02-27-2007, 11:24 PM
I love a kirtan. They always bring me back to a magical evening Mrs. DM and I spent in Rishikesh. We were both wrapped in local shawls to ward of the Himalayan chill and we came upon this group of saddhus in full kirtan. It was amazing. As we sat on the edge of the circle, gazing out over the moonlit Ganga river, the magic of Rishikesh became part of our souls. I'll never forget that feeling of joy and of music.
Of course, no kirtan has ever come near to that experience. And here in California, kirtans are very different. There's a lot of stigma from the old 'hare rama, hare krishna' kirtans which most Americans are most familiar. Few non-Indians know how to immerse themselves in kirtan. It's the art of chant, of call-response music, which we still here in funk, gospel, rap and of course, reggae. It often doesn't work here. But when it does, it's a blast. Kirtan streamlines it down to the chant call-response. Still, if the audience doesn't participate, it doesn't happen. The show was mostly Berkeley yoga folk - 'hind-jews' as Jai Uttal dubbed them. They did the best they could. The Sita Ram kirtan was good, but at some point in it, I always expect a rama lama ding dong. I enjoyed the shiva kirtan the most.
Ahhhhh Rishikesh. Perhaps some day, I will return to you.
Of course, no kirtan has ever come near to that experience. And here in California, kirtans are very different. There's a lot of stigma from the old 'hare rama, hare krishna' kirtans which most Americans are most familiar. Few non-Indians know how to immerse themselves in kirtan. It's the art of chant, of call-response music, which we still here in funk, gospel, rap and of course, reggae. It often doesn't work here. But when it does, it's a blast. Kirtan streamlines it down to the chant call-response. Still, if the audience doesn't participate, it doesn't happen. The show was mostly Berkeley yoga folk - 'hind-jews' as Jai Uttal dubbed them. They did the best they could. The Sita Ram kirtan was good, but at some point in it, I always expect a rama lama ding dong. I enjoyed the shiva kirtan the most.
Ahhhhh Rishikesh. Perhaps some day, I will return to you.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse