Jai Uttal
b. 1951
“Kirtan is the call of the heart to the Beloved, and the Beloved's answer.”
Jai Uttal came to Maharaj-ji’s world as a young musician steeped in both American roots music and the classical music of India. Drawn in by Ram Dass and Bhagavan Das, he made the pilgrimage East and found his life’s vocation: kirtan, the call-and-response singing of the divine names.
Over decades of albums and concerts — one of them, Music for Yoga and Other Joys… and Kirtan! The Art and Practice of Ecstatic Chant, earning a Grammy nomination — he has woven Hanuman, Ram and the spirit of the Kumaon hills into a sound entirely his own. For many in the West, a Jai Uttal chant has been a first taste of bhakti.