Bada Haridas
Originally trained in classical music and jazz, he earned his degree from the University of Southern California (USC) in music composition, and a scholarship for his graduate studies at the Institute for Advanced Musical Studies in Montreau, Switzerland.
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Bada Haridas artistically blends his many influences to create unique music in celebration of the divine.
A sincere practitioner of bhakti yoga, there is a depth to Bada Haridas’ music and quality of singing that is simply captivating.
Vaisnava songs
Bada Haridas has produced numerous recordings of Vaisnava songs and poetry, especially the works of Narottama Das Thakura and Bhaktivinoda Thakura.
International travels
He travels internationally, presenting seminars on Vaisnava songs and devotional practices. He is also a celebrated Kirtan singer and performs at festivals around the world.
Teaching Kirtan
Bada Haridas and his wife currently live in St. Augustine, Florida, where he teaches mridanga, harmonium, voice, and music theory and composition.
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Kirtan and Teaching
Bada Haridas will be the first to tell you he’s not a performer or a professional musician. He left that life behind him in ’75 when he chose to follow the path of his spiritual teacher, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Living as a monk in the Los Angeles ashram, accepting vows of austerity and sense control, his musician life and its trappings quickly became a past life, devoid of maya’s glitter. In its place, Kirtan, the devotional singing of Krishna’s names, became his music and his personal connection to the divine. Learning the Sanskrit and Bengali songs and prayers, studying the ancient melodies and ragas, and teaching himself eastern instruments to accompany kirtan, Bada Haridas became a sought after kirtan leader and teacher.
His teaching expanded beyond the local ashrams to high schools, colleges, and universities. With his knowledge and training in both western and eastern music, and his experience in composition and arrangement, he began assisting kirtan singers in recording and producing.
Requested to make his devotional music available to a wider audience, he taught himself recording engineering and built a studio.
In his studio an amazing array of artists and projects are immortalized in digital sound: young kirtan artist’s first albums, known kirtan artist’s albums, children’s plays and narrations, fusion music, hip-hop, jazz, pop, and more. It is also in this studio Bada Haridas produces his albums and kirtan courses.
