An eclectic mix of beats, layers, and chants.

In 2005, I first had the good fortune of meeting Bhakti Marga Swami, otherwise known as The Walking Monk. In the past couple of decades he has walked across Canada three times and is currently in the middle of his fourth trans-Canada hike.

He was recently in Vancouver and we managed to arrange an exclusive interview with him during his stay. In this interview he talks about his life as a monk, and how it was that he came to start walking. He explains the process of chanting mantra and how it fits into bhakti yoga, tells a few stories, and talks about connecting to our natural surroundings by walking the land.

The interview is interspersed with some impressive musical layers and tunes. To mark the last week of Kartik, hailing from Japan, Vic De Cara’s new band Ter Kadamba Mandir give their rendition of the Damodarastakam or eight verses dedicated to Damodar, followed by a brief explanation of it’s meaning. We also hear from Mahasukha from his release Soulful Spirit with the remix of the track Rushing, a beautiful south-african inspired sound in which he shares the message “Slow down .. and savour“.

Next up is DJ Drez and Breath of Life Tribe’s Deepak Ramapriyan with a track entitled Shri from the Jahta Beat release Lotus Memoirs. And later in the interview, new music from the illustrious Marti Walker, an innovative rendition of the 16th century Bengali verses known as Nama-Sankirtan, which she calls Tribal Naam.

We cap things off musically with another track from Ter Kadamba Mandir which features the Maha-Mantra. Other music layered into the interview comes from Chinmaya Dunster, Eastern Sun, Dave Tipper, and Shaman’s Dream.

Alternate MP3 Link – Mantra Radio – Nov 15th 2012.mp3

An eclectic mix of beats, layers, and chants.

This weeks show starts off with a track by Joss Jaffe from his latest album, Dub Mantra, entitled Maha-Lakshmi. This song consists of several sanksrit verses from Sri Maha-lakhmy-ashtaka, or eight verses dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi.

In honour of the month of Kartik (also known as the month of Damodar) we talk a little about Krishna as a child, and play an innovative rendition of a different “astaka”, or song consisting of eight verses, Sri Hari’s Damodarastaka.

Next up is two tracks from Srikala Roach’s release Srikalogy Vol 1: Freedom is the Basis. The first song, Lover and Beloved features words from both Srikala and the multifaceted Alokananda as they call-out to Radha and Shyaam, the eternal divine couple, for their loving guidance and enlightening embrace. The second of their songs is a wonderful mesh of orchestral loops, subtle beats and beat-poetry entitled The Call … Alokananda once again behind the microphone.

The deep groovin’ and unstoppable DJ Drez presents a fresh new single featuring instrumentalist and singer Jim Beckwith (aka Hanuman das) dedicated to Saraswati, the Goddess of learning, music and fine-speech. This is appropriately followed up by a blissful dubbed-out version of David Newman’s Love Belongs to Everyone / Gayatri, which was remixed by ex-Think Tree band member, and electronic music producer, Krishna Venkatesh.

We cap things off with the legendary Bahramji and a Sufi chant-infused track from the 2011 release Divineh. This album was co-produced with musician and electronic-alchemist, Mashti.

Alternate MP3 Link – Mantra Radio – Nov 8th 2012.mp3

An eclectic mix of beats, layers, and chants.

This weeks show focusses on the innovative and original music of Martyrs of Sound from Independence, Oregon. We had the good fortune of chatting with the two main members Dr. Steve Koc and Sara Wiseman at the Pranafest 2012 festival earlier this year in Ashland.

Steve is a long-time yogi who spent many years studying and performing kirtan in kundalini ashrams in his youth, and later incorporating other healing forms into his practice. Sara is an acclaimed author, intuitive, radio host, and the lead singer of Martyrs of Sound. Connecting to the Divine and using her voice as an instrument – with mantra and poetry.

Both of them share their stories and realizations with us, along with some fantastic sounds, during the course of this episode.

You can visit their website at www.martyrsofsound.com.

Alternate MP3 Link – Mantra Radio – Nov 1st 2012.mp3