The Story of Bhagavan

Kirtan is an ancient form of call and response chanting, which typically involves repetition of Sanskrit mantras. The idea behind kirtan is that by repetitively chanting the name of God, we reveal our true nature, bringing us closer to God. It is said that when we chant kirtan we should open our hearts so much that we sound “like a child crying out for it’s mother”.

I’ve been a musician all my life – drummer, keyboard player, composer, producer. I have had the good fortune to perform all over the world with many great musicians in a wide variety of styles – jazz, rock, pop, classical, and several forms of world music. However it was only after getting serious about yoga that I was first exposed to kirtan. One morning, while on a visit to the serene Sivananda Ashram in Canada’s Laurentian mountains I was invited to chant in the temple. Some time later the Swami took me aside and told me there was something special in my voice and that I should follow this path. Well, after a lot of hard work, and with the support of many very talented friends, the path has led to this moment, and the creation of my first kirtan album, Bhagavan.

Because my yoga training is in the Sivananda tradition, it’s no surprise that Bhagavan is an album of Sivananda chants. However I wanted to do something slightly different as well. I love to sing along with kirtan albums. Particularly in the car. I have often found though, that the sound of the voices in the kirtan chorus is distracting and an influence on how I sing the responses. So I decided to do an album of kirtan with no chorus, but rather leaving an open space for you, the listener to put in your own voice and “be” the kirtan chorus. If anyone remembers the old “Music Minus One” series, think of it as “Kirtan Minus One”. So instead of having a vocal kirtan chorus, we have instruments playing the responses in the spaces, to outline the melody. Of course, if you don’t feel like singing, you still have a lovely instrumental melody playing. For some chants we felt just one lone instrument was enough, while on others we used a “chorus” of instruments.

In the end we couldn’t resist adding a vocal chorus to a few chants that felt like they “needed” it. This will give newcomers to kirtan some idea of what a live kirtan might sound like, and also an idea of how to sing in the spaces on the other tracks… like a child crying out for it’s mother. So please, sing in the spaces. Sing outside the spaces. Just sing!