Music

YM: Where did you come from?
GV: Great question. That is the question that fuels all of our search for meaning in life. Right?  My mother became a Hare Krishna devotee when she was sixteen, so I grew up a "Krishna Kid." As a child, I lived in India and studied ancient music culture in a temple school, or Gurukula. I am now based in Washington, DC but travel the world singing devotional music, or kirtan.

YM: Where did you get your name and what does it mean?
GV: My mother gave me my name. It means literally "the song of the Golden One." My name refers to Gauranga, also called Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, whose street kirtans were a protest against India's rigid cast system and whose teachings were a predecessor to Gandhi's reform movement.

YM: When did your connection to spirituality begin?
GV: I was born into it. My parents were always deeply spiritual people and raised me like that. So of course I rebelled. I ran as fast and as hard as I could for a few years. Then one day I realized I was running in place. So I started to rethink things. It's a journey that continues to deepen every day. The mind of the novice...right?

YM: What/who are As Kindred Spirits and how was this formed?
GV: I started AKS with my dear friend Shyam in Washington in 1997. We've been making music ever since. It's all about the living culture of Kirtan as a musical form of expressing our eternal connection with the divine world. Many of us are Krishna kids who grew up together playing music and singing kirtan since before we can remember. Essentially, we are family. It's our kirtan tribe. Ananta Govinda - drummer, Acyuta Gopi - singer and kartals, Janaki Priya - Singer, Syama Kishor - multi-instrumentalist, and Nishta Raj - violinist.

YM: Describe your music/vibe.
GV: Elvis Costello meets Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the living room of Ravi Shankar while they're watching a Bollywood remake of the story of Radha and Krishna.

YM: Congratulations on your new album “Ten Million Moons”! Please tell us about the creation of this beautiful album!
GV: This album is from the deepest regions of my heart. I've been working on this album for a couple of years at least. I was working on this album while I was working in a cube for the government in Washington, DC, dreaming of a better day...for myself and the country. This is a prayer and an offering. Steven Rosen the respected author on kirtan, says he thinks of this album as Jimmy Hendrix and the Band of Gypsies. We have lots of friends sitting in and singing, playing. It's a kirtan tribe. Mixed by Ben Leinbach, who co-produces with Jai Uttal, this album is a real labor of love. This is the sound of my dreams.

YM: What are your major influences?
GV: I grew up listening to nothing but traditional sacred Indian music until I was 9. Then I added the pop music that was playing on the radio in the 80's. Then I discovered the music of parent's generation - the revolutionary music of the 1960s and that really opened my mind up to new kinds of expression. After that I started gathering world music and music collections from various festivals around the world and compilations. Recently I've been listening to the live "bootleg" recordings of the kirtans going on around the world. The quality is sometimes terrible, but the energy and the shakti is indescribable.

YM: Do you practice Yoga? What does your daily spiritual practice look/sound like?
GV: Yes I do. Bhakti Yoga and a little Asana Yoga. I come from a tradition of Bhakti Yoga, which is the practice of creating a personal loving relationship with God in everything we do. My main 'sadhana' is to try and build that relationship through chanting and calling out His many names. Our album is a great example of what this sounds like. Sometimes my kids wake up in the morning and hear me chanting. They come into our temple room and lay in my lap and fall asleep again. So sweet.

YM: What is your favorite part of making devotional music?
GV: The comraderie. Kirtan is best when it's done together. Caitanya, the founder of modern kirtan, is famous for saying, "Harer nama eva kevalam." Translation: "There is no better way in this age of Kali to connect with the divine than through chanting and singing the divine names." You can feel that when we gather. For example there's a 24-hour kirtan festival in West Virginia we host every year where friends gather from around the world for 24 hours of non-stop chanting. The friendships and family atmosphere from that gathering feeds our souls throughout the rest of the year.

YM: Who is on your i-pod?
GV: Bjork, Cheb-i-Sabbah, Jai Uttal, Talking Heads, The Police, Coldplay, Jimmy Hendrix, Aindra 24 Hour Kirtan Vrindaban, The Shins, The Cranberries, The Cardigans, George Harrison, The Beatles.........

YM: Thank you for joining us! Where can we find out more about you?
GV: Visit GauraVani.com for music downloads, kirtan discussion and information about upcoming shows. Contact us. We would love to hear from you.