Can You Sing Om? (from this week's TIME)

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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031006-490684,00.html

Can You Sing Om?

Western practitioners are putting a new spin on the

call-and-response yogic chant known as kirtan

 

 

Monday, Oct. 06, 2003

Even if he wanted to, the musician who calls himself

Krishna Das could not hide the fact that he was born

on Long Island as Jeff Kagel. For one thing, there's

his undeniably white skin, and when he sings in Hindi

or Sanskrit, he does so with an undeniably American

accent. But Das, who is known as K.D., has no desire

to hide his New York roots or the fact that his

musical style owes as much to the blues as to his

Indian guru, Neem Karoli Baba.

 

K.D. is a practitioner of kirtan, devotional chanting,

which originated as a component of the religious form

of yoga known as Bhakti and is conducted by call and

response. Chanters repeat short phrases over and over,

invoking the names of Hindu gods. With the current

embrace of all things yogic in this country, the

ancient ritual is enjoying a vogue, and as practiced

by K.D. and other prominent American performers, it

has taken on a decidedly Western slant. While Jai

Uttal (ne Doug Uttal), Bhagavan Das (born Michael

Riggs) and Dave Stringer (his real name) chant in

Hindi and Sanskrit, all incorporate Western

instruments and melodies on their CDs and in their

live performances at yoga centers and small arenas

around the country.

 

 

In addition to the traditional accompaniment of

harmonium and tabla (Indian drums), Stringer employs

electric guitars and violins. Uttal frequently

underscores his chanting with riffs reminiscent of

bluegrass and reggae. "You can sing chants the way

they are sung in India," says K.D., whose last album,

Door of Faith, was produced by kirtan devotee Rick

Rubin, who has worked with Johnny Cash and the Beastie

Boys. "However, I was born in America — I grew up on

rock 'n' roll — and my natural musical emotions are

different from an Indian person's."

 

This appeal to American sensibilities seems to be

connecting with audiences eager for spiritual

experiences. At a kirtan at the Moksha Yoga Center in

Chicago, musicians played mandolin and acoustic

guitar. An altar was set up with candles, fruit and a

picture of Jimi Hendrix, who did not practice kirtan

but, according to chant leader Debi Buzil, "embodies

the music and embraced God." The chants' Sanskrit

lyrics were projected on the wall via Powerpoint. When

Moksha held its first kirtans four years ago, 10

people would show up; today the sessions regularly

draw 80. "This is the most happy-producing thing that

I know right now," says Mark Rubin, a lawyer. "It is a

combination of grounding and ecstasy."

 

Aaron Reed, a computer specialist in Los Angeles,

attends kirtans led by Stringer. "It's like a rock

concert," Reed says. "Dave infuses it with rock 'n'

roll, soul and the blues." Reed notes, however, that

at a rock concert, the audience gazes up at a

performer onstage, while at a kirtan, everyone

participates. "It's empowering to sing with others who

experience the process with you," says Reed. Greg

Wendt, a financial adviser in Los Angeles, explains

that kirtans allow him to "spend time with people on a

spiritual path and share that passion with our

voices."

 

Wendt says that when he chants, "the stress melts in

my body and I feel this opening in my heart." But

whether he is actually practicing kirtan is a matter

of debate. Georg Feuerstein, founder of the Yoga

Research and Education Center near Redding, Calif.,

says kirtan is an exclusively Hindu practice in which

believers praise gods to whom they are devoted. He

contends that although non-Hindus or those who do not

understand what they are chanting may experience a

quasi-religious feeling, "the traditionalist would

want to know why divine Hindu names are being used for

that purpose."

 

Joyce Schmidtbauer, a commercial producer in Los

Angeles, says she benefits from not understanding the

words. "My mind won't hold on to the meaning," she

says. "Instead, it just becomes sounds that I know

have power and are prayerful." K.D. agrees. "It is the

very unfamiliarity of the language that stops the

mind," he says. He is unapologetic about his American

adaptations of the music. "As my path got deeper, the

melodies came out in a more natural way for my

incarnation," he says. "And I am arrogant and dull and

stubborn and lazy enough to just let that happen."

What could be more American than that?

 

— With reporting by Sally Duros/Chicago and Stacie

Stukin/Los Angeles

 

>From the Oct. 06, 2003 issue of TIME magazine

 

 

Got K.D.'s new CD "Door of Faith" yesterday. I'm

listening to K.D.'s totally kewl version of the

traditional "Om Jaya Jagadisha Hare" arati song as I

type!!

 

Keval

 

 

 

 

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