Kirtan is a very different kind of music.
Based on ancient chants, it has the ability to quiet the mind if listened to with intention.
Generally speaking, kirtan is a kind of collective chanting or musical conversation. As a genre of religious performance art, it developed in the Indian bhakti movements as a devotional religious practice (i.e. bhakti yoga). However, it is a heterogeneous practice that varies regionally and includes varying mixture of different musical instruments, dance, oration, theatre, audience participation and moral narration.
Musical recitation of hymns, mantras and the praise of deities has ancient roots in Hinduism, and may be found in the Vedic literature. A key feature of popular Hindu kirtan is that it is mostly sung in vernacular languages like Hindi and Bengali, though this may include Sanskrit mantras.
“In kirtan, we sing our praises to the divine in the many forms in which it manifests.”
Is the way world-renowned mantra music artist Deva Premal puts it.
Each chant revolves around a particular mantra—what Deva Premal defines as “a sacred sound formula that has a specific focus and energy.” These mantras often feature the names of the myriad gods and goddesses that were identified by the ancient rishis (or seers) in Vedic times, and later became central to religions such as Hinduism and Sikhism.
“People say, ‘I’m singing to the Hindu deities,’ but what does that mean?
What is a deity?” says Grammy-nominated kirtan wallah Krishna Das.
“It’s like an older, deeper, bigger being. It’s a space, a presence, a feeling. These names are the names of that place inside of us that is love, pure being, pure awareness, pure joy.”
The key to success in any form of mantra practice is repetition. When you’re sitting in a kirtan, gently bring your wandering mind back to the chant over and over again. With regular, sincere practice over time, says Krishna Das, you may notice that “thoughts don’t grab you so deeply. Emotions don’t wipe you out so completely. It changes your psyche.”
The Names of God or praises of God can be sung as well as spoken. Often, when your heart wells up, singing alone expresses the fullness of your love for God. As you sing the Name repeatedly, the rhythm and melody fan your emotions. If this ecstasy is heightened, distinctions begin to fall away until only love, only the beloved, remain.
– Ram Dass