World

I appreciate the sound of Keshavacharya’s voice and his deliberate style. He doesn’t sing too fast, nor too slow, his tunes are not poppy or catchy necessarily, but it is the emotion and depth to his singing that leave the listener eager to hear more and more. He truly achieves a meditative and blissful state by connecting with the power of the transcendental mantras which are the focus of his music. The best part is that attentive listeners are also able to take part in the meditation. Two thumbs up – the heart of kirtan is present in this music.
~JRS

I had the pleasure of seeing Krishna Das live recently, this week in fact, and he is a brilliant performer. Attending a concert is like being invited inside one of his CDs, the sound surrounds you in a magical way. Not that you get to the concert and you don’t recognize the songs and wonder how many outtakes there were in making the CD you bought. Krishna Das’ voice is rich and soulful and he delivers his music in a sincere way. In person I was also very intrigued by the performance of his tabla players – what an incredible skill.

This group is living in Japan and I want to thank them profusely for sending their CD to me – jaya!

Devi 2000 is Chicago’s premier kirtan group who regularly performs at the Moksha Yoga Center.

Devi 2000 is Chicago’s premier kirtan group who regularly performs at the Moksha Yoga Center.
**What is kirtan?

Because of the “remixing” this album left me feeling distanced from the essence of devotion which lives within the mantras. Dial M offers listeners a loungy sound, I imagine this as something I might play for a mocktail party at my home. It would also work well as background music at a spa. Very subtle. The track which I found most enjoyable is Maha Dev which is a nice tribute to Lord Shiva. I look forward to more from Jai and I hope that next time his “remixing” is more uptempo than down. What can I say, I love to chant and DANCE.
~JRS

Temple Bhajan Band is an LA based group, formed in 1999, who performs in the Southern California area at yoga studios and special events. I find Bhakti Seva, the fifth and most recently released album, to be solid and enjoyable from start to finish. The CD is well composed and captivating, which encourages listeners to sing along – my favorite part! In my opinion the best track is “He Govinda” which features an excellent “back and forth” between female and male vocalists. The recording quality of Bhakti Seva is superior to previous albums as is the cover art – Jaya Jagannath!

I get the feeling that, like myself, Damon Albarn suffers from insomnia. Not in the sense that he’s constantly active and regularly releasing new albums, which is not the case. Rather, the music he does release has an ethereal quality to it. A quality that tends to manifest in the delusional, dreamlike states one can only slip into while deprived of sleep. The upbeat poppy aspects of these delusions can be seen in early Blur and Gorillaz disks as a euphoric fantasyland of hope, possibilities and a fuck-all attitude. At other times a more somber tone is produced.