In the gentle world of Indian music, a bhajan is a Hindu devotional song. The word is derived from the Sanskrit bhakti meaning worship. A bhajan can be sung by a single person or a group. It can be vernacular language with rudimentary music, simple folk tunes, or sophisticated poetry and music based on classical ragas. The common expression of bhakti is spiritual feeling, lyricism and love for the Divine, which could apply to any religion.
In India, the history of bhajan has a political dimension: from the 14th to the 17th centuries, saintly musicians like KABIR created bhajans and tried to reform Hinduism as an all-inclusive faith for the common people, during a period when India was ruled by the Mughal Empire and Islam. The bhakti movement offered a path to the divine through direct experience. Today the tradition lives on in India...and around the world.
On this transmission of Hearts of Space, an hour of Indian devotional music by western musicians, on a program called BHAJAN. Music is by TY BURHOE, RASA, DEVA PREMAL, SHANTALA, BEN LEINBACH, SHAFQAT ALI KHAN and ANNAPURNA, and STEVE GORN.
[ view playlist ] [ view Flickr image gallery ] [ play 30 second MP3 promo ]
I love the key art image for this program with the floating candles, but that doesn't seem to be on the Flickr page and hence there's no identification as to location. It has an almost sci-fi look to it.
Posted by: Dave | 22 August 2010 at 08:01 PM