Hi ONE LOVE Community,
We are very excited about our upcoming events at Kripalu Yoga Center and at Heartspace Yoga in Albany, NY later this month - see our Calendar page for details! We'll also be LIVE on the AIR on WRPI - FM in Troy, NY on the 'In The Spirit' program with Gary Goldberg from 3-4 PM on Thursday, January 26. You can listen on the Internet, as well!
Looking forward to singing with you soon,
ONE LOVE
Hi ONE LOVE Community, our upcoming local gig at Fine Spirit Studio in Ithaca on December 18 (see Calendar page) is shaping up to be great! We are excited to be introducing some new chants to our repertoire, and we will have some wonderful guest musicians playing with us that night: local cellist Elizabeth Simkin will be sitting in, as will bassist Dan Yokum. Grab a friend and come help celebrate the returning Light of Solstice with some high energy chanting!
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
Our concert at the Turning the Wheel event in Ithaca on October 28 was a huge success! Thanks to all who helped make it such a magical evening. A clip from that show, of the song "We All Come From The Goddess," is on our Music page under Live Recordings. Enjoy!
We have another local concert coming up on December 18 at the Fine Spirit Yoga Studio at 201 Dey Street in Ithaca, NY. Hope you can join us then!
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
We are sorry to have to postpone our concert at the Yoga By Donation Studio in Auburn, NY which was to have taken place on November 5, due to circumstances at the venue beyond our control. We wish our host Theresa well and look forward to a rescheduled concert date in the near future!
Thanks to our friend and photographer Gary Goldberg, the host of 'In the Spirit' on WRPI-FM, we have some nice new photos of the band from our recent concert at Kripalu Yoga Center up on our Photos page. We invite you to see the slide show - enjoy!
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
Thanks to all who came out to the fabulous gig at the EarthDance festival on a perfect Fall day in Ithaca recently! We were honored to participate with other fine bands and our friends the Pranadhanas, as well. We will collaborate with the Pranadhanas and our friends Lycaonfire and Jalamyst on another special local event, Turning the Wheel, at the Foundation of Light in Ithaca on Friday, October 28. Don't miss it!
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
If you use Twitter, please follow us at @OneLoveChant . We will post announcements about upcoming gigs, and we would love to hear from our friends near and far! You can also 'Like' One Love Chant on Facebook - see the link on our home page.
We hope to chant with you soon, and in the meantime, you can stay connected with us in cyberspace!
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
We're back from our recent gigs at Kripalu Yoga Center and a local gig last night in Ithaca, and the energy and love or 'bhav' in the rooms has been really fabulous. We hope you can join us at an upcoming event! In the meantime, we will soon post new videos and photos on this site, so stay tuned!
Namaste,
ONE LOVE
Hi again ONE LOVE community,
We wanted to let you know about another resource online where our lead vocalist and guitarist Jody Kessler maintains a Blog and sends out a newsletter to yoga practitioners in her classes and elsewhere. The latest entry features a personal story of Jody's history with Kirtan and Bhakti Yoga that you might find interesting. Please check out http://www.singingheartyoga.com where, if you like, you can subscribe to Jody's regular postings.
Namaste,
ONE LOVE
We just returned from playing at one of our favorite venues, Kripalu Yoga Center in Lenox, MA. We had a great gig and were once again blessed to play with our good friend, producer and bassist Charlie Shew. We'll have some video from that event up shortly!
Several days later, the whole band attended the Omega Institute's semi-annual Ecstatic Chant retreat on Labor Day. It was a magical event as always, with great performances by Deva Premal and Miten, Krishna Das, and Jai Uttal. We were also delighted to meet and dance to the great music of the Mayapuris, a young Kirtan band of musicians who all grew up with families in the Krishna Consciousness movement. What a joy! We encourage you to check out these fine other groups who, like us, share kirtan with the world and spread the love.
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
Please check out the Calendar page of our site to see our recently-announced tour dates. We would love to sing with you when we come to your area! If you are interested in helping to bring ONE LOVE to your community, please contact us through this Web site and we would be happy to work with you!
We just finished a weekend of benefit events for charity surrounding Mother's Day, and they were wonderful! On Friday May 6, we played at the CNY Yoga Center in Liverpool, NY with friends of the band Mark Nanni, Charlie Shew, and Max McKee all sitting in for keyboardist Doug Shire. The energy was high, as were the funds we raised for local shelters for women. Then, the next evening, ONE LOVE played a Kirtan as part of the Open House at Fine Spirit Studio in Ithaca, NY in a benefit for the local chapter of Planned Parenthood. The attendance was great, and we all felt wonderful about raising a substantial sum for a good cause. Some recordings from the Fine Spirit Studio gig are available for your listening pleasure in the Music section of our Web site. Enjoy!
