One Track Heart - The Story of Krishna Das (2013)

One Track Heart - The Story of Krishna Das (2013)

In 1970, Jeffrey Kagel walked away from the American dream of rock 'n' roll stardom, turning down the chance to record as lead singer for the band soon-to-be the Blue Oyster Cult. Instead, he sold all his possessions and moved from the suburbs of Long Island to the foothills of the Himalayas in search of happiness and a little-known saint named Neem Karoli Baba.

ONE TRACK HEART: THE STORY OF KRISHNA DAS follows his journey to India and back, witnessing his struggles with depression and drug abuse, to his eventual emergence as Krishna Das, world-renowned spiritual teacher and Grammy nominated chant master.

Featuring interviews with Ram Dass (LSD Icon Richard Alpert), Rick Rubin (Grammy Award winning Producer), Sharon Salzberg (NY Times bestselling author), Daniel Goleman (two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee), and many others.

Krishna Das is one of the most popular singers of Indian devotional music in the world. Layering traditional Hindu kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Krishna Das has been called yoga's "rock star." With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in even the most casual listener, Krishna Das – known to friends, family, and fans as simply KD – has taken the call-and-response chanting out of yoga centers and into concert halls, becoming a worldwide icon and the best-selling chant artist of all time, with over 300,000 records sold.

He released a string of well-received albums including "PILGRIM HEART", "BREATH OF THE HEART" and "DOOR OF FAITH," the former featuring the vocals of KD fan Sting, and the latter two both produced by Rick Rubin and utilizing, at the producer's request, a palette of traditional Indian instrumentation. KD is clear that he is first and foremost a devotee, with the sharing of his practice a profound act of his faith. Nevertheless, KD has become an iconic music presence, drawing in other artists, including Sting, Madonna, Mike D, Steely Dan’s Walter Becker, and Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen, some of whom are yoga devotees, while others are simply moved by the power of the music.

Ram Dass, born Richard Alpert, is a contemporary American spiritual teacher and author of the seminal book Be Here Now (over 2 million copies sold). Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary were both Harvard professors at the forefront of the early 1960’s experimentation with LSD. Due to the controversial nature of their research, Leary and Alpert were fired from Harvard in 1963, and went on to become counter culture icons for their continued promotion of LSD as a path to mind expansion. Richard Alpert eventually felt that the chemical substances could only take him so far, and in 1967 journeyed to India in search of a path to lasting spiritual awakening. There he met a little known saint called Neem Karoli Baba, or Maharaji, who gave him the name Ram Dass, and inspired him to live a life based on the spiritual teachings of the Vedas of India. When Ram Dass returned to America he became a pivotal influence on the culture, and was one of the first people to popularize yoga and meditation in the west. For over 40 years Ram Dass has been writing books, teaching, forming charitable organizations, and is one of the most popular teachers of spirituality in America.

Musical score by J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) & Devadas.

http://www.onetrackheart.com/

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