For the past few years I have been concentrating on RAWA activities. I set up the RAWA website at www.rawa.net and one of the principal activities has been an annual songwriting competition called Songs for Social Change. We have been getting over three hundred entries each year. We award a cash prize to the winner and the song of the winner plus nine runners up are included on a compilation CD which we offer for sale on the website. You can read (and hear some songs) on the website at www.rawa.net/song-contest. Right now we are in the process of picking this year’s winner.
The song contest was also featured on a podcast that is syndicated to over 50 radio stations. I was interviewed and songs of the top entries were aired. You can listen to this interview at www.northernspiritradio.org/episode/self-realization-songs-social-change
In addition to the song contest another RAWA project that I have been pursuing for over 15 years is RAWA Radio. It is an online streaming service that plays a mix of Prabhat Samgiita, Folk and World Music, songs from Ananda Marga artists, New Age ambient instrumentals, etc. You can listen to the stream at www.rawaradio.com and there is also a RAWA Radio app available at the App Store and at Google Play. (One note on the radio: due to certain licensing restrictions our mainstream may not be available in the USA after January 12, but we are working on a way to overcome this obstacle.)
Finally, I have been writing, recording and performing folk songs with social and spiritual themes for the past 15 years. I have issued six CDs in that period, and am currently working on a new album which will have songs (ten in all): each one illustrating one of the principles of Yama and Niyama. The CD will be called “The Pillars of Yoga” and it will be ready in March. You can listen to my music at www.dadaveda.bandcamp.com. It is free to stream it (up to a point!) and there is also an offer on this site to buy downloads of all six of the CDs for less than $30.
Dada Vedaprajinananda
