A Bold New Recording of an Ancient Sacred Classic: the Hanuman Chalisa
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.
Hanuman Chalisa for World Peace
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.
Exclusive Opportunity to Listen to the Hanuman Chalisa with Jai Uttal
Divine Love and Musical Storytelling in the Hanuman Chalisa
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.
Save and Share the Hanuman Chalisa for World Peace
https://ffm.to/hanuman-chalisa
In a career that spans five decades, Alan di Perna has written for pretty much every magazine in the world with the word “guitar” in its title, as well as other prestigious outlets such as Rolling Stone, Billboard, Creem, Player, Classic Rock, Musician, Future Music, Keyboard, grammy.com and reverb.com. He is author of Guitar Masters: Intimate Portraits, Green Day: The Ultimate Unauthorized History and co-author of Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Sound Style and Revolution of the Electric Guitar. The latter became the inspiration for the Metropolitan Museum of Art/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exhibition “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll.” As a professional guitarist/keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist, Alan has worked with recording artists Brianna Lea Pruett, Fawn Wood, Brenda McMorrow, Sat Kartar and Shox Lumania.