Community: Herndon Music Festival 2002
A Time to Celebrate Our Music
Sat Nam Kaur Khalsa
If you ask five people what they like best about the 3HO/Sikh Dharma lifestyle and solstices, you will probably get five different answers. Some people most enjoy the benefits of Kundalini Yoga, White Tntric Yoga and the coming together to share in Sadhana and Gurdwara. Others enjoy the spirit of working and playing together and the sense of mutual support and community, especially for those weeks at the time of the summer and winter solstice. My husband says that it was the good food that kept him coming back to 3HO.
My favorite part of these lifestyles that have come to be 3HO and Sikh Dharma has always been our music. From the very first time I took a yoga class more than 30 years ago, I was uplifted and moved by the music and chanting. My first yoga teacher had been a professional musician, and he wrote many of the songs of inspiration that we still sing today. For me, the yoga was a way to get ready for the last part of class when he would bring out his guitar and we would chant mantras that would take me beyond time and space. It was through my experience of the music and sound current, that I decided to give up some of the facets of my life and practice healthy living through Kundalini Yoga.
In those early years of 3HO and Sikh Dharma, I would look forward to Solstices and Tantric courses as a time to once again have my spirits lifted through the music and chanting. I will never forget meeting GuruGanesha Singh, one of our prolific and devoted musicians, for the first time at a New York Tantric course in 1972. He was sitting on the doorstop of the Brooklyn ashram, joyously strumming a white guitar and chanting “Ek Ong Kar” at the top of his lungs. People were gathering around and joining in with other instruments. There was such a sense of love and spontaneity in his playing that I was immediately uplifted. His inspiration has continued to this day, and there have been many, many other musicians through these years who have shared their spirit through songs and sound. We have been witness to and participated in the creation of a new and unique body of music which combines ancient healing mantras with our Western style of music, and it just keeps getting better!
The Herndon, Virginia ashram has been home to many talented musicians through the years. Four years ago, we started the Herndon Music Festival when we realized that there were musicians who wanted to play together but who never seemed to be able to coordinate schedules and situations. We decided to create a time and place where musicians and music lovers from all over the world could come together to renew the spirit of fun and creativity that happens when we chant and sing together.
This year’s music festival was held March 14-17, and it was better than ever. Gurudass Singh and Gurudass Kaur came from Spain and taught a “Mantras and Mudras” class during one of the days, and the other days were filled with walks in the park, visiting and playing music together. In the evenings we had dinner and chanting at different houses in the ashram, and anyone who wished to play was encouraged to bring instruments. We had people from California, Oregon, New Mexico, Massachusetts, New York, Toronto, Florida, and elsewhere who came to join in our fun and high spirits.
There were many moments during the weekend that I remember as being special. On Saturday evening, a couple thanked me for the wonderful experience they had. They said that they have been a part of another yogic ashram for 20 years, but they had never had so much fun chanting before. Another woman told me that she looked forward every year to the music festival as a time when she could come home to the songs and people she had loved many years ago as her first ashram yogic experience. There was a coziness and sense of peace that surrounded the whole weekend, and I felt confirmed in the importance of honoring our music.
The Herndon Music Festival is something that is evolving as the inspiration grows. I’m hoping that it will continue to serve as a means to support and expand our musical opportunities so that more and more people can experience the joy of our wonderful sounds. We hope to see you in Herndon next year!
For information about the Herndon Music Festival, contact: Sat Nam Kaur [email protected]