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Among some of the most high-octane performances by Rihanna, Adam Lavine, Taylor Swift and Adele at the 55th Grammys held at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, not many had factored in Sanskrit chants to the tune of a tabla, manjira and harmonium. When Krishna Das sat on the ground, wielding a peti and began to chant Om namo bhagvate vasudevaya, a room full of some of the world’s finest musicians were spotted swinging to what they heard. An American musician, Das aka Jefferey Kagel, who was also nominated for being the Best New Age Artiste (2013) after selling close to 300,000 albums, was rhythmically creating a spiritual practice. “It is something I do to save my miserable ass,” says Kagel with a laugh, who was on his India tour and performed in Delhi on Saturday. He missed out on the hallowed gramophone that year, but the acknowledgement he received was enough to last him “a lifetime”.
Referred with prefixes such as ‘Kirtankaar’ and ‘Yoga Rockstar’ in the US, the Indian chants have made Das famous and had him “find a path away from the inside darkness”. The chants, Das clarifies, are not something that make him Hindu though. In fact, he says, it has nothing to do with religion. He’s been poring over a slew of texts written by Rumi these days and finding meaning in Islamic texts. “Well, let’s be a human being first. Religion is not what I even want to be associated with,” says 67-year-old Kagel, who is also the founder of US-based record label Triloka Records that brings out a variety of world music albums. His recent album, Kirtanwallah, comprising basic kirtan chants, is already being appreciated by the Westerners.
Growing up in California on jukebox rotations of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beatles and classical jazz, Kagel was always inclined towards music and chose metal as his choice. He was a lead vocalist for the popular band Blue Oyster Cult until he became a truck driver and did a slew of odd jobs before stumbling upon guru Ram Das, who was a spiritual teacher in the US. Soon, Kagel decided to sell everything he owned and move to India to become a disciple of Neem Kharoli Baba. It was in his ashram that he discovered bhajans and chants.
“I decided to attend one last Jimi Hendrix concert before I moved to India. My car was parked with my dogs and everything I needed, when the manager of Blue Oyster Cult met me there and offered me to join the band. I refused and came away,” says Das. While the band went on to become a highly successful metal act of the ’70s and ’80s, Kagel found solace in chants. “Music was extremely powerful. It prevented me from going through many nervous breakdowns,” says Kagel, who, in the past, has extensively worked with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and recorded his work.
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