Updating Kirtan for the twenty-first century.
Bringing a centuries-old tradition to the 21st century
Duncan Day-Myron

"The live performance is much more based on the choir participation, and the entire audience becomes the choir." –Brenda McMorrow

 

It's been a long musical journey for Brenda McMorrow. 18 years into her playing and performing career, she has emerged as a phenomenal and unique talent in the relatively obscure world of Kirtan music.

"I had always wanted to play music. It had been a dream since I was a little kid, but I didn't realise the dream until I was in University and I started getting together with like-minded people," McMorrow recalls.

Beginning as a busker on the streets of London, ON while a student at the University of Western Ontario, McMorrow began performing in clubs with her musical partner Samantha Wells, going on to found the folk-rock group Julia Propeller together.

"Guelph was our favourite town to play in. We used to play at the Albion, and the crowds here were awesome. After the band broke up in 1997, I just tossed around a few different ideas. I did some jazz, and then I was in a bluegrass band for about a year called the Cartwheels. It ranged from folk rock to jazz to bluegrass," said McMorrow. "It's just been in the last 2 years that I've been doing Kirtan music, and this is the music that has just captured my heart."

But it took some time between discovering Kirtan, and writing and performing it herself. Her first encounter came five years ago after being invited to a Yoga studio with a friend.

"I wasn't all that familiar with Yogic philosophy, Hindu mythology or cosmology. But I went and I was absolutely blown away but what I heard and what I experienced. It was a very simple chant, and I had no idea what it meant or what it signified: all I knew was that every cell in my body started vibrating, and I felt this joy. Ever since then I just knew that that was what I wanted to do."

That music, Kirtan, is one of the oldest sacred musical genres in the world, originating in India. The chants are often simple, short devotionals repeated by the singer as well as the audience, often with hand-claps and some dancing involved.

However, it took more than one Yoga class for McMorrow to be comfortable performing the music herself. So she went right to the source, spending three years, off and on, travelling around Asia, including India.

"That was an amazing experience. That's when I really knew," she said of her travels, during which she wrote many of the songs featured on her latest album, Ameya, as well as a new album she just recently finished recording.

"I would take an ancient mantra and then work on my own melodies and they would expand into songs."

The kinetic qualities of Kirtan, the hand-claps and other audience participation, is preserved in McMorrow's performances.

"The live performance is much more based on the choir participation, and the entire audience becomes the choir. In a way, it's a major sing-along but in an Indian style. The way that each song evolves when we're doing it live, it's different each time. It depends on the energy of the crowd, where people are at, what they're feeling during it. It creates a real opening," she said.

And while Kirtan is gaining a steadier following, especially in the Guelph area, McMorrow doesn't concern herself too much with her the turnout of her shows.

"I always say to myself, whatever size group this is, it's going to be perfect. We've gone to some smaller towns and there's maybe only 10 people, and it just has this sweet wonderful feeling to it. It's a bit of an adventure; you never know."

But thankfully McMorrow, although not a native to Guelph, still hopes to continue both working and performing in the city.

"I find this community to be one of the most creatively supporting communities I've ever been in," she said.

McMorrow is extending her support back to the community at an upcoming fundraiser for local musician and artist Sue Richards, but she is also planning another tour, which will no doubt include Guelph, upon the release of her upcoming album.

Return to Arts & Culture section

Readers Comments

Comment on this article or Send a letter to the editor
Comments posted here do not necessarrily reflect the views of The Ontarion or its staff and affiliates.

Be the first, follow the "comment on this article" link above