Like Greatest Hits of the Kali Yuga, The Best of Krishna Das samples the singer's earlier devotional works, here drawing upon his albums One Track Heart, Pilgrim Heart, Breath of the Heart, Live on Earth, and Door of Faith. A devotee of Maharaj Ji Neem Karoli Baba, Krishna Das has spent much of his adult life making good on his vow to use his singing voice to alleviate suffering in the world. Krishna Das is that most wonderful blend of Eastern and Western cultures; originally a resident of Long Island, N.Y., he studied in northern India as a young man and has since spent decades reinterpreting the sacred music of that land in ways that are pleasant and often surprising. As a man who sounds at times like Waylon Jennings and who is obviously enamored of the "lila" or divine playfulness, Krishna Das seems to enjoy deliberately toying with the unusual and even humorous aspects of the East/West dichotomy, as when on the album One Track Heart he sang a "Krishna Waltz" that sounded more than a little like the old cowboy tune "Get Along Little Dogies." As an encapsulation of his life's work, this Krishna Das best-of collection is entirely devoted to Sri Neem Karoli Baba and through him to the One Deity with a thousand names and as many aspects as there are atoms in the universe.
Laughing At The Moon is a collection of some of KD best-loved chants. It blends a western rock album perspective with the deep resonance of the kirtan traditions to weave the stages of life’s loves and longings into a journey of discovery, unified through pathways of song.
Tales from Norway transforms musical stories from Norwegian folk traditions into new compositions that defy genre-related labelling and envision a broader, bolder concept of “contemporary music”.
Guess I don't need to introduce these two legends if you are following my releases of them in a while. However, let me repeat 'Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia' and 'Dr. Balamurali Krishna' are two of the greatest doyens of their traditions. And in many aspects, this Jugalbandi Live in Hong Kong is one of the greatest moments of Indian Classical.