Vedic Chanting

I recently purchased a CD entitled 'Panchasuktam'. Funnily enough it has six suktas, unless there is somehting that I don't know. Here's the track listing:

• Purusha Sukta
• Vishnu Sukta
• Narayana Sukta
• Sri Sukta
• Bhu Sukta
• Neela Sukta
• Pancashanthi
• Ghosashanthi
• Mantrapushpam
  

It's quite a good CD, I very much enjoy Vedic chanting. It is true what they say about the efficacy of the chanting as done properly, with attention to proper pronunciation and all of that. You would expect that Vedic chanting of these suktas would comman atention but I like to put on my headphones with the suktas turned up loud, and I feel very peaceful and devotional. And why not? These are Vaishnava suktas after all!

I guess I was lucky. Right now I am surfing the Net for some good CDs of Vedic chanting and almost all of them contain some musical accompaniment. No thanks! I would just like to listen to plain ol' Vedic chanting as should be done properly, just as if we were in an orthodox temple or something. Speaking of which, the pundits who chant the suktas are all Sri Vaishnavas according to their pictures on the CD (I can tell from their tilak) so that is an added bonus, hearing Vaishnava suktas chanted by Vaishnava devotees. Very nice. I like this CD a lot. If anyone knows of any good CDs where I can hear more stotras and things chanted properly and in an orthodox manner, let me know. I'd specifically be interested in Vishnu Sahasranama, and not the one by M.S. Subbulakshmi. A male chanter if preferable.

I also purchased a couple of other CDs. One was a CD of Narasimha mantras from various Vaishnava traditions and the other was of 'Protective Mantras', containing stotras and astakams in praise of Narasimha, Sudarshan and so on. Both CDs were sung by Sri Vidyabhusana, who I think is a Dvaitin and does a lot of service for ISKCON. The problem is that these prayers are sung, although I guessed that already since I have an audio tape of Sri Vidyabhusana singing Brahma-samhita. So I know that he is a singer who sings the prayers on these CDs also. It's not too bad actually, but I tend to find musical accompaniments very distracting (especially when there are lots of musical interludes) and so I prefer just plain chanting. Sure, there can be a mridanga or tabla beat in the background for effect just so long as it doesn't get in the way of chanting.

One of these days I would like to chant Vishnu Sahasranama or Purusha Sukta properly. Since the prayers in the Panchasuktam CD are sung according to the proper 'Vedic' way, I daresay that one can learn from the CD and all you need are the words!!

I love Veda-chanting. Really, it's so nice. I like scripture recitation in general; Bhagavad-gita, Bhagavatam, whatever. It is nice to hear it recited and with minimum musical accompaniment.