Ananda Rasa is a collective kirtan/chant band led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist David Estes and based in the San Francisco Bay Area. David spent fourteen years growing up in India and the many forms and styles of Indian music, rock and reggae that surrounded him in those years are deep in his soul. After later returning to India to spend a few years completely immersed in the practices of chanting and meditation as a resident in daily ashram life he started composing original chant melodies. Based on the scales of Indian music and to the words of traditional mantras and chants, along with influences of Qawwali and reggae, these melodies and music are the kirtan of Ananda Rasa, the nectar of bliss.
Kirtan
Nama Sankirtana (to repeat the Name), also commonly known as Kirtan, is the great devotional chanting and singing music of many yogic and Indian spiritual traditions. Kirtan consists of repeating traditional mantras and the names of sacred deities and saints in the Sanskrit language (or other Indian languages) set to musical melodies. Most often performed in a call and response fashion with a vocalist and musicians leading the call, it actively involves the audience as the response vocal group. The constant repeated chanting and singing of the sacred names and mantras can invoke grace and lead the participants into ecstatic and powerful states of bliss.