Long musical breaks

“Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Kīrtana Standards,” installment 39

In ISKCON kīrtanas in recent years, particularly at large events, one feature that has come into vogue is long musical breaks, in which a musician, with a saxophone or what have you, plays a few bars of the melody and improvises on them while everyone else looks on in appreciation. Perhaps because this might make some devotees feel uncomfortable (Where is Kṛṣṇa? Where is the mantra?), the devotees in the kīrtana often provide an explicitly divine overlay by calling out “Rādhe! Rādhe!” and then, in response, “Śyām! Śyām!” for as long as the break lasts.

What can I say about this? When chanting bhajanas, Śrīla Prabhupāda often included musical breaks on the harmonium. But during his physical presence such breaks (to say nothing of “Rādhe! Rādhe! / Śyām! Śyām!”) were not a part of ISKCON kīrtana.