Ancient
to the Future: Baird Hersey & Prana
by
Peter Aaron
...more
experienced singers. So in 1999, he began Prana, whose lineup
has since included such leading local performers as Peter
Beuttner; Amy Fradon; Dorraine Scofield; Julie Last; Bruce
Milner; Kirsti Gholson; Julian Lines; Leslie Ritter; Jonji
Provenzano; Bar Scott and Joe Viellette. In 2004 the group
released its transcendental (in several senses of the word)
debut, The Eternal Embrace (Hersey Music), which met with
high praise and resulted in a tour of the Southwest and in
several East Coast engagements. But as artistically successful
as Prana had become, yet another fateful turn lay just over
the horizon.
The
following year, Viellette, a renowned luthier, was working
on a guitar that belonged to Krishna Das (nee Jeff Kagel,
perhaps surprisingly once a potential vocalist for Blue Öyster
Cult), the leading American singer of Indian kirtan-style
devotional music, and invited the eminent vocalist to one
of Prana’s Woodstock performances. Moved by the music,
Krishna Das invited the ensemble to performwith him in New
York and even suggested they record together. Hersey was bowled
over.
“It
was incredible,” beams Hersey. “In the yoga world,
Krishna Das is huge. His kirtans in Manhattan usually draw
around 1200 people. I call him ‘the Elvis of enlightenment.’”
The collaboration resulted in Gathering in the Light (2007,
Satsang Music), a profound set of seven lengthy chants, two
of which are augmented by legendary Woodstock drummer Jerry
Marotta. Like its predecessor, the disc has been widely embraced
by the yoga community and has even made the meditation bestseller
list at Amazon.com. So does Hersey have any visions of overtone
singing crossing over to a larger audience? “Well, this
music’s probably not for everybody,” he says with
a laugh. “Most music is about stimulation, but this
music is about the opposite—it’s about slowing
down. Not everyone wants to do that, which is fine, too. But
I hope those looking for more introspective moments will be
drawn to Prana’s music.”
www.pranasound.com
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