Sacred Music

Call and Response

Music and sound have been my life-long “way in” to many situations and experiences, including spiritual practice. A couple of years ago, I attended a series of Kirtan (Hindu call and response) workshops with the members of Shantala (a Portland based Kirtan group), and was completely taken by the form. New melodies can easily be learned in this format, which takes one (or a few) lines of liturgy, or a Holy Name, which are sung by the leader and sung back by the rest of the participants. Instruments help keep the mind focused on the prayer, and the shared prayer space.

Available for download are 8 pre-production studio releases, which will be part of “Sounds of Sacred Light”, an evolving album with much more to come. The songs/prayers are multi-tracked, and I do all the vocals and play guitars, harp and bass. Percussion is mostly added using the Beatbuddy electronic drum pedal. When leading these live, I often use the Beatbuddy, and the overall sound and feel are quite similar to the recordings.

Channah Baala is waltz tempo niggun, to which I overlaid the Havdalah (End of Shabbat) prayers.

“Shadow Play” is an album I recorded in 2005. It is multi-tracked instrumental pieces, on which I play harps, guitars, bass and percussion.