken their bhakti, we get that.  That’s why we were so happy to hear that the Call and Response Foundation is offering a scholarship to one lucky bhakta in need of some financial support.  All you have to do is write to jen@callandresponsefoundation.org before March 1 and tell her why you need the scholarship. One winner will be randomly chosen from the entries and announced on the Call and Response Foundation’s facebook page.

Do check out all the good work of the Call and Response Foundation — under the expert leadership of Jen Canfield, this non-profit organization is taking the healing power of chanting into places you wouldn’t expect, like prisons and psychiatric centers and recovery services.  Plus, they’ve just launched a new program to support and maintain community kirtans across the country. In short, they’ve got your bhakti back.

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The Bhakti Beat welcomes your support!  We are non-commercial and not-for-profit,  a free service to the bhakti community that is completely self-funded save for the loving contributions of Bhakti Beaters like you.  Your support is critical — please share the Beat with your bhakti peeps, connect with us on social media (links below), and consider a one-time or recurring donation (DONATE HERE) to help us keep this bhav boat afloat.  All contributions are used exclusively to cover the direct expenses of bringing you News, Reviews, Interviews and Videos from the kirtan and mantra-music world.  Thank you from the bottom of our bhav brain, heart and soul. In loving service...