kirtan- The Melody

Recorded in the middle of the Frozen Season (Shishira), this is our first attempt to record Kirtan. We hope that you will all overlook all the flaws and enjoy the honest intention of making a very nice “musical outfit” for the divine name to wear during this cold time of year.

We hope that all who listen to this kirtan will release all other thoughts from their minds – like releasing tension from your shoulders – and let the intention of the sound within the sound permeate their awareness and fill them with uninterrupted connection to the divine couple, Sri Sri Nandini Nandana.

The raga (melodic base) of the Kirtan is Chandra Lekha – which can mean “The Moon’s Melody.” You will probably find that your mind sinks most pleasantly and deeply into this kirtan during the later hours of the night, for the raga is specially attuned to those hours. Perhaps this kirtan will be gloriously successful in bringing to our minds thoughts of Sri Sri Nandani-Nandina dancing amidst the most excellent kirtana in the spiritual forests surrounding Ter Kadamba in the wee hours of the divine night?
The recording contains a single clay Bengali drum – a Khol Mrdanga.This is a special Mrdanga made for us by a very accomplished and excellent kirtan musician and wellwisher in Vrindavana, India. You can hear four pairs of hand-cymbals, timekeepers called Karatala.Of these, two are from Vrindavana, the others are from South India, donated to Ter Kadamba Mandir by two different kind friends. One set of much larger cymbals also enter the sound-scape midway through the kirtana. Around that time you can also hear two strands of dancing bells, also from Vrindaban. A single stringed percussion instrument also enters the sonic picture here, an Ektar. There is a Harmonium, Bina Model 8, selected for and delivered to us by our very dear friend and godbrother whose dedication to kirtan is most sublime and pure. You can also hear the temple Conch shell, and altar bells.

The voices of several Ter Kadamba Mandir characters make up the response group. They are idealic personalities who prefer to go unnamed..

The kirtan was recorded using two microphones – a Sure SM57 and Blue Baby Bottle, plugged directly into a Digidesign 002 audio I/O feeding into ProTools LE 7. The mix was done using only the stock Digidesign EQ and Compression on only a few of the tracks. Some yellow T-Racks equipment was used on the master track as well. The idea was to keep the recording and mixing as simple and transparent as possible.
We do not mention these details to inflate the importance of what is most clearly a very humble first attempt at recording Kirtan. Rather, it is out of childish enthusiasm that we enumerate all these facts, or even post the kirtan for the public ear. Still we hope you somehow find the Kirtan fascinating and deeply enjoyable.