Music
Original Songs
Please check out my Soundcloud page, https://soundcloud.com/andy-douglas-58805462 to hear some of my original songs.
One of my songs:
Please check out my Soundcloud page, https://soundcloud.com/andy-douglas-58805462 to hear some of my original songs.
One of my songs:
Kiirtan
Kiirtan is the chanting of divine or sacred sounds, a deeply inspiring spiritual practice. I use the kiirtan mantra “Baba Nam Kevalam” which means “Love is all there is” or “Only the Name of the Beloved.” I lead a public kiirtan practice once a month, often the first Monday of the month. Get in touch to find out more details.
Community Sing
In recent years I’ve become active in the Community Sing movement, also known as Oral Tradition Singing, which offers the opportunity to share singing as a way to cultivate joy, justice, empowerment, connection and community. In Iowa City, a vibrant group meets the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. We have also been active in singing at the Children’s Hospital once a month and forming HeartSong, a group to sing to people in moments of transition, grief, loss or celebration. And we meet with other Community Sing groups several times a year. Check out the website at iowacitycommunitysing.com.
Bengali Devotional Singing
In the 1980’s I had the good fortune to travel to India and meet a remarkable man. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar was a spiritual teacher, philosopher, composer and activist. I learned a great deal from him about cultivating an inner life, and about the role of music in spirituality. I recorded a CD of a few of the Bengali devotional songs – just a fraction of the more than 5000 – Sarkar composed before his death in 1990.
These are love songs. They speak of a connection to something greater than our selves. You can hear in them the mystic’s yearning for connection with divine mystery, as well as a call for social justice, and a strong ecological consciousness. In the Indian devotional tradition, the divine is personified, turning an abstract relationship into an intimate one.
I have been singing these songs for more than 20 years. A few years ago I began studying the Bengali language more seriously, to help with the task of translating them into English. Many very fine recordings of these songs (known collectively as Prabhat Samgiit) exist, mostly with Indian instruments. I made this disc, with its more Western instrumentation, because I love Prabhat Samgiit, and wanted to encourage others, no matter their background, to learn and sing these songs. No doubt my Bengali pronunciation leaves something to be desired, for which I apologize.
Profits from the sale of the CD will go to support two projects, one local, one international: a school for poor children in Managua, Nicaragua, and the Domestic Violence Intervention Project in my hometown of Iowa City. Thanks to the fantastic musicians who joined me in this project. Their superior musicianship has made this record so much better than I could have made it on my own.
The CD can be purchased by contacting me through the contact section of this website, or can also be found at innersong.com, which features many wonderful CDs of kiirtan and other spiritual music. It's also now available at bandcamp. https://andydouglas1.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-mystic-prabhat-samgiita
My most recent book, Songs of the New Dawn, (Sept. 2023) consists of literary translations of 90 of these songs, along with illustrations - see book section of this website.
Kiirtan is the chanting of divine or sacred sounds, a deeply inspiring spiritual practice. I use the kiirtan mantra “Baba Nam Kevalam” which means “Love is all there is” or “Only the Name of the Beloved.” I lead a public kiirtan practice once a month, often the first Monday of the month. Get in touch to find out more details.
Community Sing
In recent years I’ve become active in the Community Sing movement, also known as Oral Tradition Singing, which offers the opportunity to share singing as a way to cultivate joy, justice, empowerment, connection and community. In Iowa City, a vibrant group meets the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of the month. We have also been active in singing at the Children’s Hospital once a month and forming HeartSong, a group to sing to people in moments of transition, grief, loss or celebration. And we meet with other Community Sing groups several times a year. Check out the website at iowacitycommunitysing.com.
Bengali Devotional Singing
In the 1980’s I had the good fortune to travel to India and meet a remarkable man. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar was a spiritual teacher, philosopher, composer and activist. I learned a great deal from him about cultivating an inner life, and about the role of music in spirituality. I recorded a CD of a few of the Bengali devotional songs – just a fraction of the more than 5000 – Sarkar composed before his death in 1990.
These are love songs. They speak of a connection to something greater than our selves. You can hear in them the mystic’s yearning for connection with divine mystery, as well as a call for social justice, and a strong ecological consciousness. In the Indian devotional tradition, the divine is personified, turning an abstract relationship into an intimate one.
I have been singing these songs for more than 20 years. A few years ago I began studying the Bengali language more seriously, to help with the task of translating them into English. Many very fine recordings of these songs (known collectively as Prabhat Samgiit) exist, mostly with Indian instruments. I made this disc, with its more Western instrumentation, because I love Prabhat Samgiit, and wanted to encourage others, no matter their background, to learn and sing these songs. No doubt my Bengali pronunciation leaves something to be desired, for which I apologize.
Profits from the sale of the CD will go to support two projects, one local, one international: a school for poor children in Managua, Nicaragua, and the Domestic Violence Intervention Project in my hometown of Iowa City. Thanks to the fantastic musicians who joined me in this project. Their superior musicianship has made this record so much better than I could have made it on my own.
The CD can be purchased by contacting me through the contact section of this website, or can also be found at innersong.com, which features many wonderful CDs of kiirtan and other spiritual music. It's also now available at bandcamp. https://andydouglas1.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-mystic-prabhat-samgiita
My most recent book, Songs of the New Dawn, (Sept. 2023) consists of literary translations of 90 of these songs, along with illustrations - see book section of this website.