I wrote this post about 6 years ago but just wanted to re-post it.
Our family went to the stunning Fingerlakes region of New York state and got to see an intimate Krishna Das Kirtan event at the Hangar theatre. For those of you that are new to Kirtan, it is a call and response performance where the leader is chanting out sanskrit chants involving various Hindu gods such as Krishna, Ganesh or Shiva. Kirtan discovered me about ten years ago in San Diego at a Deva Premal and Miten performance in San Diego. I didn’t know anything about Kirtan and had never been to this kind of performance where the audience is completely involved and engaged.
What is Kirtan? What will change in your life after Kirtan?
Most Kirtan aritsts don’t consider it a “concert” or”performance’ but just a group of like-minded souls getting together to raise their vibrations through chanting. For those who go bonkers over the sitting and silence involved in meditation kirtan or chanting is another avenue to raise your awareness in an open-hearted and divine way and will leave you feeling blissed out and connected to the ether of the universe.
Kirtan with Krishna Das in the Fingerlakes, Ithaca, NY
Layering traditional Hindu kirtan with accessible melodies and modern instrumentation such as drums and violins, Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.” With a soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon, primarily in the US and Europe and the best-selling chant artist of all time, with over 300,000 records sold.
When you think of yoga and meditation students, you usually have an image of them just sitting quietly and without moving. Something about KD’s ( as his fans and friends call him) makes yogis start to twirl around in delirium… quite a sight! When I looked around the room at the Hangar Theater, I saw a wide range of demographics:from singles, couples, families and young people in their 20s to more senior folks who must have been in their 60s. I always wondered why at Kirtans I only see all whiteface. I’ve been to dozens of Kirtans and even though the music has an appeal to all age groups, it seems to just appeal to caucasians. Anyone out there have an explanation for that?
What answers will you hear from your soul after Kirtan?
Kirtan with Krishna Das in the Fingerlakes, Ithaca, NY
Something mysterious and other-worldly about the chants gets me to be present to that deep voice in my soul… when I am searching for answers to my most soul-wrenching questions, I can start to hear that quiet but wise voice which I call my soul become clear. The vibrations in the chants help you to tune into frequencies within that you can not easily access without a spiritual practice such as yoga, meditation or prayer. Have you been to a Kirtan before? What was it like for you?