-> listen to the mantra on YouTube.
lead vocals: Kharnatsang & Sonam Rabten
lead vocal recordings: Kharnatsang, at Menri Monastery, during the grand Menri Drubchen, April 2024.
backing vocals, production, sound design, harmonization, arrangement: Christiane Strothmann
credits:
Backing vocals, instruments, and electronics recorded/produced at Strothmann studios, Witten, Germany, by: Ch. Strothmann.
Final mix at ICEM studio 4, by: Ch. Strothmann
Artwork by Kharnatsang/Strothmann (idea) & Rebecca Ter Braak (design)
The Medicine Buddha Mantra
SO OM BA-WA-DHE-NA RA-SA-YA-NA YU-DRANG DÜ-TSI SO TA
This is the central medicine mantra sung at the grande drubchen medicine ritual in April 2024 under the guidance of His Holiness the 34th Menri abbot Lungtok Dawa Dargyal Rinpoche. The drubchen is one of those rare medicine rituals performed only once in the lifetime of an abbot and lasts approximately 14 days.
In 2008, Kharnatsang served as the main umdze (prayer leader) during a similar drubchen led by the late abbot, His Holiness the 33rd Menri Abbot Lungtok Tenpé Nyima. For the 2024 ritual, Kharnatsang prepared the younger umdze, Sonam Rabten, to take on the role of the main umdze for the upcoming ritual in April 2024. During the event, Kharnatsang supervised the ritual as a drubpa, one of the monks responsible for performing the spiritual core activities of the rite.
To arrange the mantra, Kharnatsang and his younger colleague, Sonam Rabten, recorded the lead vocals at Menri Monastery during the Menri drubchen in 2024. They entrusted the recording to Christiane, who incorporated the original sound file into a unique arrangement.
Most of the additional vocal layers were inspired by the various melodic variations of the mantra as it was chanted during the drubchen.