Kirtan ~ Call & Response Mantra Singing ~ Yoga-Sing-a-Long
Saturday March 27 at 7 pm - $10.00
Among the many forms in which the human spirit has tried to express its innermost yearnings and perceptions, music is perhaps the most universal. There is something in music that transcends and unites. This is evident in the sacred music of every community – music that expresses the universal yearning that is shared by people all over the globe.(Hyoun, 2000, p. 7) His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Kirtan is a devotional or Bhakti form of Yoga entailing call-and-response mantra chanting. Although the pre-cursors to Kirtan have a very long and deep history, Kirtan itself is relatively new. It’s origins stem from two itinerant Saints of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 – 1533) and Guru Nanek (1469 – 1539), the founder of the Sikh Religion.
The Sanskrit word Kirtan means ‘to praise or glory’ the various names of God. There are several distinct forms of kirtan: Nam-kirtan are songs composed of God’s sacred names; Lila-kirtan celebrates the esoteric activities of the Divine; Sankirtan is performed in groups; Nagara-Sankirtan when the group is in the streets. All forms are ecstatic quality and involve dance. Bhajan, a related form, is typically a more solitary, meditative practice; although Bhajan is sometimes performed in a group, it lacks Kirtan’s ecstatic nature. (Rosen, 2008, p. 4)
The development of the Bhakti Yoga movement occurred during the sixth century CE, when wandering poets and bards from the Shaivite Nayanars and the Vaishnava Alvars of India sang from the Vedas, the earliest Earthly sacred texts. Bhakti emphasizes the heart and essence of Divinity rather than rigid observances from on high. By opening the Divine to the entire population, Bhakti spread rapidly setting the stage for Chaitanya and Nanak to develop Kirtan a millennium later.
More recently, in the 1960’s era of War; Hippies; Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll; Civil Liberties, MLK and Lunar Landings; it was the descendants of Chaitanya’s Vaishnavism, The Hare Krishna’s who brought Kirtan to the Western World, where it has spread like Chaitanya’s devotion to Krishna. Today Kirtan is growing in popularity, at all levels and is often performed in Yoga studios, churches, and in popular music: Madonna, George Harrison, Mariah Carey and many more feature mantra singing in their albums. In fact there are currently a host of Kirtan ‘stars’ with top selling CDs and international celebrity status including Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Snatam Kaur, to mention only a few.
Today Kirtan is sung in many languages though its origins are Sanskrit and to a lesser extended Gurmukhi, an early Punjabi language. By chanting in a foreign language the mind does not focus on the words’ meanings, sticking in the rational and analytical brain, and simply is absorbed by the sound and its innate vibrational and emotional meaning. Sanskrit in particular due to its Divine origins elicits the sacred by its mere utterance. Many cross cultural instruments are routinely used during a Kirtan including: the sitar, guitar, harmonium (originally from France and thought to be a low caste instrument, it gradually gained acceptance and popularity amongst many Kirtan performers), khol or mridanga (double headed drum) tamboura or drone, tabla drums, flute, violin, and hand percussion instrument such as hand cymbals (kartals).
Glory ye in His holy name. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals.
Psalms 150.4-5 (Rosen, 2008, p. ii)
