From the category archives:

chant

Sanctuary by Donna De Lory

April 29, 2010

Another highly-recommended yoga album:

Singer and songwriter Donna De Lory has always followed divergent musical roads. The petite, vivacious brunette with the mighty voice happily dallied in the mainstream as Madonna’s sassy tour sidekick for over a decade, but her own parallel journey as a solo artist follows a more eclectic muse. A devoted student of yoga and spiritual teachings, De Lory’s lushly conceived solo albums, like her 2009 ecstatic groove Sanctuary, are not only inspired by Western pop, but Indian devotional music, Sanskrit mantras, Northern African grooves, psychedelic arrangements, and dance beats. Donna blends her rich spiritual practice, sonic collages and diverse musical inspirations into a unique, world music-meets-kirtan style that’s been called “the perfect combination of earth Mama and fairy child, with a voice that oscillates between the passionate laments of Janis Joplin and the crystal clarity of Enya.”

“Playing music is my yoga,” says De Lory. “It’s my bliss. When I play, I get lost in the music, my mind stops, I am in the moment and I am free. This is a place I never want to leave.”

Buy on Amazon.com

Tagged as: donna de lory, music, sanctuary

Read more ~

The Yoga+ Kirtan Yoga Playlist

June 30, 2009

I just found an amazing Kirtan Yoga Playlist at Yoga+ that I had to share. It’s not one of those “click on the title to download” kind of playlists, but ten actual songs that you can listen to the whole 13 minute song for free and really enjoy. Not old stuff either. Very current and great sound quality. I highly recommend. If that weren’t enough there’s a bonus playlist with another seven songs. Just one of the fruits of my new yoga magazine purchases, which I’m also slowly enjoying.

When you listen to “Amba Parameshwari,” close your eyes and imagine yourself standing in a beautiful forest next to a flowing river.

Tagged as: kirtan, mantra, meditation, music, yoga

Read more ~

Interview with Krishna Das

July 18, 2007

I just ran across an audio interview with Krishna Das done a few months ago by CBC Radio. I enjoy listening to his music and thought I’d share. To listen to some of Krishna Das’ music, check out the Box.net music folder in the right column. Or instead, if you want to listen to the entire Pilgrim Heart album, click here.

Here’s the introduction to the interview:

The Devotional Chant of Krishna Das

When he was growing up on Long Island, his name was Jeffrey Kagel. A trip to India and a meeting with the renowned guru Neem Karoli Baba would change the course of his life. And his name. Krishna Das, the name his guru gave him, would become famous around the world for his kirtan – devotional chant. Kirtan is an ancient spiritual path – part of the tradition of Bhakti Yoga – yoga of the heart.
So much has changed for Krishna Das since his first trip to India – but the Jewish guy from Long Island is never far from the surface. The sense of humour, for starters.
Krishna Das has been chanting on a regular basis in yoga centers all over the world. He has taught with Ram Dass and sung for many saints and yogis here and in India. Krishna Das is Mary Hynes’ guest this week on Tapestry.

Listen to the interview with Krishna Da
(runs: 46:06)

RealPlayer is required to listen to audio files.
Download the RealPlayer plug-in for your browser.

Read more ~

Making Good Use of a Long Drive

February 16, 2007

Yesterday, I took an emergency trip to the doctor. Fortunately, the doctor’s visit wasn’t related to anything serious. Unfortunately, the doctor I had to see was a nine and one-half hour car drive away. It’s a little frustrating to drive nearly 20 hours for a 20 minute visit to the doctor, but I tried to make good use of my time.

I started off the drive listening to talk-radio, which was quite inspiring (sarcasm). After a while I realized I could probably find something better to listen to, so I started browsing through some of the CDs in my car. I eventually landed on the Krishna Das page and since I was all by myself for the drive there wasn’t any reason to feel self-conscious about getting into some “Om Namah Shivaya’s”

With a lot of pavement to cover, I popped in Das’ Live on Earth album since I hadn’t ever had a chance to listen to it. I had a good time faking my way through some incoherent chanting. I kind of have to feel my way into the chants and try to pick up what’s being said. When that album was over, I moved on to Greatest Hits of the Kali Yuga, which is one of my favorites of Das, especially to do yoga with when I feel like having music on at home.

Anyhow, while the chanting was fun and helped shorten the seemingly endless miles of pavement in Montana, I’m really happy to be safe, sound and home in Moscow again. If you’ve never chanted much before, and you have a long trip to take by yourself, you might find as I did that there is no better time to let loose with some chanting than while you are alone in your car. Here are som of Das’ albums to preview: