shivdev
USA
10 Posts
Posted - Aug 08 2017 : 1:07:23 PM Show Profile Reply with Quote Get a Link to this Reply
Eventhough this post is old thanks a lot Kirtanman. I am really enjoying Krishna das and jai uttal's kirtans. I have been looking for good kirtans for a long time but thanks to your post found them.
quote:
Originally posted by Kirtanman
Hello & Namaste, All!
Per discussion in a recent thread in the Self-Pacing section, Christi requested a list of my "Top Ten" Kirtan artists - so here they are!
Please Note that many times, "#1" is understandably the artist that I am listening to / chanting with at the moment, and that I enjoy them all enough that they are genuinely hard to rank (actually, come to think of it --- I won't! ) - I'll just list the artists I've found most enjoyable and helpful to my practice "in no particular" order.
Also, please note that the kirtan community is fairly small - so I've met almost all of the artists listed below, and know some of them at least a little bit -- so if anyone has "follow-on" questions about any of them - I may well be able to answer them.
Enjoy -- and please feel free to let me know what you think, if/when you listen to, and/or practice with, any of them (via CD, presumably - but they all tour, as well).
And, it turns out - you get a couple of "Bonus Listings" - the Top Ten "somehow" morphed into the ..... Durga Dozen!
KIRTANMAN'S FAVORITE KIRTAN ARTISTS
Krishna Das
www.krishnadas.comwww.myspace.com/krishnasdas Recommended songs to check out on MySpace
"Namah Shivayah" and "Rock in a Heart Place"
To get an idea of the deep, traditional formality (you know - kinda like how *I'm* always deeply, traditionally formal) of kirtan -- check this video clip out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rOVyHyewW-k&mode=related&search=(Krishna Das with Donna Delory and Wah! <--- the ! is part of her name - like Yahoo!)
7 minute clip goes like this:
1st part - deeply formal intro (or not).
2nd part - cool but complex-sounding Sanskrit, likely designed to scare people off (or not).
3rd part - cool "Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram" chant, which nicely highlights KD's style, but is only a minute or so of the total clip.
And this clip notwithstanding (meaning: no evidence of ultra-packed house) - KD is the U2 of Western kirtan, and regularly sells out venues of a thousand people or more -- which, as you can imagine, generate "nuclear bhakti" - big time!)
Recommended Starter Album: Greatest Hits of the Kali Yuga
(Contains great live CD, and cool inspirational DVD).
"THIS JUST IN!!"
YouTube is freakin' amazing (in a VERY good way) - just found this live clip of Krishna Das and a thousand or so of his closest friends chanting "Namah Shivayah" from the November 8th kirtan at the Mission Basilica, in San Francisco, CA --- I was there -- and it was rockin' beyond belief; the video was shot from the first ten-ish rows - there were several hundred people, at least beind the videographer).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMluNbYKk5w&mode=related&search=Jai Uttal
www.jaiuttal.comhttp://www.myspace.com/musicbyjai Check out "Ganesha Sharanam" (give it at least a minute; it'll grow on you! ).
Also "Tomorrow Never Knows" - amazing song; helped me to be present with my mother, as she dropped her body, last year, in a way that nothing else did (helps you get a feel for what *really* happens when one "dies") - it's a combination of "Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles (lyrics taken from John Lennon's interpretation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, lyrics written while he was tripping on LSD, combined with a deeply heartfelt Shankara (Shiva) chant - from the grammy-nominated Mondo Rama.
Recommended Starter Album: Mondo Rama or Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant
Donna Delory
www.donnadelory.comDonna is one of Madonna's (yes - that Madonna) back-up singer-dancers, and schedules kirtans around the world in connection with touring with Madonna.
Donna Delory MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/donnadelory Check out "He Ma Durga", and "In The Sun" (I normally steer clear of Enlglish when it comes to kirtan, but this is simply one of the most inspirational and beautiful songs I have ever heard - in any language).
Donna Delory YouTube Clip - Ganapati Om
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZJr-BAX3go(understandably nothing like the studio version, but still cool to view, to get an idea of what a "donnakirtana" is like.)
Recommended Starter Album: The Lover and the Beloved are One
NOTE: Her version of Namah Shivaya (on the album noted above) is just ..... amazing. If 20th-21st century pop-rock music had been around in Vedic India, this song would have been a #1 hit. For centuries.
