Early Morning on July 9th, just a few weeks after her debut release, KPFK’s morning show “Experience Talks” opened the show with Track 8, “With You”.

Hosted by Dr. Connie Corley, “Experience Talks” gives a voice to those who’ve seen a few things, to discuss the subjects that make a difference to how we view ourselves and our world, and perhaps to discover the things that endure.

Listen to the Show:

To listen to clips of I Am Thine or to purchase the album go to SpiritVoyage.com or click [Here] to go directly to the page.

From the first achingly beautiful note, this album is an expression of unabashed passion for that experience of the infinite. Jai-Jagdeesh’s debut album, I Am Thine, is vulnerable yet powerful, poignant yet soulful, robust yet sweetly simple. Jai-Jagdeesh’s voice is timeless, rich and voluptuous and is tastefully supplemented by exquisite piano, harmonium, bass, gentle percussion and the sweet strings of the cello, sarangi and sitara.

Jai’s compositions present a voluptuous and bluesy take on this collection of mantras and kirtan that is truly unique and yet somehow so comfortingly familiar at a very core level. This is an album sure to go on repeat in your playlist from your first listen.

To listen to more clips or to purchase the album go to SpiritVoyage.com or click [Here] to go directly to the page.

If you have ever sat in the audience at one of his concerts, you know the gravitational pull of GuruGanesha`s guitar carrying you deep into the soul of the music. On Kundalini Surjhee, he crystallizes that experience with the signature virtuosity of his savory guitar style. While many guitarists find it challenging to master a single style, GuruGanesha leads you from traditional raag to rock to blues and beyond. His guitar wizardry and soulful vocals alone could carry this album, but GuruGanesha brought in several other major world sacred music artists that break it through to another realm.

Opening the album is the emotionally rich Bhaja Man Mere, a kirtan lullaby with GuruGanesha`s deeply soothing vocals and sweet guitar melodies gently carrying you to the introduction of Tina Malia`s voice, whose purity and crystalline clarity distill the very meaning of devotional music. The musical chemistry between GuruGanesha and Tina continues to be highlighted on Bright Star, which has become a viral online break-out hit.

As the album moves forward, the energy rises, much like its title, which translates to Kundalini Rising. The title track, Kundalini Surjhee, and the fourth track, Aval Allah, both sophisticated gurbani kirtan compositions, incorporate lively tabla, traditional kirtan call-response vocals, and the incredible presentation of raga on guitar. These tracks build to irresistible crescendos, the musical representation of awakened kundalini energy. With guest appearances from Jai-Jadgeesh, Mata Mandir Kaur, Tina Malia and Michelle Hurtado, these tracks have flavors ranging from the plains of Amritsar to the deserts of the Middle East.

GuruGanesha recorded some audience favorites including the devotional songs Walk with the Lord and One God, whose musical sensibilities touch the core of GuruGanesha as an artist. Blending blues, jazz, rock, a bit of bluegrass and and the deepest experience of devotion, these songs overflow with exuberant joy. GuruGanesha is also joined by the big bluesy vocals of Jessica Cauffiel, seamlessly integrating gospel music with Gurmukhi mantra.

Thomas Barquee`s piano makes a few star appearances, most notably on Mul Mantra II, a gentle evocative track, and One God, a perfect finale to this eclectic album with a foot-stompingly joyful shout out to the blues. Masterfully produced by Krishan, this album is filled with pulsating energy. Blending acoustic and electric guitars, piano, tablas, cajon, udu, keyboards, bass and the divine voices of an amazing line-up including GuruGanesha Singh, Tina Malia, Jai-Jagdeesh, Mata Mandir Kaur, Jessica Cauffiel, Michelle Hurtado and Krishan, the diversity of styles creates an experience that is truly a surge of Kundalni energy!

To listen to more clips or to purchase the album go to SpiritVoyage.com or click [Here] to go directly to the page.

Open Mind Presents…
Snatam Kaur Live in Concert w/ Guruganesha Singh & Ramesh Kannan
March 2, 2011

Recap by Krishan Khalsa
Founder of Open Mind Creations

I’ve been involved in sacred music since I was a small child. I grew up listening to Sing Kaur’s beautiful angelic voice, Shakta Kaur’s nurturing hymns and most of the music that came out of the American Sikh community. I’ve never met a more inspiring musician than Snatam. After months of preparation and a long day of setting up the hall, getting everything right, and making sure everything was running smoothly I sat down to a sparkling performance of “To Heaven and Beyond”…A piece that takes listeners through chanting the names of God from different faiths. It was a treat to close my eyes and feel my being completely surrender.

