You can best support
‘Big Desert Sky’ by downloading the album
from Bandcamp.
Album cover art by Gavin Hugh Troy
Band Bio
Chaparral Kirtan Band is a devotional music project, directed by Gabrielle Pietrangelo, featuring a changing constellation of Tucson-based musicians. The group's debut album, ‘Big Desert Sky,’ was recorded between 2018-2021 at Waterworks Recording Studio in Tucson, Arizona. The arrangements were developed at Tucson Yoga's seasonal Kirtan events where Pietrangelo is a long-time yoga teacher. The album features the Chaparral Kirtan Band recording ensemble; founding member Bradford Trojan, Matt Moon Nelson, Kasey Gopal and Hadji Banjovi, who toured the southwest with Pietrangelo in 2018, along with guest violinist Beth Daunis.
'Big Desert Sky' moves through tender solo pieces and group arrangements, highlighting Pietrangelo’s ethereal lead vocal and the sonorous response voices of Bradford Trojan and Kasey Gopal. A gem in the album's sound is found in the unique quality of Hadji Banjovi's Arco banjo. Matt Moon Nelson's Hindustani percussion, the use of harmonium and the interweaving of traditional Sanskrit mantra keep the music rooted in a Kirtan flavor. But 'Big Desert Sky' is not a traditional Kirtan album. Although it pays homage to the heart opening practice of call and response singing, the album draws from songwriting and folk, offering devotional love songs that aspire to invoke the open sky where the music was created.
The group's name 'Chaparral,' another name for creosote, was inspired by the plentiful desert shrub that fills the Tucson basin with a heavenly scent when it rains. “It smells like coming home,” says Pietrangelo. She hopes 'Big Desert Sky' will be a comfort to those who listen. “It was a heart opening experience writing and recording these songs with Chaparral Kirtan Band. I hope it contributes to the authenticity and healing we need in the world right now.”
Many thanks to sound engineer Jim Waters, who captured the band's live performances in the studio and collaborated with Pietrangelo to produced and embellished the tracks with care. Special thanks to the Kirtan community of Southern Arizona who helped make this album possible.
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