The Kirtan Wallahs were formed in 2004 by Natesh (Craig Ramsell) to create an ongoing kirtan experience open to all in Sedona, Arizona, and surrounding communities.

Since June 2004, the Wallahs have performed every Sunday evening offering Kirtan chanting in the tradition of the great masters of India. Several CDs (link to Audio/Video) have been produced featuring the live experience of these Sunday night chants.

Natesh ( need photo)

Natesh, a devotee of Mata Amritanandamayi, or Ammachi, since the early 1990s, has been chanting in this tradition for over 25 years and composed his first chant almost that long ago. He has written over 50 chants and recently produced a book of his first 45 chants, entitled Bliss of Kirtan.

The book includes sheet music, lyrics, chords and two CDs of recordings of the chants. Click here for more information on the book and samples of the chants.

About the Kirtan Wallahs

The Kirtan Wallahs were formed in 2004 by Natesh to create an ongoing kirtan experience open to all in Sedona, Arizona, and surrounding communities. (The word wallah comes from Hindi and means “one who is in charge of or employed in a particular activity.”)

Since June 2004, the Wallahs have performed every Sunday evening offering Kirtan chanting in the tradition of the great masters of India. Several CDs (link to Audio/Video) have been produced featuring the live experience of these Sunday night chants.

The Wallahs provide the music and lead the chanting for all the participants. The donations that are kindly contributed on Sunday nights all go to 7 Centers, so the Wallahs do it because they love it. The present instrumentation is harmonium, guitar and one or more drums.

Several members have come and gone, but 5 (asterisked) of the 6 current members have been involved from the beginning:

Damayanti * Harmonium and lead chanting

David Chalat * Drum

Lee Moore Drum

Steve Hartley * Drum (Substitute on guitar and lead chanting)

Monnie Ramsell * Lead chanting

Natesh (Craig Ramsell) * Guitar and lead chanting
Scott – link to the individual names down below

Special thanks to Scott Stine who was the bass player and sound man for the first 18 months (from the beginning). He also designed and built this website and contributed photography, including the statues on the cover of the Kirtan book, and the logo photo art. Credit also for the video and audio on this website and for the mastering of all the Kirtan Wallahs CDs. (He also showed up every sunday to set up and tear down the stage gear and transported it back to storage.) Thanks Scott!

Looking for Wallahs

The Kirtan Wallahs are looking for some additional musicians to add to the blissful experience of our Sunday night chants in Sedona. It is a labor of love, as the donations every Sunday evening go to the yoga center. But it’s a good way to create a regular weekly experience of bliss and we believe the karma is really good, too!

We’re particularly interested in having a bass player join us and an experienced Indian-style drummer (tablas, mridangam, etc.) We would also welcome someone that can play miscellaneous percussion, such as kartalas (hand cymbals), tambourine, or shakers.

For more information or to express interest, please email Natesh at natesh@kirtanwallahs.com.

Information on Individual Kirtan Wallahs

Damayanti * Harmonium and lead chanting

Awaiting information

David Chalat * Drum

Awaiting information

Lee Moore Drum

Awaiting information

Steve Hartley * Drum (Substitute on guitar and lead chanting)

Awaiting information

Monnie Ramsell * Lead chanting

Awaiting information

Natesh (Craig Ramsell) * Guitar and lead chanting

Natesh founded the Kirtan Wallahs in May, 2004, to create an ongoing kirtan experience open to all in Sedona, Arizona, and surrounding communities. A devotee of Mata Amritanandamayi, or Ammachi, since the early ‘90s, Natesh has been chanting in this tradition for over 25 years and composed his first chant almost that long ago. He has written over 50 chants and recently produced a book of his first 45 chants, entitled Bliss of Kirtan. (add link to book)

His first exposure to kirtan was in Baba Muktananda’s Oakland, California, ashram in 1979. He played guitar at the chants at the Oakland ashram for many years in the ‘80s.

Natesh’s primary instrument as an adult has been classical guitar. He is also skilled with a number of different hand drums and miscellaneous percussion instruments. His first serious instrument experience was on cornet. He then moved on to French horn through middle school and played rhythm guitar and keyboards in a few bands as a teenager.