Attendees braved the rain that came after the sun had gone down. Children: laughing and crying, Families: large and small, and a truly diverse group of people filled the beautiful Wilshire Ebell Theatre. It was truly representative of our much larger world community and made me grateful for the opportunity to come together.

The candor, humor and comfortability on stage set the tone for a truly expansive journey which at one point errupted into people dancing up and down the aisles…arms raised in the air…completely free and full of joy.

May we be blessed to continue to have these opportunities to come together and share this universal love that binds us all.

Namaste

For those of you who missed it…here are some pictures. Hope to see you soon at Open Mind Creations.

A big heartfelt thank you to Sarah A. Greene for donating her amazing mandala artwork. Check out her artwork at Ordered-Chaos.com

Photo’s courtesy of Kat Goduco Photography

[flagallery gid=1 name="Snatam Concert 2011"]

It was a beautiful sunny day in Los Angeles. Open Mind partnering with NARIP (National Association of Record Industry Professionals) hosted a fun, exciting, and well-attended meet and greet. With approximately 50 attendees; artists, engineers, producers, grammy winners, and some just arrived in L.A.

Laughter rang through the air and business cards were flying across the room. The event started with 30 second introductions which invoked some serious laughs. Try to fit your entire resume into 30 seconds. It’s the old “elevator pitch” game. What would you say if you shared an elevator with one of your idols?

It was a great time and the Open Mind vibe of a warm welcome, positive collaboration, and just all around good fun sent people off with a renewed sense of hope and gratitude.

For those of you who missed this one…here are some pictures. Hope to see you soon at Open Mind Creations.

[flagallery gid=2 name="OMC-NARIP Mixer 2011"]

GuruPrem is a Musician, Producer and Composer, he has produced and arranged more than 11 albums of Mantra music, Chanting, Kirtan, Gurbani and Spiritual Songs. Including “The Heart Rules” (with Krishan), “Tantric Har”, “Tantric Mool Mantra”, “Aquarian Sadhana” & “Ambrosial Moon Sadhana”, “Meditations for the Aquarian Age”, “Sant Kee Chaal”, “The Therapy Series” including: I am Bountiful, Blissful & Beautiful, Every Heartbeat, Heal Me, etc., “Child’s Play with Wah!” And Many More! He has worked with Wahe Guru Kaur (Wah!), Nirinjan Kaur, Sada Sat Kaur, Pritpal Singh, Guru Ganesha, Harimandirjot Singh(Cherdi Kala Jetha), Snatam Kaur & Simran Kaur.

GuruPrem Singh was named ‘Posture Master’ by Yogi Bhajan, he is a Master Yogi and for the last 30 years has been practicing and teaching Yoga. He is certified by K.R.I. as a trainer of Teachers of Kundalini Yoga. He is an advanced Kundalini & Astanga Yoga practitioner and is an expert on body awareness in relationship to personal growth. He travels all over the world teaching the tools and rules of Divine Alignment and having your Heart Rule!

He is the author of two books, The Heart Rules & Divine Alignment! GuruPrem has had an active practice at the World famous Khalsa Medical Clinic in Beverly Hills, as a structural, breath, Yogic and Massage Therapist for over 25 years.

Snatam Kaur is one of the most popular New Age artists of our time, selling over 50,000 albums a year. Snatam Kaur’s albums have topped New Age Retailer’s Top 20 lists every year since 2004. She was the only artist to have 3 albums in the Top 20 in a single year.

An international favorite with fans across the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America and the South Pacific, Snatam Kaur performs at over 100 venues each year, from the Bahamas to Singapore. One fan spoke for all when he said, “We come to Snatam’s concerts to experience the beautiful atmosphere her voice creates, to heal and grow.”

You’ll find enthusiastic press about Snatam’s music everywhere from the Houston Chronicle to the Hindustani Times. She’s also been featured on the cover of New Age publications such as the Light Connection and the Body Mind Spirit Guide.

