Ashirvad - Kush Tea (Excerpt)

KUSH TEA is a journey through exotic spaces, inspired by the devotional sentiments of Raga Bhairavi.

The ambient intro opens to auspicious mantras with Sukhdev Mishra glorifying the holy name of ‘Hari’, followed by Gopal Banerjee praising the cosmic gurus of the Vedic pantheon with the famous invocation, “Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Deva Maheshvara, Guru Sakshad Param Bramha, Tasmai Sri Guruve Namah”.

Gypsy guitar then introduces a melodic theme from a popular Bengali Bhajan, “Bhaja Hure Mana” by the 16th cent. Vaishnava poet Govinda Das, who advises his mind to be devotional“My dear mind, just take shelter in adoring Sri Nandanadan (Krishna), at whose lotus feet there is no fear”. The journey then takes us through a mystical flight of fancy with dreamy cello, oboe, violin and an ambient incantation. The dynamics then rise with dramatic insistence to a Central Asian Gipsy jig, then turns East again via Varanasi to the grooves of Bengal.

Concluding our mystical journey, we find the ecstatic bard Haradhan das Baul, wandering along the banks of mother Ganga, questioning his divinely inebriated state with the poignant finale, “Ki mode cowalo kishori ?” “What intoxicant have you given me?”.

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