Krishna Das (singer)


Krishna Das is an American vocalist known for his performances of Hindu devotional music known as kirtan. He has released seventeen albums since 1996. He performed at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where his album Live Ananda was nominated for the 2013 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.

Biography

In June 1967, a small group of high school and college students on Long Island formed a rock band that would eventually become Blue Öyster Cult. For a brief time, Jeff Kagel, then a student at State University of New York at Stony Brook, was the band’s lead singer, but he quit.
In August 1970 Krishna Das traveled to India, where, as Ram Dass had done, he became a devotee of the Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba.
He was referred to as the "Rockstar of Yoga" by the Grammys when he was nominated for a 2013 Grammy Award.
Krishna Das has been associated with many other artists. Two of his albums have featured Hans Christian as a guest multi-instrumentalist, and Sting appears on the album Pilgrim Heart. He has also appeared on an album with Baird Hersey & Prana entitled Gathering in the Light. Walter Becker of Steely Dan plays bass guitar on and co-produced All One, which also features Rick Allen of Def Leppard on drums and Steve Gorn on flute. Ty Burhoe plays tabla on several albums. Rick Rubin produced Breath of the Heart.
His album Live Ananda was nominated for the 2013 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. He performed at the Grammy Awards ceremony as well.
In April 2014 his album Kirtan Wallah was released under his own label Krishna Das Music.
In 2014, Krishna Das helped to form the , a 501c3 nonprofit, dedicated to spreading the teachings of his spiritual teacher, Neem Karoli Baba.

Anusara Yoga invocation

Krishna Das composed the melody for an Anusara Yoga invocation, Om Nama Shivaya Gurave, at the request of John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga. Friend describes this composition as being written during a summer night at a secluded mountain retreat center in Utah in 1998.

Discography

In 2011 and 2012, a documentary was made about Krishna Das called One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das. It was directed by filmmaker Jeremy Frindel and features interviews with Krishna Das and others commenting on his life and spiritual quest. In late 2012 the documentary was picked up by distributor Zeitgeist Films for US distribution, and it came out in the USA in May 2013. The soundtrack includes tracks by Krishna Das and the film score by J Mascis and .