Dave Stringer
www.davestringer.comhttp://www.myspace.com/davestringer Dave introduced Donna to kirtan. Thanks, Dave! He also managed to list my four favorite songs of his, as his myspace selections.
He and I have had conversations about how "Bhagavati" is the song that caused of both to foresee that kirtan can (and will) fill and completely rock ten-thousand seat venues.
Recommended Starter Album: Japa "by a nose", Mala works 99% as well - and Brink has Shivo'ham.
Dave ROCKS. And he's a GOOD musician -- but I don't expect you to believe me ---- treat yourself to 30 seconds (more is okay ....) of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocONu2G3tSQGirish
www.girishmusic.comGirish played tabla for (literally) almost everyone else on this list before doing his own CDs.
http://www.myspace.com/girishmusicCheck out his version of the Gayatri!
He and his family are some of the coolest people I've ever met; his daughter Tara is the star of every Girish kirtan (and she won't even be a year old for another couple of months).
David Newman / Durga Das
(Same guy, two names)
http://www.myspace.com/davidnewmandurgadas This guy puts the "heart" in k-i-r-t-a-n
Check out "Bajarang Bali" (way cool song-chant to Hanuman, and Sita-Ram).
He and his partner Mira are sweet and bhakti-ful beyond belief!
Recommend Starter Album: Lotus Feet - A Kirtan Revolution.
("As Featured" on NPR - National Public Radio -
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5498912 )
Wah!
Ahh, Wah!
http://www.myspace.com/wahmusicI'm gettin' tired, folks --- but Wah! is no less awesome because she's farther down the list!
Recommended Starter Album: Jai Jai Jai
Jaya Lakshmi
http://www.myspace.com/jlakshmi Ditto --- she's amazing, on every level!
Check out "Pancha Tattvit"
Bhagavan Das
"The Jimi Hendrix of Kirtan"
http://www.myspace.com/bhagavandas And please note: IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!!
Many people have a very long list under that header - I have just one:
He introduced Ram Dass (then Richard Alpert) to his guru, Sri Neem Karoli Baba - and thus, very directly, created the Western kirtan movement -- Bhagavan Das, Krishna Das, Ram Dass (known, for obvious reasons as the "Das Brothers") and Jai Uttal all recorded kirtan albums based on guidance from their guru - who felt that chant was a key gateway to unleasing the bhakti needed for Realization.
(You may find this tough to believe, but ---- "I concur"!)
Check out "Raghupati" and "Ode to Ganesha"
Recommended Starter Album: NOW
(produced with Mike D of the Beastie Boys - both songs shown above are on this album.)
Mantra Girl
www.mantragirl.comKundalini Yoga instructor who makes beautiful music with folks like her husband, known film music composer Adam Smalley, and the New York Philarmonic Orchestra.
Recommended Starter Album: Truth
The song "Adi Shakti", which prompted Christi to request this list, can be heard on her site.
Wynne Paris
http://www.myspace.com/wynneparis Check out Saraswati and Bum (Boom) Shiva!
Bum Shiva is one of my favorite "fun" kirtan songs; Bhagavan Das does the lead vocals - and if you're guessing the production of the song may have been "herbally augmented" - I'm guessin' you're right!
Recommended Starter Album: Emptiness and Ecstasy
(Feutures Saraswati, Bum Shiva and Hey Hanuman (cool duet-ish song featuring Krishna Das and his daughter, Janaki).
Last (for now) but certainly not least --
Ragani
www.raganiworld.comShe leads the largest ongoing kirtan in the U.S. - a thousand people or more, the first Friday of every month - in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, no less!
Hear tracks from her new album at:
http://www.raganiworld.com/cds.htmlIn terms of sheer, yogically-beneficial kirtan-for-practice selections, I'd recommend Krishna Das and Ragani, respectively!
Hope this is helpful, in terms of introducing those of you who are interested to some of the most awesome and spiritually uplifting music that the world (for the most part) has *never* heard (so far ....).
A friend of a friend recently heard some of the artists listed above, and commented, "Oh My God, I never knew music like this existed!"
Well ....... "Now ya know!"
Enjoy!
Peace & Namaste,
Kirtanman