VAIYASAKI DAS - CHAITANYA CHANDRA
"Like alchemy, the music of Vaiyasaki Das has the right caliber of love and energy to reach you through the peepholes to your soul, no matter how fractured and tiny, transforming it into something innocent and free. It contains the effortless devotion of a child; it is traveling to India free of charge. It is a meditative ride through the Himalayas; it is the boundless joy that comes for no reason surprising you every time; it is the very fragrance of one's heart opening, the one true blessing! Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti."
-Shivani Loka-Laksmi - Writer and Producer of the upcoming film Temple of Bagan
CHAITANYA CHANDRA
"I discovered many of these 400 year old songs in India & Bangladesh and have now introduced them to the West. The album was my offering for the 500th anniversary of the appearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Bengal, India, in 1486. Sri Chaitanya was the incarnation that spread the chanting of Kirtan all over India. This is a lovely album because the songs have georgeous raga melodies. Some of the songs end with the chanting of Maha Mantra Kirtan.
I am including 2 bonus tracks for this CD, including a rare melody sung by His Holiness Vishnujana Swami. Also included is a raga melody I recorded in Estonia in 2002. May the listeners be blessed by the pure spiritual emotions evoked in these songs!" -Vaiyasaki Das
All songs produced & arranged by Vaiyasaki Das.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Internationally recognized for his musical abilities to perform the ancient art form of Kirtan & Bhajan, Vaiyasaki Das provides a rare opportunity to experience a taste of authentic devotional music from the Vedic tradition.
Though born in London, England, Vaiyasaki Das came of age in Winnipeg, Canada. After many years in the music business - and a personal search for the divine -- he is now one of the premier singers on the kirtan circuit. Starting out as a rock and blues guitarist with a penchant for singing, his taste for Indian culture came at an early age.
By 1970, he found himself back in London and enamored by Krishna devotion. Soon, in 1973, he was committed to the path of devotion, or bhakti-yoga, and, just two years later, he received formal initiation from His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami.
On his Guru’s request he journeyed to India in 1975, both for personal purification and to proclaim the renaissance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's bhakti movement. He traveled the entire subcontinent, and Southeast Asia, serving the mission of bhakti-yoga.
By 1978, he arrived in Bangladesh, where he imbibed the culture through his pores, becoming fluent in Bengali and learning the ways of the local people. On a boat trip down the Meghna River, he chanced upon a local kirtan band on their way to a festival. Deciding to follow these happy minstrels and their soulful kirtan music, he would also attend that same festival, changing his life forever. It was there that he discovered the ancient Bengali art of raga-kirtan, which touched his soul in the deepest possible way. Never before had he heard such angelic singing, and he resolved to use his own considerable vocal talents to spread this technique around the world. He returned to London with his own style of kirtan, a blend of ancient Bengali and modern contemporary music.
His first album was released in 1982 followed by numerous CDs, which are now considered seminal in the yoga/kirtan/world music universe. Today Vaiyasaki Das is a much sought-after performer, conducting workshops and leading yoga festivals and retreats worldwide. Sharing his heart through music and chanting is the basis of his life. He has been a practitioner of bhakti yoga for 34 years and performs his music with a mission to uplift the consciousness of the planet.
His considerable knowledge of the vast repertoire of Indian bhajans and kirtans has provided the foundation for a new generation of artists, in the flourishing genre of music for yoga and mantra meditation.
His CDs include: Way of Love, Charana Kamal, Kirtan Rasa, Hari-Nam-Ananda, Transcendence, Vrindavan Chandra, Chaitanya Chandra, Ratha-Yatra USA, The Turning Point, Best of Vaiyasaki & Sri Krishna Divya Nam.
For more information about Vaiyasaki Das visit:
www.Kirtan.org
www.Vaiyasaki.com
www.MySpace.com/vaiyasaki
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