Hi ONE LOVE Community,
We are sorry to say that due to a scheduling conflict with other users of the venue building, our Kirtan at the CNY Yoga Center in downtown Syracuse, NY that was to be on April 2 has been postponed to a later date TBA. Please stay tuned and we hope to see you then!
-ONE LOVE
Hi again, ONE LOVE community!
Following on the heels of our very successful Pennsylvania tour in January, we are returning to PA for gigs in Forty Fort (near Wilkes Barre), Mansfield, and State College on the weekend of April 8-10. We can't wait to see our friends we met last time, and make new ones. Come and join us!
Our friend Edie Weinstein, AKA the Bliss Mistress, writes a Bliss Blog on Beliefnet.com. This week's post features Jody's interfaith ministry work mentions ONE LOVE and the power of chant.
We played music for a wonderful ceremony at the Foundation of Light in Ithaca, NY on New Year's Eve where we let go of what we no longer needed and set intentions for the New Year 2011. We were very grateful to be a part of this moving event. Two new live recordings from this ceremony, of 'Return Again' and the Prajnaparamita Mantra, have been added to the Music page on our Web site. Enjoy!
Oh, wow, it's been a ridiculously long time since we've posted an update. Here's the last three and a half months in fast forward: We played two yoga festivals, the Finger Lakes Yoga Festival in Cortland, NY, and the Evolve Fest in NJ. Had a great time. Doug and Jody went out to the Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree, CA. Had a great time! Played at a sacred singing gathering at the Foundation of Light in Ithaca. Had a great time, and met Allie Ann Rutherford, who officially joined our band a week later! Having a great time singing and playing with Allie! Did a collaborative evening of chant, yogadance, and ecstatic dance with the Pranadhanas and Jalamyst. Had a great time!! Bought a van, so we can all travel together (a cushy conversion van, with lots of soft carpeting, so we can go on the road in comfort and style!). Took our first road trip around the Northeast together, and had a great time!
Did we say that we're having a great time?
Our Northeast tour was awesome. We played at Kripalu Yoga Center in Lenox MA, and there were over 150 people singing and dancing and grooving on the music. Our friend Charlie Shew joined us on bass (a ukelele bass, with rubber strings--really!) and some percussion. We were all well-fed, sauna-ed, whirlpooled, and blissed out by the time we left there. The next night, Charlie joined us again at a much more intimate venue in Easthampton, MA. Then, we went on to Plainville CT, where we played in a yoga/healing center there. Finally we played on Broadway in NYC (yes!) at The New Seminary, where Jody had done her interfaith ministry studies. Kristin joined us for that gig, and it was a treat to play with her again.
We're working on booking a Southern tour for January. We'll keep you posted!
On another note, we wanted to officially introduce Allie Ann, from Syracuse, NY, who has been a joy to work with. She plays all kinds of percussion, and has a beautiful voice, offering vocal responses for the chanting as well as harmonies. She's also a very cool person-- creative, inspiring, and fun to work with, and we feel blessed to have her with us. As soon as we get some new photos taken, we'll post them on our site.
Blessings and gratitude!
Last weekend we had a blast. Friday night we led kirtan at Integral Yoga Institute in NYC. What a lovely center that was! They have a fabulous bookstore, a health food store, and a staff of very wonderful and helpful folks. We can say with certainty that we were in heaven (because the 5th floor room that we played in was called "Heaven."). It was one of those "quality not quantity" gigs--not a huge crowd, but the folks who were there seemed to really drop into their hearts and groove on the music.
On Saturday we played in Washington Square Park. The forecast was for thunderstorms all day. We got there, and the first miracle that happened was that we found a parking place right at the entrance to the park, near the statue where we were going to play. So I guess that made us feel lucky, and since it was not yet raining, we decided to haul our entire sound system out of the car and set it up. After much shlepping, we had the whole thing ready to go and were tuning up when it started to sprinkle. Quickly, we struck everything down and scrambled to get it all back in the car before the skies opened. When we got everything packed up back in our vehicle, the rain had completely stopped. Sigh. So we decided to go with a pared down version, with just a little amplifier, and the harmonium instead of the big keyboard. That way, if the thunderstorm hit, we could easily get our stuff under cover. But, amazingly, we played for two hours with no rain, despite the forecast saying we would surely get dumped on. I guess the gods/goddesses were pleased!
