This edition of the podcast is a rich Fresh Tracks set, and as it worked out several of the artists featured in the set will be playing at Omega Fall Ecstatic Chant this weekend, so I’m happy to give them a shout-out! We start with the Hanumen’s ‘Invocation’, the Chaitanya mantra from the CD ‘Acoustic Yoga’. Then something a bit different, an offering from Krishna Das’s tabla player Arjun Bruggeman from his CD ‘Arjun’. Then Tina Malia’s beautiful ‘Moola Mantra’ from her CD ‘Anahata’, followed by one from the great Jai Uttal from his new CD ‘Roots Rock Rama’. Then comes the radiantly pure voice of Radharani singing with another kirtan goddess — Ishwari from SRI Kirtan. Radharani’s CD is ‘Just One Drop’. We’ll then have two chants to Shiva — ‘Om Nama Shivaya’ from Johanna Beekman’s new CD ‘Beyond Love, Soothing Songs for the Soul’ — she has Girish singing with her on this, and ’Shiva Let It Be’ from Narada Wise’s CD ‘Inevitable‘. And we end the set with ‘Lokah Love’ from Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion — her CD is ‘Lovolution’.

Next up, kicking off our series on community kirtan, we have an interview with Jennifer Canfield of the Call & Response Foundation & Ian Boccio of the Atlanta kirtan community & the kirtan band Blue Spirit Wheel. Jennifer will be talking about how the C&R Foundation can help if you want to start a kirtan in your community, and Ian will talk about their Atlanta community — how it started, how it grew into offering the beautiful festival of Chantlanta, and how they manage it. We’ll also have musical resources for those of you who want to start a kirtan evening with your friends. Have a beautiful Labor Day weekend, and until next time dear friends — Namaste.

P.S. Here’s the link to purchase the audiobook I narrated last spring, ‘Sid’ by Anita Feng. It’s available at Audible.