It’s finally coming on spring here, the daffodils are starting to come up, and the hip replacement surgery is also coming up — it’s on March 18! Last month we had a beautiful kirtan here led by Johanna Beekman — it was so sweet. She’s about to set out on another tour & also has a new CD in the works, I’m looking forward to hearing that when it’s finished.
So I’ve been in a very inactive period here before the hip surgery — I can’t walk or swim & it’s driving me nuts. But in the quest to make lemonade out of lemons, one of the good things is that I can make lots of podcasts, it’s been kind of fun! This edition is the set I played for our kirtan circle for Valentine’s Day, focused on the Heart Sutra & other chants to open the heart.
We have music from Jane Winthur, Deva Premal & Miten, Kristin Luna Rae, Shantala, an amazing Heart Sutra offering by Lee Mirabai Harrington, a beautiful Purnamadam chant by Jaya Lakshmi, and then ‘Aham’, another chant by Shantala from their CD Living Waters that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
I enjoyed putting this set together, and given the download numbers you guys REALLY like the podcasts that are all music, so I’m just going to do a bunch of them for a while. Until next time my friends, Namaste.
P.S. Many thanks to my wonderful agent Stacey Stahl at In Both Ears for permission to use this pic for the podcast.

Chants To Open Your Heart

Kirtan, one of the oldest sacred music traditions of the world, helps the mind to become quiet and open to the experience of peace. We bring you a new 60-minute satsang session each week, featuring music by talented new western kirtan artists.

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Hello friends,
Happy Autumn!
In this edition we’re featuring artists playing at next week’s Bhakti Love Reunion, October 13-15 in Weldon, CA — that’s near Lake Isabella. Three full days of Yoga, kirtan, music, dancing and great food — doesn’t that sound awesome? I am SO excited to be going, I haven’t been to a festival in such a long time, and many of the artists we all love will be there. Jai Uttal & Donna De Lory are headlining. There’s a lot more detail on the website, here’s the link. And if you enter NWK when you buy your tickets, you’ll receive a 20% discount!
I hope to see you at the Bhakti Love Reunion! Ben Leinbach said it best; “It’s gonna be a great hang.” Indeed!
Enjoy this magical music, dear listeners, and until next time — Namaste.
The Music
Jai Uttal: Dust & Tears; Ode To The Mystics
Ananda Rasa Kirtan: Mulani – Dub Kirtan; Jagadambe Jay Ma Durga (feat. Prajna Vieira)
Radhika Vekaria; Kali
Johanna Beekman & Ben Leinbach: Yoga Soundtracks Vol. 2; Beauty We Love (featuring Girish)
Donna De Lory: Sky Is Open (Mac Quayle_Donna De Lory mix)
Jaya Lakshmi: Live at the Altar of Love; This Is The Day
Kamini Natarajan; Jab Te Mohi
Michael Hathaway: Offering; Servant (featuring Jai Uttal)
Joss Jaffe: Dub Mantra Sangha; Ganesha
Larisa Stow, Soon Soon
Mikey Pauker & Johanna Beekman; Help Us Love
Masood Ali Kahn; Ganesha (featuring Deepak Ramapriyan)
Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion: Lovolution; Lokah Love
 

The Bhakti Love Reunion!

Hello friends,
This set is devoted to the Divine Mother, with the exception of one chant, the title track from Shantala’s remarkable new CD ‘Five’. The whole CD is great, but I’m kind of obsessed with this track & have been playing it on loop. Heather Wertheiimer composed the chant over the course of the pandemic, and the mantra ‘Namah Shivaya” pulses like a heartbeat behind a five-line English prayer for our planet. The chanting flows in a layered musical tapestry that features the Grammy-winning violinist and singer Lili Haydn from Opium Moon, and she brings the piece into a beautiful new dimension. The other talented musicians who contributed to this remarkable track were Greg Barnett on bass, lead guitar, vocals, and vocals by Luna Marcus & Sarah Maines.I must have listened to it a hundred times, and it never fails to move me.
I hope you’re enjoying this beautiful early summer wherever you are. It’s an honor to have you as a listener. Until next time my friends. Namaste.
Here’s the link to Ziva Meditation: https://cd371.isrefer.com/go/ZOPreview/JaiMa/
Bhakti Love Festival: https://bhaktilove.com/
The Music:

Jaya Lakshmi, Sublime: Jai Ma
Edo & Jo, Bliss: Narayani Om (Abundance)
Kristin Luna Ray, One Shared Heart: He Ma Durga
Brenda McMorrow, Igniting the Beauty: Maha Lakshmi/Jai Ma
David Newman, To Be Home: Bhavani Jaya Jaya
Saul David Raye & the Atma Recording Project, 10,000 Suns. Music for Healing Peace & Awakening: Mother I Feel You (Gayatri Mantra) Feat. Sukhdev Jackson & Johanna Beekman
Sean Johnson and The Wild Lotus Band, Calling The Spirits: Jai Ma
Mukti, Light of the Sun: Jai Jai Ma
Shantala, Five: Five
Deva Premal, Soul In Wonder: Lokah Samasta

 

Hello Summer!

