Time Life and Nettwerk’s Nutone label are releasing this compilation of Yoga-driven tracks that includes music by everyone from Krishna Das to Sting. The album was produced by master producer Frank Fitzpatrick through his nonprofit EarthTones with the goal to benefit the Yoga Health Foundation.

The best way to describe what you might find on an album of this magnitude is to imagine Krishna Das rocking out on a chant that begins with an invocation to Narayana which then turns into a soulful upbeat jam on the rock classic “For Your Love,” complete with chorus, Hammond organs, traditional western drumming (using four/four beats) and electric guitar leads.

If you are the type of yogi who loves it when your favorite pop stars get spiritual or when your favorite bhakti chanters get commercial, you’ll love every track on this collection of inspiring, uplifting tunes. The songs include contributions by Angelique Kidjo with Peter Gabriel, Anoushka Shankar with Sting, Wah!, Sarah McLachlan, Michael Franti, Ziggy Marley, Guru Singh with Seal, Sheryl Crow and Deva Premal singing with Miten.

My favorite tracks reveal the spiritual side of stars like Sting and Peter Gabriel, a side the world could benefit from hearing more often. The album is inspiring and embraces the power of the sacred in all of us. The songs are a testament to what happens when the ego is put on a shelf and the music is delivered from the heart with the intention of raising the consciousness of the world. The problem is that an album of this kind will most likely land in the Yoga bags of the devotional, when it needs to get to the hearts of the cynical and the suffering souls who are still wondering why they’ve been abandoned.

A portion of Yoga Revolution’s proceeds benefit the Yoga Health Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting Yoga through awareness campaigns and educational programs, including Yoga Recess, which provides kids’ Yoga DVDs to schoolteachers. yogarevolution.org –– Reviewed by Michael R. Mollura

Mirabai Ceiba
A Hundred Blessings
Spirit Voyage

Mirabai Ceiba is an angelic musical vehicle that is the product of Angelika Baumbach and Markus Sieber. The ceiba is the sacred tree of Mexico and the music on A Hundred Blessings is saturated with a deep sense of gratitude and love that is a fusion of the Kundalini path mantras and Native Latin America which honors nature and the experience of the sacred in all of us.

Baumbach’s voice is the leading instrument here carried by Sieber’s harmonies and acoustic guitar. The songs reflect the peaceful provinces of Mexico and India while also embracing the sweet nectar of Gurmukhi mantras. The music on this album is sung in English with Baumbach’s peaceful Latin American dialect and includes universal themes of love that are associated with nature, wholistic spirituality, Christianity and native folklore. The music is essentially vocal driven that is not call and response chanting, but one does feel the pull to want to sing along with Baumbach’s incredibly light inflections and perfect harmonies. There are ten tracks here and they are all soft, ethereal, sweet and touching. This recording will appeal to almost everyone. It is a spiritual album with a far-reaching affect that has the calming impact of a lullaby style, along with the celebratory feeling of gratitude. Most of the melodies are Kundalini-based, inspiring those who are familiar with that path to close their eyes and connect to the feelings associated with the heart opening wider and wider. In my opinion, the Kundalini influence on some of these ballads or chants is wonderful, gentle and inviting. The best way to describe this record is to say that it is “warm” like a fire on a cold mountain. I highly recommend this album to all yogi practitioners of any path and world music enthusiasts everywhere. It will open the window of your heart with effortless tears and unconditional love. mirabaiceiba.com

Mirabai Ceiba will be touring throughout Southern California April 23 - 25. For dates, locations and tickets, visit: spiritvoyage.com.
–– Reviewed by Michael R. Mollura

Krishna Das is known to millions as the man who introduced them to kirtan chanting music and changed the way they experience the world forever. To those who have practiced bhakti, the Yoga of devotion, Krishna Das is a father and a brother figure who represents a collective world of kirtan music. His success has allowed thousands of other gifted kirtan singers a chance to devote their lives to playing sacred music. If there was any one kirtan singer who made the experience of singing in a crowded room of smiling heads “cool” – it was Krishna Das. Krishna Das is a blessing and a symbol of what it means to do a seva (selfless duty) and then work hard at it while remaining true to the original source that brought him to these heights of recognition.

Krishna Das is known to millions as the man who introduced them to kirtan chanting music and changed the way they experience the world forever. To those who have practiced bhakti, the Yoga of devotion, Krishna Das is a father and a brother figure who represents a collective world of kirtan music. His success has allowed thousands of other gifted kirtan singers a chance to devote their lives to playing sacred music. If there was any one kirtan singer who made the experience of singing in a crowded room of smiling heads “cool” – it was Krishna Das. Krishna Das is a blessing and a symbol of what it means to do a seva (selfless duty) and then work hard at it while remaining true to the original source that brought him to these heights of recognition.

This album is KD’s homage to country soul and he marries that sound to what we already know he can do. The album is studio-produced and the tracks are uplifting and lively; a bit less personal than other albums, such as the live recordings, but it’s still KD. You gotta love what this brother just keeps giving to the world because even when it is heavily produced, it’s still devotional, full of nectar and makes you smile even when you just had a fight with the boss in your life. krishnadas.com
–– Reviewed by Michael R. Mollura

Ullamaya Ma is a lovely kirtan singer who takes residence in New York City, but dips her heart into the collective tank of bhakti energy for a global appeal. Ullamaya sings the lead while playing a harmonium. She is accompanied by Steve Gorn on bansuri flute, Curtis Bahn on the dilruba, Ed Feldman on tabla (drums), Bhima-Karma on added percussion and the Ananda Ashram Kirtan Singers.

The album consists of bhakti Yoga call-and-response chants using traditional arrangements and melodies. For the experienced chanters out there, you can add Ullamaya to your list of angelic vocalists who have made it their sadhana to deliver music that bends the heart into an open-ended pipeline to the cosmos. Ullamaya sings with a heavily influenced Southern Indian nasal tremelo and her overall timbre takes some getting used to. Her intention is honest and there is no doubt about the depths of her love for the divine. I have a lot of respect for those kirtan singers who keep the mix of instruments simple and as organic as possible. Ullamaya falls under that umbrella of not being too interested in a perfect production or effect, and allows her path to do the performing.In this regard, the chants come off as being abundant and authentic with a basic treatment of the music. Ullamaya Ma delivers a straight-up kirtan album that is not ambitious or pretentious; it is a modest and positive rendering of the mantras with which many yogis will be familiar.

I would recommend this album to the devotees who are in the rooms with Ullamaya and sharing her love for her guru. For those who are not as familiar with kirtan or the path, this album may be a bit challenging. amalam.com

Michael R. Mollura is a holder of the bhakti flame, music journalist, musician and composer currently working on his PhD at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He was the compoer for the film Climate Refugees, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival, 2010. Email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or find him at: michaelmollura.com.