Heart Centered Kirtan Album Release Party at The Parlor Room Thursday, March 12th SHOW: 7:30pm / DOORS: 7:00pm TICKETS STARTING AT: $30 includes all fees prices increase on the day of the event Come clear your mind and soothe your heart! Join Heart Centered Kirtan in celebrating the release of their fourth album Vṛddhi. This Sanskrit word conveys growth, increase, and prosperity, and HCK’s latest collection is intended to provide invigorating support for the expansion of our personal and collective consciousness. Heart Centered Kirtan is a mantra music band based in the middle of the Connecticut River Valley at the convergence of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Their unique blend of Sanskrit and Buddhist mantras with a variety of modern musical styles makes for an illuminating, uplifting call-and-response experience. HCK offers kirtan regularly throughout the Pioneer Valley, New England, and beyond. The band members are wali Libby Volckening (keys/vox), Ezra Landis (guitar), Thomas Matherly (bass), and Owen Landis (drum kit). For the release party, they will be joined by a few of the talented souls who helped make this album possible: Chris Ball (bass, synth, percussion), Win Ridabock (flute), Brie Sullivan (vocals), Charlotte Malin (violin, viola) and Joe Johnson (cello). Heart Centered Kirtan was started in 2013 by Jeff Martell, beloved Pioneer Valley singer-songwriter also known by many as former logistics coordinator of the Green River Festival. After Libby joined the band in 2014, Jeff and Libby’s musical kinship inspired them to begin recording their first album in the Fall of 2015. After Jeff’s sudden passing in January 2016 -- the recording process barely begun --Libby rallied to finish the album as a tribute to Jeff and the musical bond the two shared. With the invaluable guidance and support of Garrett Sawyer at Northfire Recording Studio, the eponymous album Heart Centered Kirtan was finally released in November 2017. Since then, Libby has been working with Chris Ball at Fun Room Studio to release two more collections of original mantra music, Invoking the Divine Feminine (September 2021) and Deva Dvāra (June 2024), along with several singles: Bhajamana Ma (May 2023), Peace Prayer (October 24), Mahā Mantra Lullaby, Brahmavihārā (feat. Jeff Martell), and Love One Another (all three in August 2026).