In the world of the mundane, as Craig Ramsell, Natesh is the inventor of Boomwhackers® Tuned Percussion Tubes and president of Whacky Music, Inc. He feels very fortunate to have been "tapped on the shoulder" by unseen forces to bring these musical tubes to the world, but he’d rather be chanting!

The following material is excerpted from Natesh’s introduction to Bliss of Kirtan.

Scott – use a different font or color or something like that for the following material. Also, include the ganeshes picture from the back of the book here somewhere as it is referred to in the excerpt.

The first time I ever heard chanting in the Vedic tradition was when I attended a program at Baba Muktananda's Oakland ashram in late 1979. Baba had stayed at the ashram for months earlier that year, but had left a couple months before I visited. His Siddha Yoga devotees were chanting Jyota se Jyota, which is a song that implores the Guru to "light my light with your light." I had no idea what the words were that they were chanting or even what they meant in that moment, but the energy of the chanting touched me very deeply and I found myself wanting more - much more. I also had a very profound meditation that evening.

I immersed myself in this path and over the years participated in countless chants, many times for hours at a time. Some were simple; some were long and complex. Some were fast chants, although they would typically start slow, and some were always sung slowly. In those days, the men and women were physically separated and would chant in response to each other, and the Oakland ashram was known for the powerful chanting there. Eventually, I was invited to bring my guitar to play at the chants, which initially felt a little strange, since my focus had been playing classical guitar. But I soon discovered that playing the guitar and interacting with the musicians further deepened my experience of and appreciation for the fast chants.

I wrote my first chant, an Om Namah Shivaya chant, in the first couple of years and wrote a couple more variations on “Om Namah Shivaya” over the next few years. During this time Muktananda left his body, and Swami Chidvilasananda and Swami Nityananda carried on Baba's traditions. Over the years, it became more common for a lead group of chanters to "call" the chant, with the rest of the chanters responding (and the young Nityananda eventually stopped being connected with Siddha Yoga).

Many years later, in 1992, I met Mata Amritanandamayi, or Ammachi, and over the next few years began to feel more connected to her - a connection that has continued to deepen over the years. I first experienced her in a very powerful and ecstatic dream in 1990, although I didn't know anything about her at the time. I was fully pranamed and holding her feet, and she lifted me up to hug me. Tears of joy were streaming down my face, and I was filled with bliss. After some time she tipped over backwards with me still in her arms and we were suddenly swimming in a pool of water.

When I finally went to one of her programs a couple years later, I was astonished to see that she hugged everyone that came for darshan. I also love the more complex bhajans she sings, although they are typically more complex than the fast chants I love so much. I've continued to be drawn to simpler chants because they more easily engage more people to participate, myself included.

In early 2004, I began to be inspired to write more of these simpler chants, and this would often happen unexpectedly. I would think I was going to practice some classical piece, and the next thing I knew a chant was forming, either through a melodic line or a chord progression or even sometimes the words coming first. Some chants would come together in a matter of minutes, and other more complex ones (yes, I found myself doing more than simple two line chants as well) could take hours over a matter of days.

One evening, after this had been going on a few weeks, I was looking at the Ganesh kirtan band pictured on the back cover, and I realized that these inspirations for chants started coming shortly after this group of Ganeshes found their way into my living room.

After a few months of having my own blissful experience of doing the earlier chants on my own, I began to explore finding other musicians to put together a "band" to play and sing as a lead group, and I also looked for a place to chant. Thus the Kirtan Wallahs were formed, and we began to lead chants at 7 Centers Yoga Arts in Sedona, Arizona, in June 2004. We've continued our Bliss of Kirtan evenings every Sunday night since then, as of this writing. And the chants have continued to come, although I've intentionally slowed the writing down.

In the world of the mundane, as Craig Ramsell, I'm best known as the inventor of Boomwhackers® Tuned Percussion Tubes and president of Whacky Music, Inc. While it is a great honor to have been "tapped on the shoulder" by unseen forces to bring these musical tubes to the world and the process can be lots of fun, I'd rather be chanting!

In 2005 I asked Amma for a spiritual name, and she gave me the name "Natesh," which is a name of Shiva. Having a spiritual name is a powerful reminder of who we are and why we are here. Chanting also does that for me, and it is my sincere wish that these chants also contribute to your knowing the Atman, your True Self.