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Top 10 chanting (kirtan) albums

Hello pop pickers!

Off the back of what may have been Harpenden’s inaugural evening of Sanskrit chanting last weekend, I’d like to share my favourite chanting albums with you.

You’ve got no excuses now – you can get your Om on in the car, whilst doing the washing up, or on the 8:04 to London St Pancras. As with all the best hit parades, we’ll start in reverse order (click on the titles to buy/listen to the albums):

 

Amma10: Bhajans (songs) from any of Amma’s World Tours

Amma, otherwise known as ‘the Hugging Mother’ loves to chant. I’ve chanted with her on her world tour when she’s visited Alexandra Palace in North London, and I’ve also been honoured to join her at her ashram in Kerala. In Kerala she had me in tears (read about my Amma experience).

Her chanting is proper traditional Indian yoga chanting and a proper slice of devotion (bhakti).

 

Wah! Maa9: Wah! – Maa

And now for something completely different… Featuring the music of American singer/yogi Wah Devi, she mixes traditional Sanskrit mantras with a bit of funk and dance.

Not at all traditional but rather good none the less.

 

 

Heart-Soul-kirtaniyas8: The Kirtaniyas – Heart and Soul

I first heard of this group last year via the harmonium teacher Daniel Tucker and I really like this album. They’re not amazingly well known and you can download via their website by simply naming your price.

When they chant ‘Hari Bol’ I always think they’re saying ‘horrible’ over and over again.

 

Peter Kater, 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama7:  Peter Kater – 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

Ok, this isn’t strictly a kirtan (chanting) album. It’s the soundtrack for a film about His Holiness the Dalai Lama but it does feature Tibetan Buddhist chanting. It’s by multi-platinum selling Pianist/Composer/Producer Peter Kater, who has received six Grammy award nominations. He’s amazing. It’s amazing.

 

Sivananda Yoga Chants of India6: Sivananda – Yoga Chants of India

This album features snippets of audio sung by Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishnudevananda – the teachers who founded the school of yoga where I originally did my teacher training.

It also features modern takes on traditional chants, including one led by Swami Krishnadevananda who ran the Putney Sivananda Centre where I taught for a few years. He was about six foot five, from South Carolina and he rocked the harmonium. The version of Raghu Pati Raghava provides a chance to hear his voice.

 

And now for this week’s top five…

 

deva premal love is space5: Deva Premal – Love is Space

If you’re interested in yoga music, it’s a given that you’ve heard of the lovely Deva. She’s sold around a million CDs internationally and visited London last month as part of a world tour.

I really don’t like this album cover but her version of the Gayatri Mantra is fab.

 

jai uttal ben leinbach4. Jai Uttal and Ben Leinbach – Music for Yoga and Other Joys

This is a chilled out yoga album. Think Goan beachfront café made of coconut palm fronds, sitting watching the sunset… and that’s where this album takes you. It’s Café del Mar meets yoga.

Nataraja is my favourite.

 

snatam kaur3. Snatam Kaur – Anand

Snatam is slightly different to the other yogis included here. She chants in Gurmukhi – a language that’s Sanskrit based, but not pure Sanskrit – and she was brought up in the Sikh Kundalini yoga lineage as taught by Yogi Bhajan.

She has a wonderful voice and the name of this album – Anand – translates as ‘bliss’.

 

Krishna Das

2. Krishna Das – Heart Full of Soul

Called ‘the American chant master’ for good reason, Krishna Das is another kirtan stalwart.

The first time I saw him in London, I was blown away. It was at the Union Chapel on Upper Street and everyone really gave their hearts and a lot of soul.

 

 

And it’s a non-mover at number one…

 

Jai-Uttal-Kirtan-The-Art-Of-Ecstatic-Chant1. Jai Uttal – kirtan: the art and practice of ecstatic chant

This is my favourite kirtan album. It’s two CDs and contains over two hours of great chanting. Jai also gives an introduction to the practice and talks about what drew him to it.

His voice gives you energy and you’ll be joining in in no time…

 

So that’s my top 10. Have I missed your favourite out? Feel free to comment below as I’m always looking to expand my CD/iTunes collection…

Oh and we’re going to set another date for a Harpenden chanting evening. If you’d like to come and I don’t have your email address, email me.

