Name That Kirtana Tune

By Kesava Krsna Dasa

Has anyone ever attended a kirtana-fest and ended up trying to get to know new tunes and memorising them? Our kirtan and bhajana world is evolving and updating with new tunes more often than our computer anti-virus updates, or so it seems. We leave a kirtan-mela and on the way home we say, “So and so sang a nice tune, but I forget how it goes…”

We sit there when a new maha-mantra tune is in progress. Some of those tunes are quite complex. We sing along in response to a kirtaneer. After a few Hare Krishna mantras sung to a particular tune, we become a little pleased that we are beginning to know it. Suddenly the kirtanner switches to another tune. We have to begin more tune memorisation. By the time we get familiar with that tune, the kirtaneer switches back to the original tune, which we have half forgotten.

While trying to get used to these new tunes, we see everybody else singing them as if they have known them all their lives. We begin to wonder if we are a bit behind, or living in the past like some ancient great, great grandparent. Eventually, someone begins to sing a Hare Krishna tune that we do know, at last. We then discover that even that tune is not the same as we knew it. We are all different I suppose.

The above experience is fairly commonly shared among older and senior devotees who have witnessed both the ‘old’ and new in kirtan and bhajana trends. The Hare Krishna mantra remains its eternal self, but the way of chanting has shifted a few gears in terms of live coverage, extended duration of kirtan events and the sophistication of kirtaneers musically.

We all have our favourite Hare Krishna tunes. We sing them to ourselves like people sing their favourite pop songs. Pop songs have titles and names attached to them. Our Hare Krishna mantra has tunes that have no names attached, well some. We might say that such and such tune was started by X Swami or X Prabhu. But do we call such tunes the X Swami tune or X Prabhu melody?

In ‘normal’ society several countries have their version of Name That Tune. Competitors on the show have to identify songs that musicians play. A musician might just play the first three notes of a song and a competitor will answer, “Yesterday!” by the Beatles for instance. People can keep a repertoire of thousands of chart songs in their memory banks and access them so swiftly. Who can not recall the opening da da da du, du du du de of Beethoven’s 9th symphony? All these form a part of our Western cultural upbringing.

The same can be said for older and younger generation devotees. Many Hare Krishna tunes are embedded within our memories, but we cannot identify them by name. We could say that many tunes are Prabhupada era tunes and post-Prabhupada era tunes. We would expect to hear Prabhupada disciples sing tunes from the Prabhupada era, but not always. Even today many Prabhupada era tunes are used by modern kirtaneers.

While going through the Prabhupada Memories series, some of us will be struck by how Mother Malati’s former husband, Syamasundara Prabhu remembered when, in the early days of ISKCON Srila Prabhupada would lead a one hour kirtan daily. Only one tune was used for the entire kirtan. Is this something that would be hard to imagine nowadays? Would one solid hour of one tune only, be boring for modern participants? It is rare today to hear such single-tuned bhajanas.

A psychologist or anthropologist might intercede here and say that there is something instinctive in such repetitive sounds and rhythms. As with shamans and other primitive people, their repetitive chants and rhythms would eventually cause some alteration of consciousness enabling trance-like states. We know that the Hare Krishna mantra has no material origin. Anyhow, Syamasundara Prabhu mentioned how devotees would feel deeply affected by such kirtans by Srila Prabhupada.

Currently we hear a broad range of kirtan tunes. It is noticeable how some of our modern kirtan tunes have an epic aura about them, as you would get in epic movie thems for example. It appears that ‘big’ tunes are meant for big occasions. Again, we cannot name such tunes because they are nameless. The best devotees can do is wait in anticipation for what tunes are to be used.

There are other occasions where devotees wonder what tune a kirtaneer will sing, or whether a new melody is going to be sung. Nearly all kirtans are rounded off or end with that famous Srila Prabhupada tune, whatever it may be called. Although tunes are secondary to the maha-mantra, we can become tune conscious, and because we like a particular tune, it can help us like the maha-mantra as well.

It can be a problem when devotees are unfamiliar with kirtan tunes, and when they try to sing and memorise at the same time, such efforts can mean being tune conscious instead of holy name conscious. However, once we do know a tune or have a favourite tune, it is easier to focus on the holy names, because the tune has been embedded within the memory.

With Srila Prabhupada’s tunes embedded within our collective ISKCON memory, are we to expect that kirtans be done as they used to be? Some devotees would not mind if this happens. When we listen to some timeless bhajana recordings of Srila Prabhupada, accompanied by mrdanga players whose beats are simple in comparison to those of our maestro mrdanga players of today, we are witnessing technical improvements. Such technical expertise might not be the same with ‘old’ style kirtans, some will say.

When our bhajanas are in progress they are almost always accompanied by standard bhajana mrdanga beats. It often happens that if a sit-down bhajana develops into a stand-up dance of a kirtan, that the same bhajana beats are used, even when the tempo has increased. We do not hear many of the traditional kirtan up-tempo beats being used often – are they a dying breed?

When there are expert mrdanga players around, we rarely see Prabhupada disciples or senior devotees play mrdanga themselves. During kirtan, some of the ‘old’ kirtan beats can supplement our bhajana beats. But times have changed and this will be seen in how our previous and new generations will appreciate kirtan, with their tunes and rhythms.

The chart topping songs of one generation will not appeal very much to the next generation. 1950’s music will not be as meaningful for young people who spend their formative years in the 1960’s or 70’s. Within succeeding generations in ISKCON a similar social preference will prevail. The one constant is the holy name, in whichever tune it is sung.

Sometimes a kirtaneer may switch tunes so often to try and build up to a crescendo. To make this happen, a mixture of ‘big’ tunes are added to tunes with a higher pitch. At other times a kirtaneer might add some ‘trademark’ physical move or gesture that causes other devotes to imitate in future kirtans. It is nice to be original I suppose.

But when such actions and tunes become popular or popularised outside the real intention to glorify the Lord through His holy names, and they are connected with individuals, then we could be speaking of show business. A lot of young people will be attracted to them, who may be considered icons. If kirtaneers have to add more to the unlimited holy names, there must be a minus somewhere in conviction.

Because the holy names remain constant, there should be a natural attraction for them. Srila Prabhupada’s leading of kirtan simply by sitting down and not much else, was all that was needed for him to attract souls. But whether there be Prabhupada tunes or any other devotee tunes, the beauty of the kirtan is the spontaneity and mystique of chanting Hare Krishna together. The only name we can give to any tune, old or new, is simply Hare Krishna.

Ys Kesava Krsna Dasa – GRS