Dance music born from the union of electronics and kirtan.

The explosion of Yoga practices and centers across the cultural landscape has brought awareness, commercialization, and new levels of health and fitness. Alongside this trend, enthusiasts are flocking to any and everything that falls within the broad parameters of “Yoga music.” Interest in kirtan—singing for the divine in a call-and-response style—has risen steadily, giving birth to kirtronica as it blended with electronica. In a fusion of interactive expressions, rampant dancing has become a regular element of many of these events, with hints of the old “Dead” shows. Kirtan generates lots of energy, and what better way to ride these waves than through dance and movement?

Pioneers such as Jai Uttal, Suzanne Sterling, Donna DeLory, Girish, and Sacred Earth are veritable high priests and priestesses of the dance/chant craze. Jai Uttal has been at the forefront of the kirtan movement, and landed there after a series of world fusion CDs with his Pagan Love Orchestra group, which intermingled chants with their world fusion brew. Recently, Jai collaborated with Rara Avis in a remix CD called Dial M for Mantra, wherein electronic beats and well-aimed treatments took the chants to the next level, and beyond, and did so without merely pushing buttons to trigger incessant beats. Rara has been part of the Shaman’s Dream collective and a key player in the Desert Dwellers group, has released his own CD, and contributed tracks to collections such as Max.Chillroom.

Ecstatic chants with Jai Uttal at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY, September 2007.