Snatam Kaur, whose father was a manager for the Grateful Dead, has an amazing ability to transform traditional chants into a contemporary sound that appeals to the modern ear yet awakens an ancient yearning in the soul. Sacred Sounds Radio calls her music “Spiritually uplifting and deeply soul cleansing.” Ram Dass, celebrated author of Be Here Now, says that “in Snatam’s voice…there is purity, clarity, and love.” Snatam’s CDs Prem, Shanti, Grace, Anand and Live In Concert are setting the industry standard for excellence in New Age sacred music.

Dressed in distinctive Sikh garb, Snatam Kaur embodies the Sikh message of strength through inner serenity. She is an ambassador for 3HO (a United Nations affiliate), and is deeply committed to supporting the U.N.’s Peace Resolution through her ongoing Celebrate Peace Tour. She brings music, yoga and meditation to the communities she visits, as well as to hospices, juvenile detention centers, and schools she visits along the way.

GuruGanesha Singh is an icon of the yoga music genre. A musician deeply devoted to both his craft and the greater landscape of sacred sound, GuruGanesha’s contribution to World Sacred Music is manifold. His three solo releases of Sikh-inspired chant music his virtuoso guitar work are beloved by his fans world-wide, topping New Age charts and receiving high critical acclaim from magazine reviewers in both New Age and Yoga publications. Long before GuruGanesha Singh released his solo albums, he was the force behind many well known chant musicians, including Snatam Kaur, Thomas Barquee, and Mirabai and released several albums with other musicians including Game of Chants with Guru Singh and Grammy-Winning singer, Seal.

GuruGanesha Singh is also the original founder of the record label, Spirit Voyage Records, as well as the distribution company, Spirit Voyage Music. He founded both businesses with the intention of creating new avenues for spreading inspiring music to ever-widening audiences.

GuruGanesha performs over a hundred musical performances per year, from the Bahamas to Singapore, in addition to teaching yoga classes and prosperity workshops, and recording new music. His unmitigated joy and virtuoso guitar work make him an instant favorite with the audiences around the world.

“Music keeps my heart beating, it motivates me to get up in the morning, it heals me and helps me serve and uplift others,” says GuruGanesha.

GuruGanesha’s music is rooted in the eastern tradition of Kundalini yoga chants and draws inspiration from GuruGanesha’s 30 years of experience as a yogi. He has a very unique approach to chants that brings his intricate guitar work to the forefront, blending exceptional musicianship with uplifting chants.

GuruGanesha has been making music for a few decades. He began recording music in 1999 in partnership with the well-known musical couple Gurudass on their release, Train to Amritsar. The year 2000 was an intensely creative year for GuruGanesha. With Peace Family, a band consisting of GuruGanesha Singh, Snatam Kaur, and Livtar Singh, he recorded an album Reunion which expanded into a second album To Heaven and Beyond featuring Snatam Kaur which then launched the beginning of her career as a solo artist. In that same year, he began recording an album with Guru Singh and Seal, Game of Chants, which was released in 2001. That same year, Peace Family released a second album, Carry Us Home, and GuruGanesha released his album Power Mantras.

After those years of intensive musical creativity and recording, GuruGanesha took a break from his own music and focused on his blossoming record label and distribution company, Spirit Voyage, and released multiple albums as executive producer.

It wasn’t until 2004, after he had spent substantial time developing the precision of his guitar work both in formal training and on the road with The Celebrate Peace Tour that he released his first solo album, Grateful Ganesh. This album of morning meditation chants was just the beginning of the development of GuruGanesha’s unique solo sound.

Recording his latest solo albums has exposed GuruGanesha to new levels of musical and spiritual development. “A part of me got expressed through this album that has been dormant since 1972 when I essentially started focusing on backing up chanting with rhythm guitar instead of continuing to grow as a lead guitarist. My creativity as a guitarist has really come alive since I started playing with Snatam Kaur and has particularly come alive during the creation of this album. It’s very exciting to realize that at age 55 my best years as a guitarist and musician are still ahead of me. I am now determined to realize my full potential as an artist before I leave this physical body and I feel like the sky is the limit.”

GuruGanesha’s ablums have received rave reviews from both yogic and new-age publications. Writes music review Randy Alberts of New Age Retailer, “The popular GuruGanesha Singh possesses, or channels, one of the most beautiful, inviting warm voices in music today. Combining his excellent Western New Age, jazz-tinged guitar lead and rhythm work with that voice, surrounded by masterful chant vocalists and traditional Indian instrumentalists, Pure Ganesh is an enchanted easy-listening experience that soothes, lifts, and inspires.”

