Spiritual Eco-Folk

11 MP3 Songs
FOLK: like Joni, ROCK: Progressive Rock



Details:
Hi, my name is Dada Nabhaniilananda.

I am a monk, musician, writer and a meditation teacher with the spiritual movement Ananda Marga (which means "The Path of Bliss" in the Sanskrit language). Originally, I'm from New Zealand, where I started playing music at age six, and began composing on the piano when I was eleven. I then branched out into playing other instruments as well, including the cello, clarinet, trumpet and euphonium (a kind of small tuba). After 13 years of piano study, I switched to guitar and vocals. It was really just a practical decisionâ¯since a piano was a bit awkward to carry around!

In college, I studied English literature, which proved to be an invaluable aid in writing my lyrics. I also became interested in meditation and oriental mysticism, and decided to go to India and Nepal to study yoga. Then, in 1979, I was ordained as a yogic monkâ¦quite a detour from the expected course for a young New Zealand boy.

I continue to write songs, record, and perform. To date, I have produced seven albums. Three contain my own songs, three are composed of spiritual chanting, and one album offers all Indian music. I have also recently published a book on meditation, and am now working on a book about music production and writing a science-fiction comedy.

Many of my songs deal with human rights and ecology issues. I have been fortunate to be invited to perform all over the world. I've performed at numerous international forums and ecology events, including the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, where I played to more than 5000 people with a very hot Brazilian back-up band. I also got to play with renowned saxophonist Paul Winter! I use extensive electronic multimedia/art in my performancesâ¯including spectacular images of natureâ¯to help convey a vision of hope and optimism for the future. I always want people to come away from my music feeling uplifted and motivated to do something good for our planet.

Luckily, I've been able to balance my Spiritual life with my musical endeavors. I guess I cut an unusual figure with my orange robes and guitar. And of course, the media does have a bit of fun with it at times. Yes, the headline, "The Singing Monk" has appeared more than a few times, yet, I don't mind at all. It's great publicity, and it's good to be able to laugh at your self sometimes too. Most importantly, I just want to get my message out to people everywhere.

"Warriors of the Rainbow" is my second album. It was a big step up from my previous, simpler recordings. It was only possible with the help of producer Harry Williamson whom I met in 1988. Harry is a keyboard player, bass player, producer, multi-talented guy who used to play with "Gong" in the 70's, recorded two albums with Anthony Phillips from Genesis, and produced a single for Sting years ago. Harry and I played together live a few times, and he was manager and part owner of a state of the art recording studio so he invited me to record there. It was a very exciting process for me, having all these amazing resources to play with.

This recording fulfilled a long cherished dream of mine - to treat some of my songs as "symphonic rock" a la Yes or Genesis. I think Harry did a great job of this - I'm particularly happy with "Give My Heart to Africa" and "Trying to Stop the Rain."

I still needed some more material to fill out the album, so I recorded five more songs in 1990 with my brother in New Zealand, so this album is actually the result of two entirely different recording projects. I'm very satisfied with the result and feel that it is an excellent show piece for my earlier work.

Please check out my websites at www.eternalwave.com and www.myspace.com/dadanabhaniilananda. You can see my music videos there, and get free stuff there, like MP3s, chord charts, lyrics, and some great jokes! You might even get inspired to buy a book or a CD. Feel free to write to me from the websiteâ¦I hope you like the music.