Sacred Chants of Shiva
For anyone looking for an album on meditation this is IT! I heard it first when my roommate who was into meditation and "Art of Living" used to play it quite often. This album is from the singers of the Art of Living. There are really few albums on meditation which can be heard in the morning or when one needs to relax before going to sleep and this album doesn’t let you down.
The album has six tracks, the first five are compositions of sanskrit chants while the last one is meant more for medidation, sort of repetitive. The album is credited to Craig Pruess who’s a devotee of Sri Ravi Shankar. The tracks listed are
Shiva Manas Puja 2. Bhavanyastakam 3. Shivoham 4. Atmastakam 5. Lingashtakam
Om Nama Shiva
One of the best tracks of the album is Shivoham which starts with a beautiful flute rendition, listening to this track in the morning can be invigorating. What this album really stands out from the rest is the tone of the album. The best way to listen to this music is on your discman or walkman, you will forget everything and get a good night’s sleep. I recording of the tracks is of the highest quality.
Chants of India
While surfing through the CD collection at the temple library in the US, I came across this album. I decided to give it a try as it was produced by Pt. Ravi Shanker.
- Vandanaa Trayee 2. Omkaaraaya Namaha 3. Vedic Chanting 4. Asato Maa 5. Sahanaa Vavatu 6. Poornamadah 7. Gaayatri 8. Mahaa Mrityunjaya 9. Veenaa-Murali 10. Geeta 11. Mangalam 12. Hari Om 13. Svara Mantra 14. Vedic Chanting 15. Prabhujee 16. Sarve Shaam
From the 16 tracks on this album, about 4 of them are individual compositions like tracks 9, 13, 15 etc. The CD leaflet gives a detailed description of the album and also the chants are listed there wherea the cassette doesn’t give all the details. All the chants are rendered beautifully especially the Gayatri mantra. Though I haven’t heard the Gayatri album by Times Music, the Gayatri mantra rendition on this album is really good.
The tracks from 3 to 8 are the ones that really stand out in this album. Like the previous album, this one scores on the quality of the recording and the tone of the album.
Essence of the Vedas
I bought this one recently as I was looking for another album with chants in it. It is a a compilation of the vedas with translation after each chant. There is a signature tune by Pt. Jasraj.
Rigveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda recitation is by Vedamoorthy K Sharaschandra Bhat, Arun Iyer.
Samaveda recitation by Sri Srirama Sroutigal, Sri Sudarshana Sroutigal.
The renditions of Samaveda and Athrvaveda are little bit different from the first tow renditions and is really worth a mention. It is very uplifting and spiritual. While the first two albums depend on music to acheive this feat, the recitations on this album are so good that need not depend on music!!
Another album that I bought recently, Mantra Shakti, a collection of 22 mantras is also good, while I haven’t heard Gayatri from Times Music yet.
I welcome your valuable comments on other albums which you feel are worth mentioning.