Lillian
New member
It soundslike a cliche to say that Deva Premal has spent her entire life andprofessional musical career preparing for her new album, which is appropriatelyjust called Deva. I guess youcould say that about every artist’s artistic endeavor in the world, but you getthe feeling from reading the publicity materials associated with this productthat this recording is special for her. One reason is that she took the traditional “Gayatri Mantra,” which hasmeant so much to her, and composed a new melody for it which really freshens itup and positions it in a new light. Shecalls the new version “Seven Chakra Gayatri Mantra” (and she closes the albumwith a different version with that same title but also noted as the “PrabhuMix”). The reason that particular mantrais special to her is because her parents were chanting it while her mother waspregnant with her, and then when Deva was born, they kept right on chanting itevery night as a goodnight lullabye. Then, when years later Deva was living in India and met hersoon-to-be-life-partner Miten, they were performing and she suddenly broke outsinging this chant from her childhood and Miten in his wonderment saidsomething like, “We should record an album of mantras with you singing.” They did and never looked back (thousandsupon thousands of albums sold, thousands of miles traveled around the globedoing concerts, and hundreds of thousands of facebook followers...and famousfans such as Cher and the Dalai Lama heralding their talent).
But on thisalbum there is a lot of other great mantras too. Deva is known for her warm, personable,beautiful voice (she sings the mantas instead of chanting them in any sort ofdrone-like fashion), and for surrounding herself with musicians totally in syncwith her message, style and spirituality. Besides Miten, she is joined by wood-fluteplayer Manose (from Nepal) and multi-instrumentalist Joby Baker (both of whomalso are in her touring band). The musicis soft, delicate, complex yet subtle, and perfectly appropriate to accompanyDeva’s extraordinary and spiritually-attuned vocals, and to get listeners torelax, get in the right mind-set, clear their minds and souls of the day-to-daystress and anxiety baggage, and either let the sounds sweep their spirit clean,or even join in singing along and letting the 5,000-year-old tradition ofvocalizing mantras take them to a higher place. Try it. You’ll like it.
But on thisalbum there is a lot of other great mantras too. Deva is known for her warm, personable,beautiful voice (she sings the mantas instead of chanting them in any sort ofdrone-like fashion), and for surrounding herself with musicians totally in syncwith her message, style and spirituality. Besides Miten, she is joined by wood-fluteplayer Manose (from Nepal) and multi-instrumentalist Joby Baker (both of whomalso are in her touring band). The musicis soft, delicate, complex yet subtle, and perfectly appropriate to accompanyDeva’s extraordinary and spiritually-attuned vocals, and to get listeners torelax, get in the right mind-set, clear their minds and souls of the day-to-daystress and anxiety baggage, and either let the sounds sweep their spirit clean,or even join in singing along and letting the 5,000-year-old tradition ofvocalizing mantras take them to a higher place. Try it. You’ll like it.
