Track Listing

1. Vandanaa Trayee
2. Omkaaraaya Namaha
3. Vedic Chanting
4. Asato Maa
5. Sahanaa Vavatu
6. Poornamadah
7. Gaayatri
8. Mahaa Mrityunjaya
9. Veenaa-Murali
10. Geetaa
11. Mangalam
12. Hari Om
13. Svara Mantra
14. Vedic Chanting
15. Prabhujee
16. Sarve Shaam

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11432 in Music
• Published on: 1997
• Released on: 1997-05-06
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com essential recording
Mantram is Ravi Shankar's effort to set Sanskrit chants from ancient Hindu scriptures to music, and the result is a captivating mix of chant and music. Produced by George Harrison, this collection of mantras and prayers from the Vedas, Upanishads, and other scriptures powerfully transports the listener to a place of peace where it's possible to be one with the universe. It's as if a heavy, enveloping cloak of serenity falls from the dark, floating sounds of cello opening the CD. Shankar employs flute, tamboura, harp, and other instruments to accent the mighty "Om" thread that weaves itself through the cloth of this album, bringing together deep, ominous voices with delicate, earthly instruments. One looking for extensive Shankar sitar might be disappointed, but the beauty of this artist's creativity and spiritual vision sweeps one away into a larger, more meaningful listening experience. Highly recommended. --Karen Karleski

Customer Reviews

Enchanting..
This collection of chants from ancient Indian scriptures is simply the best you can get of such a collection. It starts, as in traditional Indian music, with a chant for Lord Ganesh. The collection is quite varied from chantings of a specific God such as the goddess of Learning (Saraswathi); chantings from the Gita (the famous Karmanyeva adhikareste, which states that one should refrain from acting with expectations about results) and the vedas - there is the other famous Gayathri mantra. The chants are authentic in their rendering in terms of the utterences and adherence to tradition.

For the westerner, all the chants may make no sense at all. But the quality of the vocals tends to give one a feeling of sacredness and sanctity. Some of the chants are melodious; Ravi Shankar's sitar is quite evident in most of these; but it doesn't dominate as with his other renderings. The chants are the main body.

This CD is ideal if your roots are Indian, and you want your child to listen and learn from these. It is nice background music for a religious gathering or for a Yoga class. I use this for many of my Yoga classes. It is not infrequent, that some of my students request this particular CD be the background music for their Yoga class.

Transfixing and Transcending
This CD is unlike anything you might ever hear. It is not so much the music of Shankar or Harrison or anyone else - it is the music of the Gods, manifested through Shankar and the talent surrounding him. The vocal harmonies and the music swim with each other in a sonic sea of indescribable beauty. A friend played this at work and I simply had to close my eyes and swoon a bit at the lush wash of sound. I purchase about one CD a year, if that. When I heard this for the first time, I bought it the very next day. I certainly have never written a review; I came to Amazon just for this purpose, for the privilege of telling others about it. Nearly every review here is five stars. The two disappointed reviews are from listeners who had some definite expectations about sitar or classical Indian music. I am so sorry for them being so boxed in that they did not recognize the gift that came to them despite their expectations. This music will not be boxed in, it is universal, expansive and extraodinarily appealing. It is so spiritually pure that buying it is merely incidental to the benefit it provides to all life, everytime it is played anywhere.

Pleasing to my ears and heart
The point of this cd, to me, is that it is *chant.* It is primarily vocal music, rather repetitive but tuneful, and it is designed to be sung by ordinary people, not necessarily trained voices. It is not sitar or ragas. I am not Hindu or a specialist in music of any kind, but I find it pleasing to listen to--it is exotic without being overly weird, it is relaxing without being soporific, and I enjoy it while driving. I don't know that it will bring about enlightenment, but it lightens my day.