Lord Jagannath is famous for his car festival that attracts lakhs of devotees from both national and international religious atmosphere. Lord Jagannath, means lord of the universe, is considered to be a form of Lord Krishna, the beloved avatar of Lord Vishnu. Although he is a popular deity around the south-eastern regions of India, his devotees can be found all over the world. The most important time for any Jagannath devotee is the Rath Yatra or the grand chariot ride. This year the famous festival falls on July 16, 2007. Thousands of rituals are part of the RathYatra and also number of cultural activities are attached to it like folk songs, bhajans by eminent singers, folk dances, variety of music and so on. This year the Times Music has produced an album named Temple Songs of Lord Jagannath rendered in the voice of the very talented singer Shiva Rath. The album is an offering of undying faith to the great lord of the universe and is a must have for any Jagannath devotee. The tracks include the Jagannath Asthakam, and the Jaydev-krit Dashavatar among others. Jagannath Asthakam by Adi Shankaracharya awakens the divine consciousness by transforming the self from physical plane to spiritual kingdom. Shri Jayadeva'sDashavatar and Geeta Govindam invoke the true devotion with complete surrender and love. Shiba Rath born in Puri is a disciple of Pt. Nilakantha Mishra and grand disciple of Pt. Narayan Rao Vyas. He has expertise in Hindustani classical vocal along with singing of various kinds of light classical forms such as bhajans, ghazals, thumri, etc. He has been performing the contents of Temple Songs of Lord Jagannath in Orissa /India as well as in Europe. During his stay in Germany from 1991 to 1997 he composed and performed Geeta Govindam and Jagannath Asthakam in his own style keeping the spiritual essence in some places of Europe. The present audio CD is a relentless effort to involve the common listeners in understanding the beautiful devotional melody and the rich Sanskrit language of Indian heritage. (FOC)
