Nocturnal Kirtan Revisited and Remastered 50 Years Later
Echoes of 1976: The Story Behind the Famous Nocturnal Kirtan
Every once in a while, a moment in devotional history gets captured on tape that quietly changes the world. Back in 1976, during a brief lull between festivals, a chance walk down a labyrinth of alleyways led to a recording that would spread around the globe and touch countless lives for decades to come.
Below is the transcript of this legendary memory, shared directly by Uttamasloka dasa (ACBSP) and presented by Gopati dasa (ACBSP).
This recording was one of the most famous recordings of the 1970s.
Uttamasloka dasa (ACBSP):
'1976 was the year that they had another festival between Mayapur and Vrindavan. They had a special mini festival in Hyderbad, so a number of devotees went there to make it big. Prabhupada went a few days later, and then everything picked up again in Vrindavan. So in between time, Mayapur was only about 25% of the devotees, because most of them had gone.
Prabhupada was still there. So I got a little bit of association. I got to lead guru puja one day. And it was interesting because another devotee was playing mrdanga too, but he wasn't doing it right. So Prabhupada gave him a serious look and made him stop so that I could do it alone.
One day, Amshu, who was president of ISKCON Ottawa, asked me, 'Do you want to come to Navadvip with me? I want to go to the brass shop and pick up some things." Remember the brass walla that we all went to in the heart of Navadvipa?
So we went on the boat over the river to the brass shop, we do some business, and the brass walla said, "I'm making some brass Gaur Nitai Deities for your Anne Arbor temple. Do you want to go see them?" We said, “Sure, where are they?” He said, “At my house, in my workshop. Let’s go.”
So we walked up and down all these streets and alleys, like a labyrinth. We finally get there and we see the Deities. Wow, amazing. Now we're returning, and as we're walking, I hear this funky Bengali kirtan. I asked, “Is there a temple around here? Where's that coming from? It sounds like it's coming from that house." I asked if the brass walla knew those people? He said yes. I asked if we could go there to hear the kirtan? He said, “Yes. Come on, I'll introduce you.”
It was one of those square courtyard houses, three stories with the middle courtyard surrounded by the building with all the apartments. We went in, walked up three stories and entered their home And there was a wide corridor that went around the entire building with the rooms off of it.
As soon as Amshu and I entered their residence, they put flower garlands on both of us, and sandalwood paste on our foreheads, bowing with folded hands. Then they motioned for us to sit down against the wall facing the corridor and courtyard. Then a banana leaf plate was placed in front of each of us. All of a sudden, out of one of the rooms (obviously the kitchen) comes this Brahmin with his Brahmin thread over his ear, and with a big pot of some preparation. He scoops it on the plates, goes back to the kitchen, comes back out with another pot and serves that dish. When he was done, we had a five or seven course feast in front of us, which was very delicious!
Meanwhile, the small kirtan group is in front of us putting on a show. So we take prasadam and we got entertained by this Kirtan group. I thought, I have to record this. I asked how long are you going to chant? They said, all night. They were chanting I think for their grandparents or their parents, who were frail and lying in a bed. They were very old. Maybe they were dying. I wasn't clear about that. I asked, “Can I come back?" They said, yes. So we finished the prasadam. We went back to Mayapur. I got my tape recorder, and I came back.
But by then it was dusk, and I came back by myself. Don't ask me how I found the place, but I did. I came up there and I had my tape recorder. And I started recording the kirtan. In the middle of the recording, as usual, all the power went off. But my tape recorder had a good battery, of course, so were chanting through the whole blackout. Three main melodies came from that recording. That spread around the world - especially the last one. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna Krishna. That one. I love that melody. And that spread all over world.
It's interesting to note that my daughter, who's severely disabled, as you know, if she gets upset or emotional sometimes, we sing this tune to her and she calms down, she stops crying. It's like Lord Chaitanya. Instantly, like magic. No other melody but that one, for some reason.
So I went home late that night. I don't know how I got across without getting mugged or murdered, but I did. When I listened back to recording many years later, I noticed that their mrdanga playing really influenced me a lot. I used a lot of their arrangements in my kirtans. All those different beats and nuances. Because I'm not that good on mrdanga. I'm just simple and solid, but not super fancy and technical. But like a rock. Of course, I was in a rock band before.
A Quick Side Note:
That reminds me of another brass walla story. I was at that same brass shop another day, and there was a godsister of ours there and she was auditioning various karatals. So I asked, “Would you like me to help you pick a good pair?" She said, “Yes please. I want to give these to Prabhupada as a gift." So I played a few of them and I found a sweet pair, a nice little medium set. I said, “Here, these are very good." She took them and left.
Decades later, I met her again and she related what happened: "I offered those karatals to Prabhupada. He played them and he liked them. Then somebody stole them. So I went back to the brass walla, but I didn't know how to pick good ones, so I just did the best I could. I picked a pair, and I gave them to Prabhupada again. He played them for a few seconds and then put them aside. He didn't like them. But he liked yours."
Recorded in 1976 and Remastered in 2026 by Uttamasloka dasa (ACBSP)
Interview and presentation by Gopati dasa (ACBSP) — www.prasad.life.com