We spent Sunday morning at the Jersey Shore, in Ocean Grove, where we did a house concert of sorts. It was actually an interfaith service in the home of a minister who is one of Jody's colleagues from The New Seminary. We had about 30 people in this beautiful, intimate space, and we loved singing with everyone. In the afternoon we had a chance to relax on the beach before heading back to Ithaca.
Thanks to all who came out to chant with us and who support us in doing the work we love!
We've had a great couple of weeks. Kristin joined us last weekend when we played at Namaste Yoga Center in Woodstock, and then at the New Seminary Center for Interfaith Studies in NYC (which happens to be on Broadway). So now we can say we've hit the "Big Time", since we've played at Woodstock and on Broadway! Then this past weekend we had a very sweet evening playing at the Methodist Church in Endicott, NY. Some of the folks there were new to chanting, and it was delightful to see them all melted and in Love when the evening was over. This was a totally new kind of worship experience for them, and we were happy to offer it. And, of course, there were some of our "regulars" there as well, who were not shy about dancing in the aisles. We love that! Maybe it was because we had fabulous percussion section, as Rose Husted and Sarah Lam joined us---so it was a Djembe Djamboree!
A lot has happened since our last entry. Jody has finished her yoga teacher training program and is in full-swing teaching yoga classes in Ithaca, including classes that begin and end with chanting. Joe is on his knees in the dirt, taking care of many beautiful gardens, including the lovely grounds at our local Hospice. Doug has been jet setting around on business trips in between gigs, and Kristin is busy with her studies in NYC. Amidst all this, we have had a couple of sweet gigs, one at The Spring in central NY, and another at Ahimsa Yoga Center in Ithaca. For the latter gig, we were joined once again by Henrike on vocals, and by Jeffrey Hellman on percussion. Jeffrey will be joining us for some of our upcoming gigs, and we are really blessed to have him grace us with his mastery on congas, bongos, and small percussion. Welcome Jeffrey!
Upcoming, we'll be playing around New York State, including Endicott (we'll be joined by our friend Rose Husted on Djembe), a return to Woodstock, and New York City. The biggest challenge with all of this is fitting ourselves and all of our gear into Jody's Subaru. I hear that in India some folks ride on the top of the buses and trains--we may have to try that!
We had a fabulous gig at Ahimsa Yoga Center on Friday Feb. 5th. We had three percussionists joining us that evening--our friend Larry Hirschberger on Djembe, Rose Husted from Binghamton on Djembe as well, and a surprise visit from Derek Goddard (former drummer for The Clash) on doumbek and cajon. Derek has just moved from London to Ithaca with his wife, Selima, who sat in on flute as well. Those wonderful musicians, along side Doug, Jody, and Henrike, made it a juicy and uplifting evening. Joe is off traveling in warmer climates for the winter months, and Kristin is immersed in her studies at NYU. So we've become one of those bands with fluid personnel, which allows each gig to be fresh and unique. Kind of like changing the recipe a bit each time we cook our favorite soup.
Jody is going away for a month to do the yoga teacher training program at Kripalu, so ONE LOVE will be taking a hiatus until April 2nd, when we'll be back at Ahimsa with Joe and special guests. Hope to see you then!
Sorry for the short notice, but we wanted to let you know that our new CD will be featured on "In The Spirit", an inspiring radio show on WRPI FM, Troy NY. It's also broadcast on the web, so you can hear it anywhere in the world! Host Gary Goldberg will interview Jody and play cuts from the CD on Thursday, January 14th at 2 PM (EST). The show actually runs from 11-4 PM, and our segment will be at 2.
Wow, it's been a really incredible week for us. We played at Kripalu Yoga Center in Stockbridge, MA on Wednesday night, and we had about 80 or 90 people there in the big main chapel, with the big statue of Shiva dancing behind us the whole time. We love playing at Kripalu--we get to chant with wonderful people who come from all over the globe, and we get to stay a couple of nights and take great yoga and dance classes, eat their amazing food, and relax in the whirlpool and sauna. It sure beats playing in a bar!
Then, last night, we had our CD release celebration at Ahimsa Yoga Center in Ithaca. We had a great turnout, and the room was bursting with energy--lots of great chanting, dancing, happy children running around, and folks enjoying an amazing spread of food. Thanks to all who came out to sing, dance and celebrate with us!