The Story of Our CD with Krishna Das

[Baird Hersey]

Gathering in the Light

In October of 2004 Krishna Das attended a release party for PRANA's first CD, "The Eternal Embrace". After Prana had sung, Krishna Das said to Baird, "Let's make a record together or something".

Over the next year the "or something" was Krishna Das inviting Prana to sing at his larger benefit Kirtans in the New York area. As a part of those evenings KD would join Prana to sing Baird's arrangement of his chant "Puja". The combination of the ethereal sound of overtone singing supporting the rich, open hearted voice of Krishna Das was stunning.

In 2006 Baird and KD decided to record "Puja" for Prana's new CD. The resulting 12 minute piece was so striking, they resolved to record an entire CD together. The result is "Gathering in the Light", Krishna Das singing seven of his most beloved chants over arrangements created by Baird and sung by Prana.

On four pieces percussion was added: Jerry Marotta, (Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello) on hand percussion and drums, South Indian Masters Drummers Subash Chandran, playing ghatam (clay pot), Ganesh Kumar playing kanjira (tunable tambourine), and Arjun Alan Bruggeman on Tabla.

The only sound on this recording is the human voice and percussion.
"Gathering In The Light" is dedicated to Pattabhi Jois and Neem Karoli Baba