Karma Circles: Fragrance of the East

A compilation of the two CDs ‘Karma Circles’ (2003) and ‘Fragrance of the East’ (2004) originally released on New Earth Records following Chinmaya Dunster and the Celtic Ragas Band’s performance at Sir Paul McCartney’s wedding in Ireland in 2002. Tracks 1 to 5, 9 and 10 are from Karma Circles. JAMIE ST CLAIR played guitar and PREM PRABODH bass throughout. Sarod, acoustic guitar, composing, programming and production by CHINMAYA DUNSTER. Recording was done in a makeshift kitchen in a garden in Maui and in Pune, India. 1 ‘Chance Finding’ features Pune-based violinist AVINASH JAGTAP. 2 ‘Wedding in Kotree’ features a rare performance from guitar legend GOVI on the middle eastern oud and MANISH VYAS on harmonium. 3 ‘Circle Makers’ features SADHU BOLLAND as co-composer and accordion player. 4 ‘Kaunsi Kannada’, co-composed with JAMIE in 1993, features Maui-based violinist DON LAX. 5 ‘Hollow Hills’, with ADHEESH on dholak and SHASTRO on bamboo flute, is based on a melody by the 19th century Baul poet Lalon Shah. 9 ‘Manipuri Megh’ is co-created with Manipuri bamboo flute player BIKRAM SINGH, and is basically his extended improvisation on CHINMAYA’s open chords and RAMADHAN MEIR SUISSA’s santoor. 10 ‘A Meeting Place of Friends’, co-composed with JAMIE features New Age musician NADAMA on piano. Chinmaya wrote this for the sleeve of the original CD: “In India a profound musical moment will be greeted by spontaneous outbursts of “WAH!” from the audience. WAH is wow, deep appreciation and an expression of being touched inside. This CD is my ‘WAH’ to the wonderful musicians who play on it….Without them my music and my heart would be so much less”. Tracks 6 to 8 and 11 to 13 are from ‘Fragrance of the East, a live recording of the multimedia ‘Concert for India’s Environment’ arranged by Chinmaya at BVIEER, Pune, India in 2004. Blending music, visuals of India’s wilderness areas, poems composed and read by local schoolchildren and interviews with environmentalists, the film of this performance can be found on YouTube. The band comprised: CHINMAYA: sarod. MANISH VYAS: table. TANMAYO DEVI; violin. DINESH: keyboards. BIKRAM SINGH: bansuri. RAMADHAN MEIR SUISSA: drums. PREM PRABODH: bass. ADARSHA FOREST: guitar. 6 ‘Bhattiyali’ is based on a Bengali folk melody. 7 ‘Moonsong’ and 8 ‘Changes’ were created just before the gig, flowing out effortlessly from the meeting of CHINMAYA’s sarod and ADARSHA’s guitar. ADARSHA left his body in 2014 –Fly high beloved brother! 11 ‘Mausam Ayenge’ and 12 ‘Sarvane Rute Aye’ are traditional Hindi songs celebrating the seasons, arranged by Tamil singer SHRUTI BANU, Chinmaya and Manish. 12 ‘Rag Shivranjani’ is a short rendition on sarod and tabla of this Hindustani classical raga.