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Goswami, it’s your birthday. We gonna party like it’s your birthday.*

This week I had the pleasure of hearing some of the Srimad Bhagavatam being chanted. The Srimad Bhagavatam is an ancient yoga text that talks about the life of Lord Krishna.

Was I in India to hear such a thing? Nope, I was in Putney at the London Sivananda Centre in the company of Sri Venugopal Goswami and his wonderful musicians. Based in India in Vrindavan – the birthplace of Lord Krishna – they visit London every year for seven nights of chanting, chatting and meditation.

Sri Venugopal sits on high in front of about 20 people and expertly chants and interweaves readings from the text.

The tambura drones throughout and we’re transported to a land of Krishna and his gopis. “We chant a little” announces Sri Venugopal and his cross-legged musicians perk up. A slight Indian guy with a cheeky grin and an 80’s mullet begins expertly flicking his wrists and fingers on the tabla drum. The pace quickens and the gruff-looking harmonium player gets lost in the music.

Sri Venugopal closes his eyes and his chanting transports us to Vrindavan. We sit and easily forget our snowy, cold London day. And just as quickly as the chanting started, it stops and he talks.

He talks of Stalin. Though I’m sure this is his own addition and not a Srimad Bhagavatam original…

He talks of devotion and the heart. He talks of karma yoga and selfless actions: one man checks up on his neighbour as he hadn’t seen him for a month and was concerned. “Why would you just be coming to say hello?” asked the neighbour suspiciously. Sri Venugopal says how sad it is that we now live in a time when people think that there must be an ulterior motive. You can’t just do something to be kind.

He talks of the ego: imagine a thick block of ice (very easy to imagine at the moment) and a small candle sitting alongside. No matter how small the flame, gradually the ice will melt. The ice is our ego and the flame is chanting, meditation and yoga. Little by little these teachings reduce our ego. How good is that.

I was surrounded by familiar faces and some unexpected ones too. It was a lovely night and I look forward to their return.
*Title courtesy of that famous yogi, 50 Cent and his song, ‘In da club‘. Yes, I can do pop culture too.

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Karma without the chameleon

It seems that quite a few of my blog posts stem from conversations with non-yogi friends but I found myself having another one the other day…

Pic of Culture Club
The boys of Culture Club

So there I was having a chat with a friend and we were talking about if it’s possible to make a living from teaching yoga (there’s a whole other blog post there…). I was teaching a class later that day at the Sivananda Centre in Putney and he asked how much I got paid for it. “Oh no, I don’t get paid for teaching there,” I replied. He couldn’t believe it: how was I ever going to be able to live off yoga if I taught for free, I was providing a service so I should be paid… you get the picture. I said, “I do it as selfless service – it’s karma yoga.” Now that opened a whole big can of worms. 

But what is karma yoga? I’d describe it as doing someone else’s ironing for them, knowing full well that you’ve got a stack of your own that’s been sitting at home for weeks untouched, but you’re doing theirs just because you want to do it. There’s no expectation of a reward whatsoever.

Swami Sivananda says of karma yoga,

” Man generally plans to get the fruits of his works before he starts any kind of work. The mind is so framed that it cannot think of any kind of work without remuneration or reward. A selfish man cannot do any service. He will weigh the work and the money in a balance. Selfless Service is unknown to him.”

So it’s your attitude towards the work that counts. It’s also a central theme to the Bhagavad Gita, where Prince Arjuna looks to Krishna for advice on the battlefield. Arjuna doesn’t want to fight but Krishna says that it’s his duty and that he shouldn’t be so focused on the results:

“With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace…”
Bhagavad Gita V.5.11.

You’re doing something not necessarily because you want to do it, or because it’s fun to do. Prince Arjuna didn’t want to fight members of his family, but you’re doing it in order to serve humanity, a god, or just for the greater good. It can be likened to helping in a soup kitchen on your day off work, or volunteering with the eldery. It’s just doing your bit in order to serve whoever you feel comfortable serving – God, your local community or whoever.

What I can say is that I feel a sense of wellbeing and happiness giving something back, and while that feeling lasts, I’ll continue to clean loos, iron and teach for free.