Kirtan

Leo writes:

For several years we practised a mantra-based meditation from India. This gave us a taste for the beauty of Sanskrit, the sacred language of ancient India. Sundara learned to play the harmonium and we started to sing bhajans, the devotional songs of India, which are mostly sung in Sanskrit.

There’s a funny story about the harmonium. This instrument was developed in Europe, and was used by missionaries to spread Christianity in India.

But some of the Indians they encountered said “we’re not really interested in your religion, but we LOVE that instrument!” and they adopted it to use with their bhajans.

A further twist happened in the 20th century, when sages from India came to the West to share sacred Indian chants, bringing their harmoniums with them. The legendary Paramahansa Yogananda sang to a packed Carnegie Hall in New York in 1926, sitting cross-legged on stage with his harmonium.

This sparked an interest in Indian chanting in the West that has become a thriving subculture. Now there are many Western composers creating their own songs based on ancient Sanskrit chants. One of our favourite composers is Krishna Das but we have several others, and Sundara has composed a few songs of her own too.

So, is this cultural appropriation, or did the harmonium boomerang and become a means of spreading Indian culture in the West?

Either way, we love these songs! We sit on the floor in the traditional style, but you can sit on a chair if you prefer. We have lots of cushions and a few backjacks too.

You can create harmonies if you like, and you can also simply sit and listen. We explain the meaning of each chant before we sing it, so you can tune into this meaning for yourself. Singing songs which invoke positive qualities is an immensely healing thing to do; doing it in a group is even more so.

We don’t have a religion to push here, however. We are offering these events simply because we love devotional singing, of all sorts. That little harmonium has gone all the way to India and back, and brought some beautiful songs with it!

For upcoming kirtans, see our events page.