Hare Krishna ISKCON Live Concert By Jagjit Singh

Jagjit Ji did not miss an opportunity to visit ISKCON Juhu for either darshan or a concert. He was a regular performer at the ISKCON Juhu during the annual Radha Krishna Utsav.

He last performed at the temple during the Janmashtami in August 2011 and as always rendered beautiful bhajans.
The first devotional album composed/sung by Jagjit ji along with Chitra ji was SAMARPAN, which was released on audio cassette by the ISKCON Temple in 1983 — it contained the songs which later appeared in the album KRISHNA but there are some shlokas that were edited out of KRISHNA. KRISHNA was later released by CBS in 1983 on LP and cassettes obviously because ISKCON could not market it on a scale that a music company could. It is said that Jagjit Ji fully donated his royalties from this album to ISKCON. When CBS went out of business in the late 1980s or so, they sold their catalogue to PAN Music which also eventually went out of business and sold their catalogue to BMG Crescendo sometime in the early 1990s. (It is another matter that BMG Crescendo does not exist today).
The Samarpan tape had an incredible history since 1983 when the bhajans were first rendered. It was originally recorded for ISKCON’s Golden Avatara tape collection in Mumbai. It featured Prabhupada Pranama Mantras, Vaisnava Pranama, Radha and Krishna Pranam, Pancha Tattva Pranam, and the Hare Rama verse for the “Shloka” track.
The songs featured were:
1. He Govinda He Gopala (Nanak)
2. Jaya Madhava Madana Murari* (Traditional)
3. Sabse Unchi Prem Sagai* (Surdas)
4. Raga Puriya Dhansri Kirtan*
5. Yasomati Nandana* (Bhaktivinoda Thakura)
6. Jaya Radha Madhava* (Bhaktivinoda Thakura)
7. Bhaja Hu Re Mana (Govinda Das Kaviraja)
8. Raga Bhairavi Kirtan*
The asterisk (*) songs feature Mahamantra.
Later, in 1993, a music company bought rights to these songs, and to give more “all-rounder Hindu appeal”, they cut Prabhupada, Radha, Pancha Tattva Pranams, as well as many maha mantras. The songs from the CD originally come from Jagjit and Chitra Singh’s recording for ISKCON (Hare Krishna movement). The unedited version has shlokas glorifying the founder of ISKCON, Srila Prabhupada, prayers to the Vaisnavas, prayers to Radha and Krishna, prayers to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his associates. The “fade” that appears in songs like Jaya Madhava Madana Murari, Sabse Oonchi Prem Sagai, Hare Krishna tracks, Yasomati Nandana, Jaya Radha Madhava, and Bhaja Hu Re mana have more music left or beautifully sung Hare Krishna Maha mantras taken out.
An interesting fact on the bhajan Jai Madhav Madan Murari –
A traditional Brajabhasa was introduced in ISKCON in 1975 by Acytuananda Swami through his album “Hindi bhajans.” Ever since then, in small home programs and recordings, “Jaya Madhava Madana Murari” is sung. It is also important to note that this song is a Yaman raga song, rather than the misrepresented Asavari song. Many devotees take the Ga of the original Yaman raga and make that Ga into Sa of the Asavari raga. This way, the notes get distorted. There is also a Khamaja version of this song, which was popularized by Jagjit ji and Chitra ji through their 1983 album “Samarpan.”
The last album of Jagjit ji was ‘Nivedan’ which was launched on July 28th, 2011 at the Iskcon Temple in Mumbai.
Here is a beautiful live concert of Jagjit ji recorded on the RadhaKrishna Utsav in August 1994.
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