I’m feeling blessed by a lot these days. Those of you who listen to the New World Kirtan Podcast are one of my biggest blessings — this community has enriched my life in ways too numerous to count. Thank you for being here. And we’ve been here together for quite a long time — the first edition of the podcast was posted in 2018 before anyone really knew what a podcast was. I was always trying to explain it! We’ve been through quite a journey together — my mother’s illness & death, my own surgeries & health challenges, several momentous American elections and the COVID-19 pandemic, to name a few. Kirtan & Bhakti Yoga were my anchors through all of it.
To honor our journey, I’m rerunning some of the most downloaded episodes of the NWK Podcast over the years. We’ll begin with Om Shiva from 2013, to celebrate the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri on February 18. This podcast has been a journal of sorts, and I have to say I loved listening to my 2013 self talking about how I’d like o build a kirtan community here in Corvallis. How far we’ve come!
I’m blessed to have you as a listener, dear one. Until next time. Namaste.
THE MUSIC

Ty Burhoe, Krishna Das, Manorama, John Friend & Amy Ippoliti, Invocation: Om Namah Shivaya
Shantala, Jaya: Om Namah Shivaya
Indiajiva, Om Spiritus, Music for a Peaceful Planet: Om Namah Shivaya
Carrie Grossman, Soma-Bandhu: Om Namah Shivaya
Govindas, Yoga Sol: Om Namah Shivaya
Prema Hara, Sweet Surrender: Shiva Appears (Om Namah Shivaya)
Masood Ali Kahn, The Yoga Sessions: Om Namah Shivaya
Betty Roi, La Lumiere Du Son


A Set For Maha Shivaratri

Hello friends,
I hope this finds you healthy & doing well.
If the dark days are getting you down, take heart because on Wednesday we celebrated Imbolc, an ancient Celtic holiday that celebrates the beginning of Spring — it was traditionally celebrated by the lighting of fires to honor the sun goddess Brigid. This holiday traditionally marks the midway point between winter solstice & the spring equinox, so the light is coming back big time now. There’s a set to the Divine Mother to celebrate Imbolc up on Spotify at the New World Kirtan page if you’d like to listen. Life is good here, I hope the same for you.
This edition of the podcast is an interview with Dave Stringer, Madi Das & Sean Johnson about the very exciting news that Madi & Dave’s CD ’Mantra Americana’ has been nominated for a Grammy award!
Dave, Madi & Sean will tell you about the process behind getting the Grammy’s New Age category renamed to include chant for the very first time, how the pandemic helped with that process & led to the birth of the Auricle Collective — as you probably recall, I’ve been telling you about that project in the last several podcasts. Then we’ll hear about the mashup of musical influences that gave birth to this extraordinary album ‘Mantra Americana’, and how Dave & Madi feel about going to the Grammys for the second time. The music so rich musically, I know you’re going to love it!
Now it’s Saturday, and the Grammys are tomorrow night, so let’s send the guys all our love and best wishes. And if you have a minute, don’t forget to give the New World Kirtan podcast a rating on iTunes, it will help more people to find us. Until next time, my friends — Namaste.
MANTRA AMERICANA

Hey Gopinath
Boro Sukher
Om Namoh Bhagavate
Maha Mantra Americana
Shri Guru


Kirtan Goes To The Grammy Awards!

It has been a glorious summer & fall here, one of the most beautiful I can remember. But now the rains have started, and the leaves are falling. The Corvallis kirtan community continues to grow, and we’ll be starting live kirtan concerts again in December. It feels good to be returning to this magical practice.
Let’s enter the way back machine for a moment and recall, back in April, me telling you about the Auricle Collective — a community of more than 156 musicians rooted in singing, chanting & music as art and spiritual practice. These are the musicians that fuel our Bhakti Yoga practice. If you were able to participate in the Spotify Experiment, explained in the 2 previous podcasts, we are deeply grateful. Here are some of the results.
Since the launch of The Experiment, we have generated over 2,000 Spotify followers for our kirtan artists, with an average growth of 280% in followers from before the Experiment began. This means that our artists’ music will be circulated more widely through Spotify’s algorithms, and whenever any Auricle artist releases new music, many more listeners will be notified. We now have 1,00 subscribers to the Auricle newsletter and have heard from many artists from around the world who wish to join the Collective. This is a fantastic beginning, and we’re excited to see the impact expand and the ripple effect over time. We’re so thankful for your support in making this possible!
The Spotify Experiment is now ongoing; anyone can follow all of our artists with one click at any time.  Click on this link, and please continue to share!
Here’s some more exciting news — sacred chant has been designated as a new category for the Grammy awards! The next few podcasts will be featuring music from our Grammy-nominated artists, so stay tuned!
The music in this week’s set is the third and last of the podcasts with all new music from Auricle Collective artists. Please enjoy, and if you think of it, please give the podcast a rating on iTunes, it will help more people to find us.
Vote. Believe in the vision, and what a beautiful world we’ll create. Much love to you all, and until next time — Namaste.
THE MUSIC

Jai Jagdeesh, ‘Road To Somewhere’ ~ Single
Ragani, ‘Bring Me Home’ ~ Single
Madi Das, Mantra Americana: ‘Hey Gopinath’
Johanna Beekman, Joss Jaffe and Shylah Ray Sunshine: ‘Words Of Love’ ~ Single
Deva Premal & Miten, Timeless: ‘Tara Mangalartha Mantra’ – Prayer (Climate Balance) – feat. India Arie
Sirgun Kaur, ‘Ma’ ~ Single
Kaita, In The Lap Of The Infinite: ‘Medicine Buddha’
Corinna Swara, ‘The Jewel In The Lotus’ (Kenny Dread remix)
David Vito Gregoli & Ricky Kej, Wild Monsoon: Sharad (Autumn)
Julia Berkely, Aham Prema: ‘Aham Prema’
Nadav, ‘The Four Angels’ ~ Single

 

Chants To Open Your Heart

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