Dance of Shakti: Sacred chants in contemporary beats
Hi listeners, here I go straight writing my first post without any into for me. I have written about me elsewhere. I am pretty aware that I am writing a stuff about a six year old album, Dance of Shakti. But it’s a kinda evergreen music that I thought would be good to start with. Nietzsche somewhere says “I should not believe in a God who does not dance.” That is a great insight, and not a mere play upon words. To dance means to enjoy life, to be heart centered, and to be more human.
In India, Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakti are depicted playing the cosmic dance and Joshua draws an inspiration from this. In Dance of Shakti, he has turned the sacred songs of Shakti in a way that is contemporary in style. The album cover pictures Shakti on tiger, symbolising the predominant fast beat mood of the album inviting for a dance. I particularly like Bolo Hari (Track 1), Nanak (5) and Dance of Kali (6). Other tracks are equally good and I had a hard time picking out this three as the best ones.
Bolo Hari has been remixed in his other album Shiva Moon and is the most popular of all his albums. It starts with a street recording which quicky turns into a danceable music. Nanak, on the other hand, is a very serene music. If you listen to the tracks in order without shuffling, you can realise an important special role of this track. As a most serene track of the album, it gives a sense of resting after listening to the first four tracks and prepares you for the final countdown: Dance of Kali, which builds the climax of the album. In fact Nanak ends where Dance of Kali begins merging the two tracks as though they were one. The final track features the most popular chants of Shakti:
“Yaa Devi Sarva Bhooteshu Shakthi Roopena Samsthita
Namastasyai Namastasyai Namastasyai Namo Namaha”
which roughly translates to “Salutations again and again to the Devi (Goddess) who resides in all beings in the form of Shakthi (creative power)”
There is lot that can be said about Prem Joshua and about this album and his other Albums. Let me keep them for other days.
I am still sorting out the most interesting way to present New Age Music posts for you all. I hope to complete that task by this week to make sure that you enjoy the most out of New Age blog and become a new age fan, too. If any of you have suggestions for me, please feel free to comment. Lastly, I dedicate this first post for my family, for all their support and encouragement.
3 Comments
Dude, I’ve checked your first post, and it’s great! I’d heard of Shakti years ago (“creative power”), and have dug the music because it’s so meditational and meaningful. It’s a sound that’ll affect you if you (as Tommy James said in “Crystal Blue Persuasion”) “look to your soul …. open your mind”.
By the way, I like the way you write! Just be yourself, and write FROM that soul … that mind … and you’ve got it MADE, man!
Keep up the good work!
The style and the way of narration about the album is very good. Also finding a correlation between the tracks and providing meaning for how they are sequenced and why joshua has done it is simply outstanding. I am sure that you are going to write more and more articles which are going to just your own record of “how you narrate, feel the music, live the music”. God bless you. Wish you best of good luck.
Hey buddy I love Prem Joshua and his albums from my boyhood days. It happened like this…..I went on shopping some traditional Indian spiritual songs for my mom immediately on seeing the Shakthi in the album cover… I added it to my cart. In a family spiritual gather I played Dance of Shakti and my mom (seemingly orthodox) frowned at me saying “I didn’t ask u to buy Backstreet boys”(she hadn’t ever heard it too)…….and she gave a nice scolding which I couldn’t forget….thats how I met Prem Joshua and Dance of Shakti. I like your post. Good narration and comment on the album. Keep it up!