Jai Uttal Returns To The Freight & Salvage For A Valentine’s Day Bhakti Celebration With The Pagan Love Choir

Berkeley, CA – Celebrated Bay Area Kirtan musician Jai Uttal will return to The Freight & Salvage for his 3rd annual Valentine’s Day Bhakti Concert, this time with four amazing local songbirds, Sandy Cressman, Prajna Vieira, Lakshmi Devi, and Sandy Griffith, plus noted NorCal producer Ben Leinbach on bass. 

This concert will be a unique opportunity to hear Jai’s music arranged for a heavenly rainbow of five exquisite voices. All veterans of Jai’s full band, The Pagan Love Orchestra, Prajna, Lakshmi and the two Sandys will share their transcendent vocal visions of Jai’s songs and bring the ‘music of the spheres’ to the historic Freight & Salvage. Jai will be acoustic and ‘unplugged,’ creating an intimate and mystical environment in which to share his songs and his soul. This completely new experience promises to be a treat for the ears and the heart.

Jai hosting a Valentine’s Day Concert is appropriate as sacred music is one of the main modalities of Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of love and devotion. As noted in Yoga Journal, “the Sanskrit word bhakti comes from the root bhaj, which means "to adore or worship God." Bhakti yoga has been called "love for love's sake" and "union through love and devotion." Bhakti yoga, like any other form of yoga, is a path to self-realization, to having an experience of oneness with everything.”

"Bhakti is the yoga of a personal relationship with God, At the heart of bhakti is surrender,” says Uttal in the story.

Since its founding in 1968, the Freight & Salvage has been deeply rooted in that aspect of Berkeley’s culture that embraced freedom, justice, acceptance, collaboration, and innovation. The Freight is mission-driven, and has become a world-famous venue for traditional music – music that is rooted in and expressive of the great variety of regional, ethnic, and social cultures of peoples throughout the world.

With the Winter Solstice passing of American Bhakti yoga pioneer Ram Dass, Jai notes, “This concert is especially meaningful, as it’s my first public performance after the passing of my friend and guru-brother, the beloved spiritual leader Ram Dass. I hope that the Bay Area’s Bhakti family can come together to celebrate love and life and our dear friend’s memory. My Valentine’s Day gigs at the Freight & Salvage have been filled with so much spirit and good energy. The Freight is one of the most lovely and important venues in the Bay Area, and I’m always so touched by the care and respect they have for the musicians who perform there. I look forward to a night of joy, celebration and introspection.”

Tickets for the show are $15-$30, and along with a great live video of Jai’s new single “Psalm” with the Pagan Love Choir, are available at https://www.thefreight.org/e/jai-uttal-and-the-pagan-love-choir-77051500111/.