The beautiful sanctuary at Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, MA was home to very unusual event on Sunday March 1 as South Indian Carnatic music met Jewish liturgical music in a special concert by Dr. Deepti Navaratna and Cantor Randall Schloss. This presentation, entitled “Sacred Songs of the Hindus and Jews,” brought a diverse audience together to experience how music can transcend boundaries of religion and language - which is the very goal of a new concert series by Deepti called ‘Dialogues with the Divine’.

“As a singer of sacred music interested in taking my music beyond traditional boundaries through my cultural entrepreneurship initiative - The Carnatic Alchemy Project,  I was
aware that sacred texts were deeply entrenched in symbolic meanings relevant only to
certain communities,” said Deepti of her motivations in creating the concert series. “Given this constraint, I wanted to explore if sacred music could be used to create dialogues that transcend them?  Dialogues with the Divine - is a series of concerts where we invoke imageries of the divine across world religions, thereby enabling us to transcend religious, spiritual, and cultural boundaries to be united in a singular spiritual experience.”

The concert series is off to a tremendous start with its first presentation! “Sacred Songs of Hindus and Jews” debuted to a crowd of diverse and enthusiastic audience members. The concert was held in conjunction with this year’s Boston Jewish Music Festival (www.bostonjewishmusicfestival.org). Now in its 6th year running, the Boston Jewish Music Festival has included Indian-inspired music in previous years but never before has Indian classical music been featured before this unique concert. 10 spectacular numbers were performed by the multi-talented Deepti and Cantor Schloss, including various Hebrew prayers and traditional Carnatic songs. Deepti explained connections between both faiths in between each number, including the idea of primordial sound and nadayoga, rites of passage for young boys of each faith when they are initiated into spiritual practices and even the concept of the feminine spirit of divinity.

Deepti and Cantor Schloss were accompanied by an incredibly talented team of musicians including pianist David Sparr, Layth Al Rubaye on violin and Gilbert Mansour on percussion. Highlights of the performance included Deepti’s moving performance of the Carnatic keerthana ‘Sriman Narayana’ which was expertly accompanied on violin by Al Rubaye, the deeply powerful juxtaposition of ‘Nenjukku Neethiyum’ and ‘R’Tsei’ which invoked the female form of the higher power with steady, intoxicating rhythms, and the ‘D'ror Yikra’ presented in Misra Khamas (based on an arrangement from an archive of jewish music from Mumbai sung by Nathan Solomon Satamkar in 1939).

“I never knew that there was Jewish influence in the Indian music,” said Chitra Sundaram. “When Deepti sang D’ror Yikra in raga Khamas I was blown away. Deepti has really shown all of us what music can do and that it is truly boundary-less.”

An added bonus was a creative Yiddish medley performed by a children’s choir of Deepti’s young Carnatic music students. The audience was visibly delighted by the children’s performance of Oifn Oivn (a Balkan style arrangement by Penny Whistlers) and Halevai (popularized by Cantor Moisha Oysher and Barry Sisters).

“When they finished, there was an instantaneous, roaring standing ovation,” said Boston Jewish Music Festival co-founder Joey Baron of the children’s performance. “Hindus and Jews alike were blown away by the joy and thoughtfulness of these Indian children learning songs to sing at a Jewish music festival.”

The children’s choir was accompanied by two very young instrumentalists, Isha Khanzode on the sarod and Inesh Vytheswaran on mridangam. “It was amazing to see how music can bring together two religions very beautifully,” said Priya Vytheswaran, mother of the young mridangist.

Deepti’s efforts to weave Carnatic music into the fabric of American life are bringing about wonderful results. “Sacred Songs of the Hindus and Jews” was a truly remarkable experience for audience members. Throughout the concert people were tapping their feet and swaying their bodies to the music as well as nodding their heads as Deepti explained the common themes between the two ancient faiths. Whether it was the idea of transcending the mortal world to achieve unity with the divine, comparing the idea of ‘Shakti’ and ‘Sekina’ as a feminine higher power or even the very idea of community and carrying on traditions to the younger generations.

“There was a shared appreciation of the very fact that we were all together, that we were able to share our desire for a deeper sense of oneness with the divine spirit, regardless of whether it is through Om or the Shma,” said Mr. Baron as he summed up the concert for his Boston Jewish Music Festival audience. “Yes, our prayers, rituals and theisms differ, but for one afternoon, we were united in appreciating our faiths, our open hearts, and our shared ideals for finding a meaningful to dialogue with the divine.”

Following Deepti’s previous live concerts such as “Carnatic Cadenzas” and “Remembering M.S. Subbulakshmi”, the premiere offering of the ‘Dialogues with the Divine’ series has given Carnatic music a unique opportunity to build a bridge between different religions and cultures. I, for one, eagerly await the next concert in the series and am already considering ways that Indian music can connect to various secular communities. If anyone can find these connections and bring them to life in a beautiful and uplifting way without compromising the pristine beauty of Carnatic music, it is Deepti Navaratna. And I will consider it my privilege to be in the audience when she does.

Indian kids singing a Yiddish Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHu-drjKjUY&feature=youtu.be

Carnatic Raga meets Hebrew Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZpny-s1pt4

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