The inclusive crowd

After half a decade of helping Ventura residents with their downward dogs, cobras and cats, the instructors at Yoga Jones may not be singing happy birthday to the local yoga studio — but they will be chanting it.

“We started Yoga Jones five years ago, and we basically wanted to have an oasis, a place of refuge, and to build community. And it’s been growing ever since, and will hopefully continue to do so,” says owner Tina Chappel.

On April 6, Yoga Jones will celebrate its fifth birthday with a concert at the Bell Arts Factory. The evening will feature a concert by musician Dave Stringer, who specializes in the traditional Indian form of call-and-response chanting known as kirtan.

“In the 15th century, the Bhaktis [a Hindu sect] attempted to claim that each human’s own heart was the highest spiritual authority, and that was in direct opposition to the existing culture, which placed spiritual authority in the hands of the priesthood,” Stringer says. “They created a form of music called kirtan, singing simple mantras in a call-and-response fashion, with the express intent of using that music to raise consciousness. It turned into a mass movement.”
Stringer, who began his career as a film editor, says he discovered kirtan on a trip to India in 1990. Since then, he has traveled around the world, performing a unique combination of traditional kirtan chants and modern musical styling. 

“It involves the entire crowd singing, dancing, clapping their hands, playing air guitar, whatever. It’s participatory,” Stringer says. “Usually there’s some excellent singers with us, often additional percussionists and electric guitar. It’s a very flexible musical ensemble, and what it’s dedicated to doing is getting the crowd to sing back. It’s rather like the experience of having a very large choir with a very tight band. Because everyone is singing, there is no performer and there is no audience.”

The performance will feature musicians on harmonium, vocals, percussion, tablas, cahon, bass and electric guitar. Stringer says he thinks the musicians are particularly important when it comes to convincing reticent audience members to participate in a performance.

“Some people have to overcome their resistance, and that’s OK. And we try to work with that,” Stringer says. “What we essentially do is light a match, and steadily add kindling to the fire. I find that sometimes, the first chant or two, people will start to be resistant, and then they start to look around them … and at some point, people can’t help but participate.”
Sarah Garney, Stringer’s manager, says Ventura residents will enjoy Stringer’s unique style of performance.

“He starts off slowly, with the chants, and then he builds an energy and it gets to the point where it is really rocking, and the people that want to dance are dancing and you’re in the band and dancing and everybody is connected,” Garney says. “It’s uplifting rock’n’roll. It’s rock and roll with these ancient Sanskrit mantras that are so beautiful.”
Chappel says she picked Stringer to perform at Yoga Jones after attending one of his concerts a few years ago and being moved by his participatory performance style. Stringer has played many times at Yoga Jones since then.

“I can’t even remember the first time I saw him, but I just thought he was absolutely wonderful and really wanted him to commemorate our anniversary. So he’s been doing it every year since then,” Chappel says. “I think this year is actually pretty momentous, because we’ve gotten a lot of other studios involved.”

Chappel says this year’s anniversary party will be a bigger event than past parties, and she expects approximately 150 attendees. She says she chose to hold the event in the Bell Arts Factory because it is a bigger venue and provides more space for people to spread out during the concert.

The larger venue will also allow other yoga studios to set up tables at the event, Chappel says. She hopes the anniversary party provides a chance for yoga aficionados from all over Ventura to come together. 

“It is a much larger event than just having it at my studio, and I presented it to the other studio owners and was really happy with the response,” Chappel says. “For me, it is just the first step in building a yoga community in Ventura. I think yoga is important in every community, just because it is a unifier and it brings people back to their true nature.”    

Dave Stringer performs at the Bell Arts Factory (432 N. Ventura Ave., Ventura, 643-5669) on April 6 at 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.yogajones.com.