Jahnavi Harrison

Jahnavi Harrison (born c. 1987) is a British musician known for her kirtan call-and-response singing and her co-founding of Kirtan London, her 2015 album Like a River to the Sea, and her appearances as a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Something Understood programme.

Jahnavi Harrison grew up in the Hare Krishna community at Bhaktivedanta Manor, Hertfordshire, where her father is a priest. She trained in Western and South Indian classical music and Bharatanatyam dance. She gained a bachelor's degree in linguistics and creative writing from Middlesex University in 2009.

Harrison has appeared on BBC Radio 2's "Pause for Thought" on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show. She has presented several of BBC Radio 4's Something Understood programmes. She helps to run Kirtan London, and has contributed performances to its "Mantra Lounge" at Neal's Yard, London. She teaches Kirtan at Bhaktivedanta College. She (2018) works in New York and London.

Like a River to the Sea

Harrison's 2015 album Like a River to the Sea, sung in Sanskrit, contains Bhakti yoga songs and mantras in kirtan call-and-response style, set to modern melodies and arrangements. The instruments used include both the traditional mrdanga drum and harmonium; alongside the piano, kora, and cello. The title is a reference to a prayer of Queen Kunti, an Indian saint, who asks the god Krishna to draw her thoughts constantly to him, "just as the river forever flows to the sea".

McKenna Rowe, reviewing Like a River to the Sea for LA Yoga, wrote that she was "moved and stunned by the beauty of the instruments and arrangements" of the songs. She found the album "a deeply satisfying masterpiece", not only for people who like devotional music.

Reviewing the album for Pulse magazine, Sanjeevini Dutta noted that kirtan was "the sound track" to Harrison's childhood. She called it "a first album of astonishing ripeness and sweetness," one that drew the listener "to a profound inner space," yet staying in contact with "life lived full of joys, sorrow and heartbreak."

Amardeep Dhillon, in Songlines magazine, called the music pleasant but unsurprising, the tracks being "soothing and uncluttered, with Harrison's violin weaving in between Celtic and Karnatic strains". He approved of Harrison's retention of kirtan's communal feeling. He found the title song and the "haunting" Ceili in Braj! (Hari Haraye) musically the most interesting tracks. In his view the album succeeds through the undoubted "depth of feeling, sincerity and love that come through".

Bhakti Without Borders

Harrison appeared in "Bhaja Govindam" on Madi Das's 2015 charity album Bhakti Without Borders, nominated for a Grammy award.

Mantra Lounge Volume 1, 2 & 3

Harrison has appeared on the Mantra Lounge Volumes from Radha Krishna Records.

In 2012 she was presented with a UK Youth Achievement award for her work with sacred music.