Richard’s Notes

Washington, Connecticut. Anne has a nice collection of music that she plays behind her yoga classes including work by Snatam Kaur (warning, flash site will resize your browser) who is an extremely talented musician and kirtan singer/chanter.

Three members of the group are Sikhs and while both the religion and kirtan have roots in India, both have adherents the world over.

When Anne heard that Snatam (pronounced SUH-NA-TM, not "snot-um") was going to be performing in the next town she wanted to go. I was reluctant because concerts that involve group chanting are a disaster when you’re not into it, standing on the outside feeling self-conscious. I wasn’t sure I could get into it, old grump that I am.

So we went and in a word, it was one of the better concerts I’ve been to in years. Not only is the group tight musically, but they put on a great show, have excellent engineering, and pull the audience right in. Kirtan is less a concert, more a group experience led by the musicians. No applause between songs, just a bit of deep breathing as the group morphed into the next song/chant.

Snatam plays a harmonium which is a drone instrument with a sound like an accordion. She has a beautiful voice and she projects well for a small woman who, for the most part was sitting down for the entire concert.

One might say that GuruGanesha (left) is the leader of the group: he produces Snatam, runs a record company, writes a lot of the music, and is a "character" to boot. His guitar work was excellent and never got in the way, only added to the music.

Ram Dass (I think of Richard Alpert) is 19 and the newest member of the group. He plays keyboard and clarinet and his clarinet was incredible: a mix of klezmer and Indian, if that’s imaginable. I only wish they featured him more as he’s an excellent musician.

Manish Vyas played tabla humbly in the background for the almost the entire concert. About midway through the concert just as a song was ending the other musicians stopped as they normally would but Manish kept playing, softly at first but then a bit louder. He slowly ramped up to one of the most amazing tabla solos I have ever seen. And, I’ve seen many including some of the best players in the world, both live and on youTube. This solo was beyond anything I’ve ever seen before and stood out as it was the only solo by any member of the group. He played hard for what seemed like ten minutes and the audience was transfixed. When he was done we all gave him a standing ovation, the only applause during the entire concert. I have no idea if this solo is a standard or it was spontaneous but whatever it was, I felt like I was witnessing something very special.