Mantra

Mantra, as a recorded genre, is the Western kirtan and meditation music built around the repetition of Sanskrit sacred phrases: call-and-response chanting over harmonium, tanpura drones and soft percussion, stretched across long tracks designed for yoga classes, kirtan gatherings and quiet rooms. It grew from the 1990s American yoga boom — *Krishna Das*, *Deva Premal* and *Jai Uttal* setting traditional chants to warm, accessible arrangements — with *Snatam Kaur* and *Wah!* carrying it to a wide New Age audience. Devotees value the practice's calming focus; critics note the distance from its devotional roots.