Kirtan
Collaboration with Maa, Shantonu Deva
“𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝐵ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑡𝑖 𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟
𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛”
𝑮𝒂𝒊𝒆𝒂 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒌𝒓𝒊𝒕.
𝑲𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒚𝒎𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.
𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒆; 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕, 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏, 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒎𝒖𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒔, 𝒃𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕, 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕.
𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰ith MAA ensemble, led by Shantonu Deva, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 frame drummer Maria Bovin De Labbé, Stockholm, 2022
𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲.
« 𝑠́𝑖𝑣𝑎 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑎̄𝑗𝑎 (𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒) 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚”. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒔. This is the moment of suspension or in-between where the silence and stillness are at the deepest centre of all sound and movement.
𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺́𝒊𝒗𝒂, Peter Harrison
kirtan with Maa at Tridevi, Stockholm
image: Siddha Vidya Harlin and Shantonu Deva
photo Tadeu Kobna