hari om everyone…

first of all, welcome to the new website. it’s still in progress, with bits and pieces coming and going, as i learn this new system that all of my friends and neighbors have been extoling the virtue of.

the title of this post is “the basement bhaktis” so i suppose i should get on with talking about that a bit. as my record gets closer to being completed (it feels like i’ve been saying that, even, for a long time) i’ve started venturing out into the world and doing some kirtan in live rooms with live people. when doing that i have been blessed with a group of people who enjoy kirtan and want to do it with me.

previous projects that i’ve been envolved with had very rigid lineups to fit with very rigid ideals, and i knew before i even started this that i wanted something different. the very nature of what i’m doing, and how, is improvisational. that means not only that the music itself changes from night to night, but depending on where i am, the musicians themselves can change.

this is a pretty big leap from everything i’ve done in the past, which either involved playing to a click track and sequence or extremely rigid, rehearsed structure.

so that said i knew that i would still need to have a name to give the group, so i chose “the basement bhaktis.” the bhakti part signifies why we do what we do. the basement part is multipurpose. first and foremost, from where we started our rehearsals – in my brother’s basement. but wider than that, to represent where i’ve come from – underground, goth shows in basement spaces around the coast. it also shows where i am now, and what we can do; the basement bhaktis are just as comfortable on a stage, in a living room, or, you guessed it, in your basement.

with the basment bhaktis, you can expect the unexpected. while we do have regular rehearsals, they are more to go over sounds than anything – the structure of each chant we do is determined by how we are feeling at any given time, and the response of the audience. the experience is truly unique to each person – even the performers!

we’ve done live kirtan in charlottesville twice at the twisted branch tea bazaar. we’re doing it again next month. keep up with the “live” link here on the website, and/or join the yahoo groups mailing list to keep up to date.

this is the beginning!

om shanthi shanthi shanthi,

jdavyd