Sonata In Me

Greetings from the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York.  I am enjoying my last evening here along the Hudson River.  We have been performing on the same bill as Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Deva Premal and Miten, Manose, Carioca, and others.  It has truly been a fantastic weekend filled with chanting, joy, and great music.  We performed Friday night for 45 minutes— a very deep, relaxing set, and then again yesterday morning for an hour and a half. Tonight Deva Premal and Mitel performed a beautiful set where they brought up each of the other artists to play a piece.  At the very end, we were all up on stage singing together! I am hoping to get pictures… Guru Ganesha, Jai Uttal, and I were all singing harmony with each other in a group.  There was so much happiness on stage and in the room.  It was an incredibly wonderful experience.

It has been very nice to get to know the other artists as people— we hear them on recordings all the time, but to get to know them  as people really helps me understand where their music comes from and what their intentions are.  I got to know Jai Uttal’s tabla player, Daniel Paul, at dinner this evening.  He is a wonderful man who understands the relationships between western music and Indian music and has wonderful stories of Ali Akbar Khan and Zakir Hussein.  We also connected on a very personal level and by the end of the evening I would like to say that he is a new good friend.

Tomorrow we will play our last concert here at 9AM.  We’ll invite Deva Premal, Miten, and Manose onstage with us for the set.  It should  be good!  After the set, we will drive to the Newark airport where we will catch our flight to Zurich! My travels to Europe are finally happening…

Until the next time inspiration strikes,

Peace.