Bhakti Without Borders

Music’s biggest night will return to Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday, February 15, 2016 and will be broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT), hopefully also available via CBS mobile app which I recently installed in order to watch the Late Show with Steven Colbert.

Nominated for best new age album at the 58th GRAMMY awards is Bhakti Without Borders which blends melodies from the East Indian Bhakti tradition with the folk, bluegrass and country elements of traditional American and Irish music. The result is a sound that is both fresh and familiar.

Here’s a new video with very beautiful pictures of Vrindavan and samples of various tracks from their album which was exclusively produced for the GRAMMY awards 2016.

Project

Kirtan Shakti Project is a creative collaboration aimed at empowering and educating underprivileged girls in India. Launched in 2014, under the nonprofit Kulimela Association, the project was initiated by a tightknit group of friends.

Together they recruited a team of international kirtan singers and crowdfunded an album to raise funds for Food For Life Vrindavan. The campaign took off with supporters quick to lend support and by Summer the first album went into production: Bhakti Without Borders.

Produced by Dave Stringer, and featuring singers and musicians from around the world, the record is both musical allegory and mechanism for change. Truly a by-the-people-for-the-people brand, Kirtan Shakti Project hopes to support charity organizations through conscious music for years to come.

To date, Bhakti Without Borders has raised nearly $10,000, which means one year’s education for over 20 girls.

Kirtan

Kirtan is the sacred tradition of sharing music with friends and strangers as a way of connecting with The Divine. Recently, the practice has emerged as the hot new sub-genre of Yoga music, spilling from studios and music festivals onto radio stations and podcasts, climbing charts and courting Grammys.

Most world religions have some form of sacred music tradition, be it Gregorian chant or Gospel; Klezmer or Qawwali; Buddhist hymns or Hindu Bhajans. Across time, each music tradition has evolved and blossomed. Now (thanks to modern globalization), we can enjoy kirtan music influenced by Hip-Hop, Dubstep, Rock, Jazz and Country, all blending together in a beautiful fusion of Bhakti Without Borders.