Legacy of Songs ‘Hanuman Chalisa for World peace’
HANUMAN CHALEESA FOR WORLD PEACE!
LASTEST RECORDING PROJECT
A little background: Twenty one years ago I was commissioned by the Lookingglass Theater and the Chicago Children’s Choir to write original songs and music for an opera based on the Ramayana. This was, of course, a dream project for me as I’ve been reading and immersing myself in the Ramayana since 1971 when I met my guru, Neem Karoli Baba.
So I wrote a set of songs and traveled to Chicago with The Pagan Love Orchestra to perform SITA RAM at The Ravinia Theater with 70 young teenagers singing the vocal parts. It was bliss!!! We performed it in various different configurations and venues three other times over the years.
Last year, David Kersner, the director/lyricist/visionary who dreamed up that project, approached me about doing a theatrical performance of the Hanuman Chaleesa, a prayer that I’ve been singing daily for over five decades. Without thinking twice I said YES!!! So now we’re trying to get a grant to move that dream forward. One of the components of the upcoming grant proposal is my recording of the Hanuman Chaleesa, which I’ve been working on for about a year. It features The Pagan Love Orchestra, my son Ezra, and what feels like a cast of thousands.
I hope you enjoy this journey with me.
Jai
An article by Alan Di Perna : A Bold New Recording of an Ancient Sacred Classic.
Jai Uttal’s majestic musical setting for the ancient Hindu prayer, the Hanuman Chalisa, is a tour-de-force of devotional musical artistry. The 16-minute composition moves dynamically through myriad moods, bringing to vivid life the epic story of the shape-shifting Hindu monkey deity Hanuman—avatar of Shiva and embodiment of universal love (bhakti) and service (seva) to one’s fellow beings.
The Hanuman Chalisa text was composed by the 16th century Indian poet and saint Tulsidas. He adapted earlier Sanskrit sources to sing Hanuman’s praises in the vernacular Awadhi language—the language of his people and time period. The Hanuman Chalisa is a life-affirming prayer for all times and places.
“Now, in this time of global crisis,” says Jai, “I offer you my version, entitled Hanuman Chalisa for World Peace.”
Jai Uttal first learned the Chalisa at the feet of his gurus, Neem Karoli Baba and Sri Siddhi Ma in India, in the 1970s. It has been a part of his daily, personal spiritual practice ever since. He decided to share the Chalisa with a wider audience when theater director David Kersnar approached Jai about turning it into an opera for the stage. Early GarageBand demos—Couch Potato Productions as Jai calls them—soon blossomed into a gloriously rich studio recording with longtime Jai Uttal collaborators, the Pagan Love Orchestra and producer Ben Leinbach.
The result is a work of multi-hued, many-faceted splendor. A wistful doha, or invocation to the gurus, gives way to jubilantly melodic verses—40 in all—punctuated by resplendent recurrences of the root mantra “Jay Sita Ram, Jay Sita Ram, Jay Jay Hanuman.” The music
moves with the story—through major and minor modes, deeply-rooted grooves and moments of floating timelessly in space. A stirring sense of pageantry informs Peter Apfelbaum’s triumphant horn arrangements. Backing vocalists Sandy and Natalie Cressman and Prajna Vieira evoke the feminine energy of Sita, the divine heroine of the saga. Their voices lend an angelic glow to the music.
And throughout, the voice of Jai Uttal—imbued with a lifetime of devotional chanting—guides us deep into the Hanuman Chalisa’s many subtle shades of Divine Love.
“I wanted to make a musical arrangement that expresses the dynamic and brilliantly shining personality of Hanuman,” says Jai, “and something that also reflects the many facets of my long musical, human and spiritual journey."
With its joyful, uplifting artistry, the Hanuman Chalisa for World Peace is a balm for our troubled times.
