I just discovered Aradhna, and downloaded their new album, Amrit Vani, off iTunes. All I can say is, A*M*A*Z*I*N*G! Click on "Sample Tracks" at the top of Aradhna's website, and listen for yourself.
This is unapologetically Eastern music. Unmistakably spiritual music. But it is also immediately accessible music. Tabla and Sitar combine with acoustic guitar and western drums. Hindi vocal weaves in and out of English counterpart...
A little background on Chris Hale, one of Aradhna's founders: Chris had been living in South Asia from childhood and could speak Nepali and Hindi fluently...he often felt torn between his eastern and western spiritual identity. He longed for an Indian expression of devotion to Yeshu Khrist, the North Indian name for Jesus Christ. In the course of this search, he had found Yeshu bhaktas (devotees) in different parts of the world who expressed their adoration through bhajans and the Indian way of bhakti (devotion).
4 comments:
Wow. I'm listening to it now and really enjoying it. So fascinating that they are all TCKs. Thanks for the intro to them!
Ginger -- Glad you like it. This may be one of my favorite albums put out in the last ten years.
And I thought the background notes on all the band members were quite interesting. Definitely a bunch of third culture kids!
Wow, this is gorgeous! Their sound is very soothing! Thanks so much for turning me on to them!
OH yeah, wait-- I forgot to say how much I like the art on the album cover as well! :-)
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