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Kirtana (Sanskrit: कीर्तन; IAST: Kīrtana), also rendered as Kirtan or Keertan, is a Sanskrit word that means "narrating, reciting, telling, describing" of an idea or story, specifically in Indian religions. It also refers to a genre of religious performance arts, connoting a musical form of narration or shared recitation, particularly of spiritual or religious ideas, native to the Indian subcontinent. A person performing kirtan is known as a kirtankara (or kirtankar, कीर्तनकार).With roots in the Vedic anukirtana tradition, a kirtan is a call-and-response or antiphonal style song or chant, set to music, wherein multiple singers recite the names of a deity, describe a legend, express loving devotion to a deity, or discuss spiritual ideas. It may include dancing or direct expression of bhavas (emotive states) by the singer. Many kirtan performances are structured to engage the audience where they either repeat the chant, or reply to the call of the singer.A kirtan performance includes an accompaniment of regionally popular musical instruments, especially Indian instruments like the Indian harmonium, the veena, sitar, or ektara (strings), the tabla (one-sided drums), the mrdanga or pakhawaj (two-sided drum), flute (woodwinds), and karatalas or talas (cymbals). It is a major practice in Hinduism, Vaisnava devotionalism, Sikhism, the Sant traditions, and some forms of Buddhism, as well as other religious groups. Kirtan is sometimes accompanied by story-telling and acting. Texts typically cover religious, mythological or social subjects. Etymology and nomenclature The term kirtana (Devanagari: कीर्तन) generally means: "telling, narrating, describing, enumerating, reporting". The Sanskrit root of kirtan is kirt (कीर्त्). The term is found in the Samhitas, the Brahmanas and other Vedic literature, as well as the Vedanga and Sutras literature. Kirt, according to Monier-Williams, contextually means, "to mention, make mention of, tell, name, call, recite, repeat, relate, declare, communicate, commemorate, celebrate, praise, glorify".The term kirtan is found as anukirtan (or anukrti, anukarana, literally "re-telling") in the context of a Yajna (Vedic ritual offering), which meant a dual recitation of Vedic hymns in a dialogue style which was part of a ritual dramatic performance.The Sanskrit verses in the Shatapatha Brahmana (chapter 13.2, c. 800–700 BCE), for example, are written in the form of a riddle play between two actors. According to Louis Renou, in this text, "the Vedic sacrifice (yajna) is presented as a kind of drama, with its actors, its dialogues, its portion to be set to music, its interludes, and its climaxes."Generally speaking, kirtan, sometimes referred to as sankirtana (literally, "collective performance"), is a kind of collective chanting or musical conversation. As a genre of religious performance art, it developed in the Indian bhakti movements as a devotional religious practice (i.e. bhakti yoga). However, it is a heterogeneous practice that varies regionally according to Christian Novetzke, and includes varying mixture of different musical instruments, dance, oration, theatre, audience participation and moral narration.In Maharashtra for example, states Novetzke, a kirtan is a call-and-response style performance, ranging from devotional dancing and singing by a lead singer and audience, to an "intricate scholarly treatise, a social commentary or a philosophical/linguistic exposition", that includes narration, allegory, humor, erudition and entertainment – all an aesthetic part of ranga (beauty, color) of the kirtan.Kirtan is locally known by various names, including: Abhang, Samaj Gayan, Haveli Sangeet, Vishnupad, Harikatha. Vaishnava temples in Assam and northeastern Indian have large worship halls named kirtan ghar – a name derived from their being used for congregational singing and performance arts. Kirtan is also sometimes called harinam (Sanskrit: harināma) in some Vaishnava traditions, which means "[chanting] the names of God (Hari)." In regional languages, kirtan is scripted as Bengali: কীর্তন; Nepali and Hindi: कीर्तन; Kannada: ಕೀರ್ತನೆ; Marathi: कीर्तन; Punjabi: ਕੀਰਤਨ / کیرتن; Sindhi: ڪِيرَتَنُ / कीरतनु; Tamil: கீர்த்தனை; Telugu: కీర్తన. Bhajan and kirtan A Kirtan and a Bhajan are closely related, with both sharing common aims (devotion, faith, spiritual uplift and liberation), subjects, and musical themes. A Bhajan is more free form, and can be singular melody that is performed by a single singer with or without one and more musical instruments. Kirtan, in contrast, generally differs in being a group performance, typically with a call and response or antiphonal musical structure, similar to an intimate conversation or gentle sharing of ideas. Kirtan also generally includes two or more musical instruments, and has roots in Sanskrit prosody and poetic meter.Many Kirtan are structured for more audience participation, where the singer calls a spiritual chant, a hymn or a devotional theme, the audience then responds back by repeating the chant or by chanting back a reply of their shared beliefs. Hindu kirtan Musical recitation of hymns, mantras and the praise of deities has ancient roots in Hinduism, and may be found in the Vedic literature. A key feature of popular Hindu kirtan is that it is mostly sung in vernacular languages like Hindi and Bengali (unlike Vedic chanting, which is done in Sanskrit), though this may include Sanskrit mantras. This style of vernacular singing became popular during the medieval era (1300–1550) and the early modern period (1550–1750).Hindu kirtan is influenced by the practices and teachings of the various devotional Bhakti movements, who emphasized emotional loving relationship with a personal God, and also by the figures of the Sant tradition (like Kabir, Ravidas, and Namdev). Beginning with the Tamil Alvars and Nayanars in around the 6th century, bhakti spread outside Tamilakam after the 12th century. The foundations of the kirtan traditions are also found in works like the Bhagavad-gita which describes the bhakti marga (path of loving devotion to god) as a means to moksha. References to kirtan as a musical recitation are also found in the Bhagavata Purana, an important Vaishnava text. The story of Prahlada in the Avatara Katha mentions kirtan as one of nine forms of bhakti.Bhakti poets and musicians like Jayadeva (the 12th century author of the Sanskrit Gita Govinda) were influential in the development of Indian devotional music genres like kirtan (which, though written in the vernacular, often imitated the style of Sanskrit bhakti poems). Jayadeva was a great classical composer and wrote devotional music in the dhruvapada style (which is similar to dhrupad).There are various forms of Hindu kirtan, including northern traditions (often influenced by Hindustani music and Bengali music) and southern (Carnatic) traditions. Speaking of the Bengali kirtan tradition, Peggy Holroyde writes that "kirtans do not strictly a.... Discover the Alanna Kaivalya popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Alanna Kaivalya books.