EKENDRA DAS – RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATION OF MOUNT AIRY SINGER/COMPOSER

From www.chestnuthilllocal.com by Len Lear

Almost all of us have read books we have loved, even treasured, but Mt. Airy musician Ekendra Dasa (nee Eric Dailey), 37, who will be performing at InFusion Coffee and Tea Shop, 7133 Germantown Ave., on Friday, March 5, 8:30 p.m., almost literally became a new person because of a religious and philosophical book he read.

While in Chicago in 1988 trying to find work as an actor and musician, Dasa was introduced by a musician friend to the Bhagavad Gita, a religious classic which is to Hindus what the Sermon on the Mount is to Christians. (The book is in the form of a dialogue between Arjuna, the hero of the epic, and Krishna, his friend and charioteer, who is believed to be an incarnation of God.­The book, written about the 5th century B.C. or earlier, discusses ethical and religious questions, particularly what God is and what man should do to reach Him.)

“It was the most inspiring book I have ever read,” said Ekendra. “It totally changed my life. I had read many spiritual books before that, but this book was like God speaking directly to me. I was not looking for such an experience at the time and was not really prepared for it.”

Ekendra, a native of Syracuse, New York, whose first and last names mean “the one supreme being” and “servant of God” in Sanskrit, began spending as much time as possible with Krishna devotees. He became a vegetarian and even seriously considered “the romantic idea” of becoming a monk or priest and going off to India to live an ascetic life.

Eventually, however, Dasa’s passion for music took him in another direction. As a child, his strongest influences had been the Beatles’ music and a book written by George Harrison entitled I, Me, Mine. As a teenager he taught himself to play the guitar, drums, bass and keyboards and played in numerous bands, but he went off to New York University Film School, hoping to make movies like Woody Allen.

However, the “sensory overload” of New York City propelled the obviously creative and imaginative young man back home, where he studied theater foir three years at Lemoyne College. He designed sets and performed in numerous plays and spent three summers acting improvisationally in the Elizabethan style at a Renaissance Faire. He also continued playing in bands and writing songs.

One punk band he played in, The Trend, which was similar to the Sex Pistols, contained two members who went on to achieve considerable fame and fortune in show business. Lead singer Tom Kenney is today the voice of Sponge Bob Squarepants on cable TV (Comedy Central), and bass player Bob Goldthwaite became TV standup comic Bobcat Goldthwaite.

After Dasa’s religious conversion, he joined the nation’s first Hare Krishna band, Shelter, which performed in every one of the 50 states, all over Canada and in every European country but France. Ekendra toured with Shelter for four years. (Shelter is still performing and touring the world.) In Philly they played at the Troc and Theater of Living Arts. Their crowds were as big as 1,500 people, but the band would not play any venue where alcohol was served.

“There were five band members and three ‘roadies,’” explained Ekendra, “and we would all get up very early, chant Hare Krishna, make food, bless the food and eat it, which is a very important part of Hare Krishna. You are what you eat. We would offer a picture of Krishna or a diety statue to the food before eating.”

Dasa and his bandmates would usually stay in private homes while touring, which was alternatively “boring, exhilarating and a hassle. . . I definitely fulfilled all of my desires to be a traveling musician. We’d invite people we’d meet after the show to come back with us and talk. The next day we might get as many as 100 people visiting us. Many became Hare Krishna devotees.”

Ekendra’s favorite cities were San Francisco and Zurich; his least favorite was Buffalo, mainly because the band members were attacked by a gang with two-by-fours and baseball bats. They had bruises and a short hospitalization, but there were no arrests. “The cops who came out were more sympathetic to the thugs than to us.”

Eventually, the president of the Hare Krishna Temple on Allens Lane in West Mt. Airy, Ravindra Svarupa, invited the band to come and live there. They did so from 1990 to 1995. Then the bandmates moved to New York while Dasa stayed here. In 1994 he married Tulasi Priya, a native of Miami Beach who is also a singer and songwriter. Priya, who teaches writing at Mt. Airy Learning Tree, and Ekendra have performed together many times. She previously taught writing in India.

Ekendra, who has written 60 songs, plays mostly as a solo acoustic folk act at local venues such as the Sedgwick Cultural Center and with the Extreme Folk Scene. He has recorded two CDs, God Project and 200 Proof Absolute Truth. Some of his songs are extremely witty, such as “Fool Maker” and “To be or Not to Buy.” (For CD info, visit www.planetcow.org

How have Ekendra’s parents reacted to his religious and spiritual transformation? “For quite a while they didn’t know what to make of it,” he said. “They were confused, but after 15 years they are getting used to it. We have a closer relationship now than ever. If it were not for my transformation, we might not even keep in touch with each other.”

Ekendra and his wife no longer live in the Hare Krishna Temple, but they have stayed in West Mt. Airy. “I love this area,” he said. “Many houses in the area are breathtaking, and I love to walk the Wissahickon. It is such a beautiful place. There are also lots of places in this area to perform, which I love. People often tell me that my music is inspiring without being preachy, and to me that’s the biggest compliment.”

According to Jason Huber, co-owner of InFusion Coffee and Tea Shop, “Ekendra is very entertaining, witty and talented.  His music is like nothing else because of his off –the-wall-lyrics.  He draws a thinker's crowd, a definite coffee house pleaser.”