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Music: Raising the kirtans
India-derived devotional practice is leaving a lot of music fans chanting for more...

by Andrea Pflaumer

In the not-so-distant past, before Homeland Security measures rendered airport lobbies off-limits, the only orange "alerts" to which weary travelers were subjected were gatherings of young people in saffron robes handing out tracts and chanting the names of Hindu deities: "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare..." Back in the 1970s, the eponymously named Hare Krishnas raised ecstatic voices and "kundalinis" with their intoxicating drumbeats, encouraging all within earshot to turn their minds to God. What they were performing was an ancient devotional practice from India called kirtan—literally "to praise that which is exalted," and its legions have recently seen a dramatic surge.

It's a cool November afternoon at Mission Dolores in San Francisco. A tall, large-framed baritone from the boroughs of Manhattan, sporting a well-worn flannel shirt and jeans, ambles up to the front of the pews, settling onto an elevated stage platform along with his sidemen: one on tabla, one on tamboura and, as a nod to the singer's previous incarnation as a rock musician, an electric bass player. With few words of introduction, the singer, Jeff Kagel—who goes by the name Krishna Das or KD to his fans—begins chanting, his resonant tones filling every corner of the basilica with an almost bluesy invocation to Krishna. On cue, all 700 audience members chime in, repeating what he has just sung. Fifteen minutes later, as the chant comes to a climax, the voices reach a fevered pitch that to passersby sounds like a cross between the roar at a football stadium for a 96-yard kick-return touchdown and the rapturous "saved" at a revival meeting.

The practice of kirtan can be as simple as the repetition of the name of an archetypal Indian deity, or as lengthy as the 40-verse Hanuman Chalisa, a tribute to devotion based on the Hindu epic poem, the "Ramayana." For both newbies and hard-core fans, kirtan's appeal is deeply emotional and often inexplicable. David Goldstein, co-founder of Yoga of Sausalito, which hosts many kirtan artists, describes his "first time": "At a yoga retreat several years ago I saw a flyer with one of those gauzy glamour promo photos that said, 'We'll be joined by world-class musicians Benjy and Heather Wertheimer who will be leading kirtan every night.' I thought, 'Oh God, what is this New-Agey crap'...but I went...and just fell in love with it—I can't really say why." An avowed former "metal head," he adds, "I wouldn't ever have predicted that I would have liked this music. But clearly there's something more going on there."

That something more has to do with kirtan's association with the branch of yoga called bhakti—devotion and surrender. The fact that most of the chants are sung in Sanskrit adds another dimension of accessibility. "The Sanskrit language was designed to allow you to have a spiritual opening and a connection," says Clark Samson, a Greenbrae plumbing contractor who both attends and now accompanies local kirtans. In spite of the echoes of Indian culture, local kirtan artist Jai Uttal explains, "Kirtan is designed to heal the heart...when the heart is in the process of healing it naturally becomes connected with universal spirit, however we look at it." Most of kirtan's champions in the U.S. came to the practice by way of Ram Dass's guru, the Indian saint Neem Karoli Baba. In 1970 Krishna Das, one of the best-known American kirtan "wallahs," turned down a gig as frontman for Blue Oyster Cult shortly after Ram Dass introduced him to Maharaj-ji (as Baba was then known). Though the guru didn't teach a formal practice, his charge was simple: "Meditate like Christ." When asked what that was, he replied, emotionally, "He lost himself in love." Maharaj-ji also encouraged a channel for devotional practice that resonated with his musical devotees—"go and sing." Today, KD, along with Marin kirtan artists Jai Uttal, Geoffrey Gordon and Uma Reed, carries the torch of that lineage.

Although many kirtan wallahs come with lengthy credentials from the rock, jazz and traditional music worlds, what sets their chanting events apart from other music concerts is the uncharacteristic humility one senses from the performers—that and the relative lack of idol worship from even die-hard fans. Those phenomena are due in part to the requisite audience participation. Perhaps an even more significant factor is that for many performers, chanting is the very public expression of their very private spiritual practice. Donna DeLory, who has for more than 20 years been a back-up singer and dancer for Madonna, balances the freneticism of that life by performing intimate kirtan chant concerts. At first it's a little disconcerting to listen to her lead a powerful, lyrical chant followed only by pin-drop silence. But the event is complete in itself—there is no need for wild applause.

During its infancy in the U.S., kirtan was simply one of several items on a menu of practices offered at ashrams or spiritual retreat centers, but over the past 20 years it has ventured into the secular world, becoming a public event in yoga studios—a venue providing a ready-made circuit for artists. Some performers have now taken kirtan into larger halls or found themselves in unusual settings. Dave Stringer, a regular on the yoga-studio circuit, was unexpectedly booked into a bar in Mississippi when the local studio owner decided to bring the music to where the music fans were. Stringer, who describes what he does as "participatory theater," came up with a creative way to introduce his atypical audience to kirtan: He projected the words on an American flag explaining it was, "Sanskrit karaoke...the crowd drank and smoked and sang along and we ended up having a great time." As a community, kirtan fans and performers are willing to travel just about anywhere to participate in workshops and retreats both locally and in exotic places like Costa Rica, Greece and Malaysia. This year there was a kirtan encampment at Burning Man. At the recent Peace Day in Sao Paolo, Brazil, Krishna Das led a free kirtan concert attended by more than 12,000 people. PJ Morrison, who manages Boloma, a Web site listing Bay Area kirtans and links to Web sites of kirtan artists, has worked with local performers like Suzanne Sterling on "Chanting for Charity." Those events generated funding for Ammachi's San Francisco food kitchen and for Operation Shanti, a project that feeds the street children in Mysore, India. "Chanting for yourself is one thing, but when it benefits others it's kind of special" he says. KD concurs. His guru encouraged disciples to "love people, serve people and feed people."

In this country, kirtan seems to have grown legs, tightening up the focus and intention of the practice, and attracting audiences looking for a spiritual experience as well as an artistic one. That maturation is largely due to the musicians who have molded the form to their own artistic leanings and spiritual insights. "The main idea is to give people empowerment to have a practice in their lives," says Geoffrey Gordon. "To try to bust open the dogma of religiousness and make the kirtan experience truly universally available." As such, the kirtan world offers a big and generous tent, embracing sounds as diverse as David Newman's lullaby-like Hanuman Chalisa to native New Orleanian Sean Johnson's blues-inspired CDs. From gospel to Celtic, reggae to Latin, kirtan is coming to the masses, and they are chanting up a storm—of bhakti.

A chants encounter

Here are a few upcoming kirtan events in Marin:

Geoffrey Gordon, Fairfax Community Church, Nov. 18 and Dec. 16 at 7:30pm

Krishna Das at Embassy Suites Ballroom, San Rafael, November 19 at 7:30pm

Jai Uttal at Spirit Rock, 5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Woodacre, December 9 at 6:30pm

Heather Lawrence at Open Secret Bookstore, San Rafael, December 6 at 7:30pm

Benjy and Heather Wertheimer at Yoga of Sausalito, January 25 at 8pm

David Newman at Yoga of Sausalito, February 2, at 7:30pm

Kirtan venues and information

Boloma — listings for Bay Area-wide kirtan events: www.boloma.com

Open Secret Bookstore, 923 C Street, San Rafael; www.opensecretbookstore.com

Yoga of Sausalito, 110 Caledonia, Sausalito; www.yogaofsausalito.com