What is Kirtan?

Kirtan is a group participatory experience of sacred call and response chanting that will calm your mind, open your heart and build deep connection to yourself, others and the Divine.

Kirtan is a practice that blends East and West. Eastern spirituality is represented by Sanskrit mantras that will calm your mind, open your heart and allow you to connect with Divine energy. Western musical sensibilities are represented by musical influences from uniquely American/Western musical influences such as jazz, funk, soul, rhythm and blues, and rock.

As a form of collective spirituality, in Kirtan we bring our voices and intentions together to cultivate Shakti (Divine energy), allowing each participant to bring more love, freedom and creativity into their life.

Kirtan is fun and easy, and no prior experience is necessary.

Kirtan with Mike Cohen is an invitation to sing, clap, meditate and dance together to create deep connection to the secret places of your soul.

About Mike Cohen

Mike Cohen sings and plays harmonium to lead Kirtan in a manner that blends Eastern spirituality and Western musical influences. Eastern spirituality is represented by Sanskrit mantras that calm minds and opens hearts for the sake of cultivating Divine energy that generates love, freedom and creativity. Western musical sensibilities are represented by typically American/Western musical influences such as funk, soul, rhythm and blues, jazz and rock.

Mike's music is an expression of the Dattatreya lineage of Swami Kaleshwar and Shirdi Sai Baba as transmitted through the teachings of Philip Lipetz, author and one of Sri Kaleshwar's most senior Western students. Mike currently tours the Midwest with Joni Allen (guitar, vocals and percussion), Allie Stringer (vocals and percussion), Jim Feist (tablas) and others. Mike's musical roots go back to early childhood when he formed a 'Beatles club' with a friend at age 6. As a high school jazz saxophonist Mike toured Europe, recorded albums, and won the top scholarship for outstanding musicianship at the

1984 Berklee School of Music High School Jazz Festival. He went on to study jazz saxophone at the renowned Eastman School of Music, touring and recording with Eastman's top jazz ensembles.

During and immediately after college, Mike performed across the United States and in the Caribbean on cruise ships, in clubs and on the NACA college circuit, including four years with African American Rhythm and Blues singer Jane Powell, the 1989 NACA Performer of the Year. Along the way he received a 1991 National Endowment of the Arts grant to study saxophone with jazz recording artist and educator Jerry Bergonzi and studied with the esteemed saxophone teacher John Purcell. In 1994, Mike left the world of music to focus on other commitments. In April 2000, Mike attended his first yoga class where he discovered and immediately fell in love with the practice of Kirtan. He sings and plays harmonium to lead Kirtan events based around his original chants. In the fall of 2006 he launched First Friday Kirtan in Columbus, Ohio that quickly became one of the larger local and ongoing Kirtan events in the US. A recent Kirtan in Cincinnati, OH gathered 300 participants.