Finding A Way To Live In Love with Jai Uttal

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A pioneer in the world music community, Jai Uttal's musical roots embrace a rich variety of cultures. His compositions are a merging of his passion for eastern ecstatic chanting with plugged-in popular western song craft, jazz, and rock and roll. "The heart of it," he says, "is that music is your deepest connection to God and [one must] treat it like that-reverently." (hosted by Neil Harvey)

Bio

A long time student of master musician Ali Akbar Khan and devotee of renowned spiritual teacher Neem Karoli Baba, Uttal's remarkable gifts come from following the winding road from New York to Bengal and back. His is a human story, an American story, a story of tears and joy, of gurus and God in search of sacred sound.

Music pieces appearing in this program were selected from his album Mondo Rama, (Narada World, 2002) which features The Pagan Love Orchestra, and from two CDs, both co-produced with Ben Lainbach and released in 2003: Music for Yoga and Other Joys (Sounds True, 2003) and the double CD album Kirtan: The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant. Jai's other albums include Footprint (Triloka,1991), Monkey (Triloka, 1993), Beggars and Saints (Triloka 1994) and Shiva Station (Triloka, 2002).

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• What is the transformative power of music
• What is a master musician's awareness like
• Where do art, career, and the spiritual path meet
• What is enlightenment from a Bhakti yoga perspective
• What is really meant by spiritual "surrender"
• How do Kirtan and ecstatic singing create a way to live in love
• How can we overcome fear and self doubt