Take Beauty Where You Find it: Ananda Rasa's "Mulani dub Kirtan " Give Thanks and

d Praises!
My first copy of Ananda Rasa Kirtans Mulani - dub Kirtan" I gave to a close friend, who like me is a soul survivor of a long association with reggae music. She responded with a note which said, essentially, "Who the ---- are these musicians, Jamaican Hindus?" She had found, as I did, that here was a kirtan set lovingly married to a dynamite reggae - dub band - no drugs needed apart from pure devotion and the love of a good groove. The drug IS the bhakti and the groove. I hailed the CD as "best of the year" to my Facebook friends, feeling that if anybody else gets from it even a small taste of the ecstatic high I have, it will be a stunning time - at least pure pleasure! After listening to track 5 "Krishna Govinda" in my car, my classroom, and at home for weeks, I still can't live without it. (I am addicted, but still healthy - a music bhakta, basically). There's something about the wholeness of the kirtan-reggae-dub concept here that's warmly authentic. It's more than "let's do reggae" or sounding "Jamaican" for a lark. I find myself asking, "Where DID you get that drummer?" "Who wrote the horn parts?" (The old-school horn charts are just perfect, and the guest singers and musicians are masterful). Certainly Ananda Rasa Kirtans, ARK or simply Ananda Rasas "Mulani dub Kirtan" is a team effort - singers, players, production, arrangements - and the chants and grooves bear this out. Yet clearly lead vocalist, composer and producer David Estes has the musical background and vision of multiple worlds to weave a satisfying whole. His devotion is not just to chanting to the divine, but to the very roots of dub and Jamaican sounds in history. Couple that with the bhakti of singing kirtan for years and you get a gorgeous offering. David and the ARK collective kirtan band are already seasoned performers in the "West" and beyond. He's got a clear, sweet voice, pucca Sanskrit pronunciation and there is no need for a Jamaican accent. After leading concerts and kirtans with his vocals, guitar, harmonium and tablas, this new music is a huge step into groove ecstasy - into ROOTS hence the name Mulani Roots in Sanskrit. Each kirtan on the album is unique and subtly filled with a perfume of the reggae music and history that Estes knows so well and many deities are invoked along with the moods of the different raga scales used in the melody! One of the key factors that work well in the mix is the tightly controlled building and release of tension. Kirtan traditionally uses repetition of call and response to great effect, but it has to GO somewhere - inside, into the bliss of chanting these divine names. Such control is a musical discipline of great quality, but sometimes I do find myself wishing for MORE dubbing, MORE

guitar, MORE sitar - I guess I'll have to wait for the remixes for that! Yet the mix is so tight and intelligent thanks to reggae genius Michael Goldwasser of the Easy Star All Stars (Dub Side of the Moon, Radiodread and many more) who mixed the album and captured the sweet balance of both the spiritual and musical elements of the kirtan, raga, reggae and dub. Some track reflections "Shrimat Parabrahma" Invokes the eternal Guru, starting with the conch and temple bell followed by a plaintive melodica which conjures up the time of Augustus Pablo, the great reggae and dub musician. The chorus of voices echoes the invocation, setting up the direction for the music and bhav. The horns are not yet in, so the dotar strings sing sweet phrases between the Sanskrit words, the melodica and the rhythm. "Shri Ram Jay Ram" The strings of the Mohan Veena slide guitar stoke the groove, leading to a sublime horn part in Raga Bhimpalasi. Now the horns are punctuating the chanting of the great mantra Sri Ram Jay Ram. Guest singer Tahir Qawwal flies in out of no where and delightfully plays with the raga for only a minute, giving it back to the horns and the chant. But he returns again at the end, going deep into the mood of Sri Ram and the raga followed by a fanfare wrap up by the horns. "Govinda Jaya Jaya" Here are some nice dub effects, a sweet melody of the timeless chant to Lord Krishna, with very sentimental, soulful horns. "Jagadambe Jay Ma Durga" Guest singer Prajna Viera is the perfect guest singer for this kirtan. Invoking the divine feminine as the Universal Mother, she develops the theme gradually and playfully back and forth and together with David. Then, in the center we hear a unique "sloka" chant - 3 verses from Adi Shankaracharyas Mahisasuramardini - taken up first by Prajna, then David and then sung by both together to the backing vocal chorus of Jagadambe Jay Jay Ma. It's beyond names - it's a satsang with Ammachi in the middle of the groove - then the song is over. "Krishna Govinda" A very beautiful chant flirting with Raga Bhairavi. The horns are exquisite, fading and entering like spirits. Here there is a chant practice which my teacher called "the three speeds" -After exposition of the initial mantra, the first chant is doubled in tempo, with the great Maha Mantra - "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna

Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare." Then THIS chant is doubled in tempo. The groove remains stately and melancholy, full of longing, with a piano echoing in the skankin' upbeat. "Jay Jay Radha Ramana Hari Bol" The utter simplicity of this melody is part of its appeal. The fine sitarist Peter van Gelder is working the groove. Horns have departed, leaving the strings lots of sound space to fill with a nice dub breakdown at the end as it fades away. "Hari Bol!" "Parvati Vallaba"
This is my next-runner-up for favorite, starting with the Morricone guitar in the beginning and the rootsy dub section in the middle. AND it's a great Shiva chant, with plenty of recognition for Parvati, Shiva's consort and Goddess of Great Power on her own.

"Radhe Govinda" Guest kirtan musicians the Mayapuris give this piece its grit, and it closes the set with a youthful soul, describing the oneness of Krishna and Radha, as each reflect the qualities of the other. Visvambhar Sheth is the guest singer trading the lead back and forth and together with David as they take it all home along with Krishna Kishors bansuri ethereal flute melodies, the steppers riddim and the sweet chanting chorus.