Aradhna Blog
Ben Stamper is working on an amazing film, Horse and Rider. Watch the trailer:
Kiran Pradhan, composer of “Ishwarle” passed away this week in Delhi, India, where he lived for many years as a music teacher and performer.
We are in shock about this news, as we are always talking about Kiran at our Aradhna concerts whenever we sing his songs. I had just spoken of Kiran at the concert for Bhutanese Nepali refugees in Jacknsonville last night.
Kiran’s gift of music and love for Yeshu has been an inspiration to many people who have been touched deeply by the song “Ishwarle.” The translated words are from the words of Yeshu, that God loves this world so much that he gave us his son, that believing in him, we do not need to fear death, but have the hope of knowing God personally, which is eternal life.
We thank God for Kiran’s life and pray for his family and friends during this time of loss.
With love,
Chris and Pete
If you have been touched by Kiran Pradhan’s Nepali song, “ISHWARLE” or “AAYO HAI AAYO” and would like to make a financial donation to his family in India, please select one of the buttons below.
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Well, April 2011 is the eleven year anniversary of Aradhna’s first recording, Deep Jale. Chris and Pete had been living in Lucknow, India writing and rearranging bhajans for the album but headed to Fayetteville, Ga to record at the back of a mail order milking goat supply company.
The studio was little more than a closed in barn that struggled to keep out the rain. We ran an early version of Cool Edit Pro on a PC and lined up the shure SM 57s and 58s to make Deep Jale. It was a whirlwind 3 weeks of trial and error. We didn’t even have a tabla player. Thankfully a friend introduced us to Naren Bhudakar from New York and he flew down for a couple of days and saved the recording. We were completely inexperienced but full of excitement and abundant youth.
Deep Jale was supposed to be a one off; something simple and reproducible in intimate or congregational settings. We made it that way on purpose, trying to capture the worship experience that had already changed both our lives dramatically.
We called in a thousands favors (that we never earned) from friends to put up a website, make the cd booklet, cover art etc. and we printed off 1000 copies expecting them to lie around for years. But it wasn’t long before we started getting emails and calls from all over the world asking us to come perform. That was really the beginning of Aradhna.
So 11 years, 5 continents, hundreds of concerts, 5 albums, and 1 DVD later, here we are, touring and loving this music more than ever. Thanks to all of you that have joined us for the journey. Look for us in your town (or near by) this year…we will probably be there at some point.
In celebration, we are offering 50% OFF at the Aradhna online store, basically Buy 1 Get 1 FREE for the next week (thru May 7). Just use COUPON CODE: DEEPJALEBIRTHDAY. Aradhna is happy to still be making music and happier still that it just keeps getting better.
Thank you All!
Pete and Chris
The second video to be released from Aradhna, “Namaste Saté“. The music is from the album “Sau Guna” that I recorded with them recently. This tune was a lot of fun for us to develop the “theka” (tabla support) for.
The tune is in 8 beats but the theka begins with “rupak” tal (7 beat theka) which begins with a light unaccented harmonic “tin” note (noticeably lacking the heavy bass tone of the dugga) to support but not dominate the subtlety of the vocals and guitar.
This is then made even (8 beats) by the syncopated beauty of the end of a “peshkar” (opening slow movement of many tabla solos) This makes the heavy accented portion of the rhythm at the end and not the beginning of the cycle leading you to ” release and breathe” when the 1st beat comes around…
This song is in 11 beats but you’d never know it. The rhythm is called char tal ki sawari. Try counting to 11 when the tabla begins, (taking about one second for each number), and keep counting over and over again from 1 to 11 throughout the song. You can follow how Jim Feist plays different variations all within that eleven-beat cycle. My sitar guru, Partha Chatterjee, taught me the rhythm (taal) while I was in Fremont, CA, for my annual lessons. You’ll see clearly how the taal works in the sitar solo where I complete each musical thought at the beginning of every new 11 beat cycle.
It wasn’t difficult to choose this as the final (more…)
