Y'all Stock Art & Music Festival

Cypress Creek Center

09/16/2006

Y'all Stock Festival was created by visionary Bob Messer as a celebration of poets and music, vendors and activitists working together for peace.

The concert hall at the Cypress Creek Center is a magnificent cathedral with great acoustics, a fabulous sound system and colorful stained glass windows - a place that I had often visited, and had longed to perform in. Be careful what you wish for....

I did a well received, mixed set of devotional songs, Prabhat Samgiita, and kiirtans, with percussionist Miguel Clark. Other noted performances were by master story teller PK McCary, and music by Chapman Stick[ist], Jim Kam.

Ozarks Retreat & Prabhat Samgiita Seminar

I have had a most blissful month, starting with a trip to Missourri for our summer retreat at the Ananda Kanan Ozark Retreat Center. Jyotsna La Trobe, a singer/songwriter from New Zealand, lead a group of us in a kiirtan choir. She had just returned from a 6 month stint in India where she studied the kiirtans of Rarh. She came back with a 70 minute long performance piece from which we performed a few songs live with a circle dance; and recorded one late night. We sang non-stop, day and night for all presentations, cultural programs, and for evening kiirtans.

Last week, I flew to Vermont to co-teach at the 23rd Annual Prabhat Samgiita Seminar with Jyotsna. Here is a synapsus of the event:

We gave a two day Prabhat Samgiita workshop in Vermont where 40 people attended. The retreat was held in the pristine, woodland home of Ciiranjiiva and Parashakti. Margiis came from all over the sector.

Kumar Das added a rich and rhythmic tal with his tabla. Jagat Bandhu and Dada Gopalkrisnananda added the beauty of harmonium to the melodius songs. We gave a varied presentation of Prabhat Samgiita from deep, reflective songs, to lively Prabhat Samgiita kiirtans. The workshop was given outdoors, under a porch canopy, while rain fell all around. Several Margiis told reflective stories about Baba in the rain; and Prabhat Samgiita. Delicious meals were lovingly prepared by Ciiranjiiva. All had a splendid and blissful time.

Saturday evening, the Margiis hosted a 3 hour, public akhanda kiirtan at a local yoga center. Over 60 people attended and enjoyed the celestial vibrations.

Jyotsna, myself, Jagat Bandhu and Rainjan finished up the last pieces to a production of mesmerizing Rarh kiirtans, Red Earth Fusion, that were recently recorded at the Ananda Kanan summer retreat.

Dances of Universal Peace,

Unitarian Universalist Church

The Woodlands, TX

Last weekend I attended the Dances of Universal Peace circle lead by two women of the Sufi tradition. We danced several dances from different cultures, each with a chant for peace. My favorite was Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. I had brought my guitar and asked the facilitator (a friend of mine) if I could offer some kiirtan to the circle. She was pleased to have me there, and asked me to play after the break.

After the break, I wrote the words, Baba Nam Kevalam on the board, and one of the leaders became very excited! “I learned that kiirtan in Russia!” she said. It seems that when she went to Russia, promoting Peace Dance circles, one of the places she visited was an Ananda Marga jagriti! Small Universe…

Well, needless to say, dancing kiirtan with this group was a hit. They didn’t want to stop. We did a short meditation after the kiirtan. Again… they didn’t want to stop. It was quite nice being with a group of people who could really enjoy His kiirtan and meditation. I was asked to sing something at the closing, so I thought, “Why not another kiirtan?” This little group was really blissed out and enjoyed a taste of His grace.

ASHA & AID Event

Saturday night, my husband and I performed downtown at an event for ASHA & AID, two organizations that provide education and development projects in India. It was a wonderful evening, with a mostly Southeast Asian crowd. Several of our friends attended, and we felt blessed to have their company.

We performed Prabhat Samgiita - Songs of the New Dawn - spiritually invoked songs, composed specifically to aid one in spiritual practices. I also sang kiirtan, a universal mantra that is repeated over and over, and creates a vibration of Divine Love. Several people were moved by the songs, which created opportunity for deep and meaningful conversations.

Unbeknownst to me, one of the speakers, on the behalf of ASHA, was the husband of a well known author, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, whose book I had just finished reading the week before. He approached me, as I had sung in Bengali, her native tongue. When I found out who his wife was, I was surprised, as this was the third time I was to hear about her.

When I first read about Chitraji a few years ago, something drew me to her; I was curious to meet her - I even considered taking one of her classes. I was at the library last week, and the librarian recommended a book to me. It was written by Chitraji. Now, here was her husband, inviting me to their house for dinner, If only I promised to sing a set of songs in Bengali;)

There were three other phenomenal performances by a harpist; a female sitarist out of Austin, who does documentary work on women in India; and a wonderful sarod player, accompanied by our dear brother, Partha (Uncle to the children) on the tabla.

KPFT Outreach Meeting

On Monday, I was asked to sing at the KPFT Outreach Meeting downtown. The organizers wanted to create an atmosphere of harmony, and felt my music would do that.

I was excited as Rev. Robert Muhammad, a peace activist and radio programmer who had worked with Rev. Martin Luther King in the 60's, was going to be speaking. I have heard him numerous times on the radio, and find his unabashed, political humor to be warm and familiar.

The meeting was quite powerful. Brother Muhammad started off by cutting-to-the-chase. He thundered like a lion, letting us know that we all had to work together and support one another during this time of change in the world. The room filled with his majestic presence as he spoke.

Hitaji Aziz, another programmer was also there and spun her magic web around us all with a wonderful synapses of how people can undermine others - how we need to have unity amongst diversity, even when we don't agree with one another. Sister Akua H. suggested that we be documenting our strong, black leaders of today - that we left off in the 60's with MLK, and others.

The rest of the meeting went off smoothly. The organizers thanked me for my contribution, and felt that the music definitely transformed the vibration to one of peace.

Incredible India

The Houston International Festival (Ifest), 2005

Houston, TX

The Natarajan Family performed at the International Festival where thousands of people attended. This year, there was one square street block dedicated to India. We performed both weekends at a small booth hosted by Sur Samgiita, school of Indian music. SS Dada Tiirthananda accompanied us, and helped out by singing in the audience. A family visiting from Bengal expressed their pleasure at hearing such beautiful songs in their native language.