Lights! Camera! Kirtan!
On a chilly (by California standards) January 11th evening, I was lucky enough to be among the 50 or so who gathered in a beautiful private home located in Topanga Canyon, CA to lend their voices and participate in the creation of David Newman’s live music DVD. David—known by his spiritual name Durga Das to so many—began the evening with sharing how touched he was to have this whole experience come together so naturally about a month ago.
During a casual conversation one evening David began expressing his curiosity about capturing the live kirtan experience, and a DVD project began to manifest. Present at the conversation were several people in the music and entertainment industry (he was having the conversation in Los Angeles after all). Glenn Gaines, accomplished sound engineer and producer, and Jennifer Young, a film producer, quickly signed themselves up for the task, a home was offered as the perfect setting, invitations were emailed, the stars aligned and poof! all of the details were put in place.
For me, this was an evening about community coming together to create something special. Everything about the night was so symbiotic. Everyone there was connected and inspired by each other’s presence. The band—David on lead vocals and guitar, Mira on kartals and vocals, Philippo Franchini on guitar, and Morgan Doctor on percussion, the film crew of about 5 and Glenn were well-prepared. On the other hand the audience was mostly unrehearsed for these chants, but we took our role seriously and the results were—for the most part—successful.
I’ve been to so many live music performances in every type of venue there probably is, have helped coordinate and create events from the very small to things on a grander scale, and I’ve been on many TV and commercial production shoots. In these scenarios the result—the performance—is always what matters most. How you got there, the chaos and the frazzled nerves were often par for the course. This was a completely different experience. This was so smooth from beginning to end. The time between filming and recording chants was amazing—yummy energy you just wanted to stay snuggled in. No drama, no feelings of stress present. I loved it.
I felt others around me just loving being in the moment and sharing the whole experience. At one point in the middle of the evening, I looked up at one of the camerawomen and saw this look of joy on her face and realized that she was feeling the overall lift in the room’s vibration too. The evening really was a gift and I do hope that the DVD captures the feelings of community, togetherness and deep inspiration that were present that night.
I don’t think that an article about being a part of filming David’s DVD would be complete without some discussion of David himself. I found David’s music after so many had emailed or told me in person that I must get and play “Lotus Feet.” It’s become one of my favorite albums these days, which is no small thing given how much music in the sacred world genre I listen to daily. I added music from the album into rotation on Sacred Sounds Radio, and started emailing back and forth with him a bit. And like so many of his fans and friends, the person that came across to me through these emailed notes touched me. What strikes me about David in his recorded music, his live performances and who he is captured in conversation or just hanging out, is someone who is so in touch with the call of his heart.
I told someone the day after the recording that I think that he’s someone that’s had his spirit ‘tapped by Divine’ and is very sensitive and in tune with that gift. He walks in the world as someone who seems to fit the expression ‘following your heart’ to perfection. And he does it with this sort of matter of fact, no big deal way about him. Call it what you want—your inner voice, God’s voice, divine inspiration—but he follows it. It gives him an innocence, charm, grace and deep strength that permeates everything he is. As David said at the beginning of taping the DVD, we’re a team—in this together.
I am honored to be part of the team that shares his music, his messages and who he is for more and more people to experience every day. We need more Durga Das’s in the world to help remind us that love isn’t somewhere ‘out there’ but a very real and tangible place that begins with the journey of our own hearts.
You can hear David Newman’s
Lotus Feet: A Kirtan Revolution and his latest release
Leap of Grace: The Hanuman Chalisa on Sacred Sounds Radio. For more information about David, please visit
www.davidnewmanmusic.com.
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Lights! Camera! Kirtan! David Newman