Kirtan has recently arrived in the West, carried by brilliant singers and musicians, creating a new musical movement that has turned yogic chanting into a cultural phenomenon. This book interviews eight of America's top Kirtan singers, Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Bhagavan Das, Snatam Kaur, Ragani, Jai Uttal, Dave Stringer, and, Wah.

The Birth of Kirtan: The Life and Teachings of Chaitanya is the biography of a mystic saint who pioneered devotional yoga (Bhakti) in sixteenth-century India and started the practice of sacred chanting (kirtan) that has now spread around the world. While Chaitanya’s practice has become a global movement over the last five hundred years, little is generally known about this spiritual reformer, as the two principal texts recounting his life were written in Bengali in the sixteenth century. In The Birth of Kirtan, Bhakti scholar and teacher Ranchor Prime adapts these two narratives into a moving and emotionally charged English-language biography for a modern audience. His poetic retelling is complemented by full-color reproductions of never-before-published nineteenth-century paintings of Chaitanya’s life.

Ancient ideas on sacred sound find a very tangible and lively expression in the practice of kirtan, which is a broad term referring to various forms of devotional singing commonly done in South Asian traditions. Kirtan is a core practice in the Hindu and Sikh faiths that is becoming increasingly popular around the world among people of all ethnicities, thus developing as a transnational and transcultural phenomenon. Indeed, the broader cultural implications and deepening social penetration that this practice has achieved over the past five decades suggest that it is attaining permanent status in the world’s religious soundscape. Sacred Sound and the Transcultural Practice of Kirtan explores the practice of kirtan as it has been re-created in the United States, Canada, and Brazil through multi-sided interactions that generate new cultural patterns in an ongoing process of cross-pollination. Approaching kirtan as a type of ‘technology of the self’, Gustavo Moura combines textual, historical, and ethnographic sources to address the questions of how this practice is adopted and adapted in the Americas and how it has been shaping identities, communities, and traditions.

A Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

The Bani, called Kirtan Sohila in Gurmukhi, is read before one goes to sleep at night. It is also a common practice to recite it at a funeral, when the body is cremated. Three Sikh Gurus – Guru Nanak, Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan - contributed five shabads in total to this bani on the pain of separation, and celebrating the bliss of union with God. The first three shabads were uttered by Guru Nanak, the fourth by Guru Ram Das, and the fifth by Guru Arjan Dev. The first Shabad (verse) reminds us of the day, when death will eventually come. Those fortunate souls, that succeed in achieving union with God are referred to as happy brides, who attain union with their Husband (Lord) amid songs of joy. The second Shabad tells us that God is the Supreme Creator of all, including the Sun, which is the cause of time, days, nights, months, seasons etc. Likewise, God Who is One, is the cause of countless manifestations. Satguru reminds us that the school of thought, which teaches us to sing God's praises and worship Him sincerely, is the only profitable way. The third Shabad emphasizes that there is no benefit in the empty observance of the ceremony of Arti (worship with small lamps placed on a platter). Nature (Moon, Stars, and Sky) and the entire Universe is constantly performing the Divine and True form of Arti for God. This verse also requests God for His Mercy. The fourth Shabad describes the deplorable condition of a sinner. His love for ego causes him to suffer pain and grief. Emphasis is laid on achieving union with God, through living a virtuous life and the True Worship of God and His Name; for this is the True object of human life. The fifth Shabad asserts that man can only obtain union with God only in this life; he will repent in failing to do so. Pray to God to seek from Him the Divine Name and the society of True Saints (Enlightened Beings).