Morning Mantra by Bengaluru-based singer, Iman Das, brings a holistic start to the day

Morning Mantra by Iman Das brings a holistic start to the day

Vocalist Iman Das’ most recent initiative is the Morning Mantra. “This project was conceived to enhance one’s spirituality by practicing yoga while listening to a morning raga,” says Iman Das.

Once while touring Germany, Iman was performing for a predominantly German-speaking audience in Stuttgart. “I thought they may not appreciate our slow tempo vilambit compositions, so I announced I would take up madhya and dhrut compositions that were quicker-paced.”

“Five Germans immediately came up to me and requested vilambit pieces saying, ‘We enjoy meditating to slower tempo songs. That was when the idea of raga and meditation took root,” says Iman, adding, “Over the years I have researched on morning ragas and evening melodies that are meditative in nature. With my raga-and-meditative exercises in European countries garnering exceptional responses, I wanted to replicate the idea with a twist that brings in yoga, ragas and meditative workouts in India.”

Swami Tadyuktanandaji, in charge of the Ramakrishna Vidyarthi Mandiram, a unit of Ramakrishna Math, Basavanagudi, has agreed to be part of the Morning Mantra exercise. He will speak on the values inherent in a combination of culture, music and meditation. Iman Das will focus on melody and morning ragas while yoga instructor, Jonaki Ghosh Thomas, would help participants perform yoga kriyas.

“The two-hour programme will be a new melodic exercise to gauge the response of people,” says Iman, who is planning similar online exercises to reach wider audiences. 

The year 2023 was a particularly good one for Iman, beginning with a multi-city release of his co-authored book, One Nation, One Music (Shubhi Publications, New Delhi). The book based on Iman’s explorations in melody for the last two decades, looks at the historical aspects of ragas and their development in different gharanas (schools), the similarities and the possibilities of Carnatic and Hindustani squaring off into a single stream, among others.

The same year, Iman received the National Award — Basavaraj Rajguru Yuva Kalakar 2023 from the Karnataka Government. He performed at the prestigious KK Murthy Festival at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, participated in the Gwalior University’s World Music/Yoga day and opened a branch of his Omkar Music Academy in Kolkata that teaches classical, Western and world music.