In October of 2004 Krishna Das attended a release party for PRANA's first CD, "The Eternal Embrace". After Prana had sung, Krishna Das said to Baird, "Let's make a record together or something".

Over the next year the "or something" was Krishna Das inviting Prana to sing at his larger benefit Kirtans in the New York area. As a part of those evenings KD would join Prana to sing Baird's arrangement of his chant "Puja". The combination of the ethereal sound of overtone singing supporting the rich, open hearted voice of Krishna Das was stunning.

All Chants Composed by Krishna Das, arranged and produced by Baird Hersey ©2007 Satsang Music Inc. The only sound on this recording is the human voice and percussion.

In 2006 Baird and KD decided to record "Puja" for Prana's new CD. The resulting 12 minute piece was so striking, they resolved to record an entire CD together. The result is "Gathering in the Light", Krishna Das singing seven of his most beloved chants over arrangements created by Baird and sung by Prana.

On four pieces percussion was added: Jerry Marotta on hand percussion and drums, Subash Chandran, playing ghatam (clay pot), Ganesh Kumar playing kanjira (tunable tambourine), and Arjun Alan Bruggeman on Tabla. The only instrument on the CD other than percussion is the human voice.

"Gathering In The Light" is dedicated to Pattabhi Jois and Neem Karoli Baba

More than 2000 years ago Patanjali, a sage in India said "Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind". In his work, the Yogasutras, he offers the precepts for the practice of yoga through it's Eight Limbs: 1. Self-restraint, 2. Internal disci pline, 3. Postures, 4. Breath control, 5. Withdrawal of the senses, 6. Concentration, 7. Meditation, 8. Complete Union. The object of the eight limbed path is to lead us to stillness of the mind.

The only sound on this recording is the human voice and reverberation. © Copyright 2004 Hersey Music All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

After the release of "Waking the Cobra" Baird began work on a new solo project "The Eternal Embrace" A musical meditation on the Eight Limbs. It was to be an album of overtone singing with instrumental accompaniment; tamboura, gong, marimba, bull roarer etc. One instrument per piece. One piece per limb. He had recorded all of the instrumental tracks when he brought together the singers of PRANA .

After a year of performing "Waking the Cobra" with the group. He hit upon the idea of of arranging the sound of each instrumental piece for the eight voices of PRANA.

The result is a suite of pieces to find a deeper understanding of the meaning of each limbs through pure sound. The twelve pieces are sung by the unaccompanied voices of Prana without text. Instead they use the perfection of harmonic intervals to bring t he listener limb by limb to a deeper state of relaxation and peace.

Waking the Cobra is an overtone singing Chakra meditation CD. The suite of seven short pieces was originally recorded as a Christmas gift for 12 friends. More than half of those friends were Yoga teachers. They started playing it in their classes. And it took on a life of it's own.

People began calling Baird and asking him for copies which initially he was burning individually on his computer. The demand became so great he decided to put out a commercial CD. To fill out the album he recorded three additional pieces.

The CD opens with a piece called "Atha", a Sanskrit word which means, "May the following have an auspicious beginning and successful end". It is the opening word of Patanjali's Yogasutras.

The only thing other than reverberation on this recording is the sound of Baird's voice. Total time of the music on the CD is 42:42 © Copyright 1998 Hersey Music All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Next, is the title piece, "Waking the Cobra " which is in fact a collection of seven short pieces. They are meditations on the traditional shape, color, element and sound for each of the chakras. Hersey first recorded a multi-layered vocal background drone or moving harmony. Then, singing two pitches at once, he recorded the high melody parts.

This is followed by an extended piece called "The Conch Shell, The Wheel and the Sword". These words are taken from the invocation chanted before beginning the practice of Ashtanga Yoga. Call and response, rising harmonies, vocal textures, and overtone melodies, are used in this extended piece to investigate the symbolic meaning of the objects.

The CD concludes with "Between Sthira and Sukha. This is a phrase from Patanjali's Yogasutras which means between alert steadiness and relaxed comfort. This piece searches to balance those qualities by alternating low Multiphonic voice overtone singing and high falsetto harmonies.