Search - Steve Ross :: Give Love a Chants Live Ecstatic Chanting

LA YOGA MAGAZINE REVIEW OF ECSTATIC CHANTING

Felicia M. Tomasko | Santa Barbara, CA | 04/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

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Steve Ross

Give Love a Chants

Chosen Word





Any Angeleno in the yoga scene, never mind the kirtan junkie circuit, knows Steve Ross not only for his smile (which lights up any room with blissful wit), but also for his commitment to singing and teaching the hundreds of yogis who turn out at Maha Yoga in Brentwood on a monthly basis to chant with him.



This release is the Steve Ross chanting album we've been waiting for, because it's live! As many readers probably know by now, I am not a big fan of the studio approach to kirtan albums. For me, the shakti, the spirit, is in the rooms where the call-and-response chanting is captured in a way that just can't be done in a studio setting. Chanting, after all, is a collaborative event that is influenced by the energy that kirtan singers produce with the audience.



Give Love a Chants captures a Steve Ross chant as well as any album can. As someone who has been in these rooms many times, I love it. I just love it. I love what Steve puts out to the world in his monthly Maha Yoga chants and I'm thrilled he finally put this whimsical magic on a recording that help others hear what they've been missing, or what they can expect if they come. The album is pretty raw and is a chant session from beginning to end with all Steve's witty anecdotal interludes left in, giving it that organic feel of being in the room with him.



As usual, Steve plays with some of the best kirtan musicians in LA on this recording. And over the years, he has played and sang with many of the great kirtan singers in the world. When he chants, Steve uses his bhakti experiences to create an atmosphere that is fun, devotional, sometimes silly (in a good way) and always worth the visit. I highly recommend Give Love to everyone who enjoys call-and-response ecstatic chanting. It's just great and I love Steve very much as a sweet authentic soul, teacher and someone who always puts so much into his sadhana (spiritual practice).



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