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A collection of 400+ Kirtan chants with words, notes and links to recordings offered through the Gifting Economy.

Namaste and hello from Port Townsend, WA. My name is Natavar and I lead Kirtan here and manage the Kirtan on the Salish Sea FB page serving the Puget Sound region of WA. For 14 years, I lived and chanted at Kripalu Yoga Ashram. Due to covid, it’s been months since we’ve been able to gather together to sing, but all things have their silver linings and covid has provided me the time to complete a project that I started 5 years ago. I’m offering this as a part of the Gifting Economy, which means that I freely give this to whomever requests it with no expectations. If the recipient feels moved to gift back, or pay it forward to someone else in some way, that’s up to them. In the Yogic tradition, this becomes a practice of Aparigraha for the giver, the 5th Yama regarding non-attachment. For the receiver, it becomes a practice of Santosh, the 5th Niyama, signifying contentment, which is cultivated through the practice of gratitude. More on the Gifting Economy is explained on the website at sites.google.com/view/shantisalishkirtanchantbook/home.

As most chant leaders do, I started collecting chants that I personally wanted to learn and lead in Kirtan. Initially, this was just for my own benefit and to use for handouts for the responders. Eventually, I realized that, though I’ve seen several other chant collections, they either just have the words or they use musical scores, which is fine if you already know the chant or can read a musical score. Not being a trained musician myself, I formatted my collection so that anyone can learn to play the chants, regardless of musical experience. Each chant has the words with the melody and drone notes placed where they occur relative to the words. Some chants have chords and I’ve left space to add chords if they’re not there. All of the chants include links to recordings so that you can hear the rhythm and get a feel for the chant. Along with the chants, which are divided into deity chapters, there is also a sortable database.
The Shanti Salish Kirtan Chantbook collection has grown to 400+ chants and is now being released into the world. As I remember, find or create new chants, the collection will continue to grow.

The website outlines what is included in the collection and shows what the format looks like, how it works and how to request a copy. The response from many of the chant leaders whose chants are included in the collection has been very gratifying.
I invite you to check out the website and please feel free to pass the website address on to anyone that you feel may be interested. Thank you so much, keep chanting.
Namaste,
Natavar
sites.google.com/view/shantisalishkirtanchantbook/home
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