Yoga Chicago’s music reviewer gave him rave reviews, “Guruganesha’s solo release, Pure Ganesh, has me hooked. Ok, I’ll admit I’m addicted. And so is my four-year-old son. He’s a talented tunesmith, and a guitar master.” She goes on to write, “Pure Ganesh is filled with the Brazilian concept of saudaude, or deep longing. The guitar licks, like waves of the ocean, are crying for union with the One.”

Devoted to the Tantric Vidya tradition, Yogacharya Bhava Ram is a Vedic Healer, Spiritual Counselor, author, musician and teacher. Bhava is certified as an Advanced Yoga & Ayurveda Educator through the American Institute of Vedic Studies (AIVS). He is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the highest EYT-500 level and leads retreats, workshops and trainings in America and India with his wife, Laura Plumb.

Bhava is the author of two books: The 8 Limbs of Yoga, Pathway to Liberation, and Deep Yoga, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Times, and has produced CD’s in Yoga and meditation. He is also a musician, composer and songwriter who performs spiritual concerts and kirtan workshops.

Bhava’s role in Deep Yoga is the result of profound personal transformation after living with terminal illness and chronic pain. This experience gave him a passion for sharing the transformative healing power that can be unleashed and mastered through the sacred sciences of Yoga & Ayurveda.

For 25 years, Bhava was a broadcast journalist, working for television stations across the country and ultimately as a foreign correspondent with NBC News. During this career he lived and worked throughout the world, including Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East, covering some of the most momentous events of our times.

An Accident left him with a broken back. A failed surgery rendered him crippled and in severe chronic pain. This cost him his career and any ability to work. Several years later, Bhava was diagnosed with a rare and fatal form of throat cancer – most likely contracted from chemical exposure during the Persian Gulf War. Western doctors gave him no more than two years to live.

Towards the end of those two years, on the brink of death, Bhava found Yoga. It immediately struck a chord deep within his soul. He left western medicine and fully devoted himself to sadhana (daily yogic practice and study), delving into every aspect of the art and science of Yoga, practicing and studying 12-16 hours per day for the first several years.

Through this process, Bhava self-healed both his broken back and “terminal” cancer. He now devotes his life to sharing the miracle of self-healing with others, believing fully that we all have the inherent power to take charge of our destiny, heal ourselves and effect lasting personal transformation in our lives. Deep Yoga is an expression of this devotion.

Bhava’s spiritual guide is Sri Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji Maharaj of Rishikesh. Bhava has studied with Vamadeva Shastri (Dr. David Frawley), founder of AIVS, and known worldwide as a master of Vedic Wisdom. He also has trained with Yogiraj Rod Stryker who teaches from the Sri Vidya tradition. Bhava holds additional certification in The Yoga Sutras and Vinyasa Krama (sequencing) and Yoga Chikitsa (Yoga Therapy).

Bhava teaches Deep Yoga and Deep Healing classes, workshops and trainings at Ginseng Yoga Studio in San Diego and also offers Yoga Therapy, Ayurvedic Counseling, spiritual guidance and lifestyle enhancement in private consultations. For details contact Bhava at bhava@deepyoga.com.

The Heart Rules CD is music for the times, songs with powerful and transformational lyrics by Yogi Bhajan put to beautiful music by GuruPrem Singh Khalsa working with Krishan. The CD has the booklet(lyrics, artists, etc) in .pdf format on the disc.

Originally the mantras in the New book `The Heart Rules` were going to be recorded, making it convenient to practice the meditations. As the book included poems of the Siri Sing Sahib / Yogi Bhajan, GuruPrem thought it would be fun to record them as well, so he did.

These poems were given by Yogi Bhajan to GuruPrem to record and put to music. Originally GuruPrem was happy to compose, play, arrange and produce, using Nirinjan and Wah! Wahe Guru Kaur for vocals, but for this project GuruPrem decided to sing as well! His wife Simran, also sang on three of the Mantras bringing her clear, correct pronunciation, which has proven a great help for those learning and for enjoying the mantra.

Yogi Bhajan gave GuruPrem about 30 of his poems to record. Many have already been recorded, and some hopefully will be in the future. These songs represent the first time in 12 years that GuruPrem had recorded any music. GuruPrem feels this music is the soundtrack for the transformation to where our Heart Rules!

To listen to clips or to purchase the cd or book go to SpiritVoyage.com or click [Here] to go directly to the page.