San Rafael, California, October 1999:
Busy times... so much is happening...the days melt one into the other with no edges... just a few hours sleep for punctuation... and then back in the studio... yesterday we had the pleasure of welcoming Marquinho Brasil to the sessions... Marquinho is a true monster musician... a dreadlock-ed percussionist of awesome dimensions who has transformed the album into something way beyond my expectations... suddenly Deva is singing from the depths of the amazon jungle... and from himalayan heights... and it really suits her!...all the potential of The Essence is being realized.

Our main concern when approaching these sessions was to expand the sound that we had discovered while making The Essence... a mystical, ambient groove...timeless music...and it's happening...

Meanwhile, just to stop us from getting bored we drove to Yosemite on the weekend for some voice sessions with Warren Barigian...now this guy really deserves your attention...it is something we both want to tell you about.

So, me first, because Deva is recording as I write this... Warren is a healer whose work by-passes the mind at the speed of light... he uses the voice as his medium...he says the voice is made of light... this is my experience also... the sessions are very intense... and I'm not about to try and explain the process... I can tell you though that it's not pretty, but Warren is so full of love that I trusted him immediately... I had my first session on Saturday evening... it's Tuesday now...and I'm still processing... I can tell you that I feel like a weight I didn't even realize I was carrying has been lifted off my shoulders... there's more light... more space around me... and I have this really tangible sense of well being... like an inner smile that won't go away.

I totally recommend Warren to all of you... I feel he has so much to offer us as travelers on the path...don't miss him... he's a true healer...and he's not here forever...and he won't be giving sessions personally forever either...he's training students... so I'll say it again...if you have the chance, book a session... get clean... you won't regret it!

Anyway...back to the sessions...see you later...
So... we're in mixing mode here... we have been blessed... (there's that word again)... to meet a sound genius called Paul White who is engineering the sessions in his state of the art studio, "Transformation," up in the hill behind Santa Rosa, California. I never heard our music or any other music come to sound so spacious and 3d like... (and just to remind you that we've been spoilt working for the past few years with another sound guru, RajRishi up in Denmark).

I told you about Kit and Marquinho... so, just to finish the whole story around the sessions, here is news of the other musicians who play on the album... we were really excited to welcome Jai Uttal to the studio... he's just amazing... and he added such a distinct flavor to the tracks... Jai plays an instrument called a dotar, which is similar to a sarod... it's one of those instruments that immediately bring atmosphere into a piece of music...it's full of longing and sensuality... silent desert-like trance spaces... you can kind of see the belly dancers right in front of you when he plays..!

Also, he added some bamboo flute which I didn't know he could play, to Om Mani Padme Hum, and harmonium and finger cymbals to Om Namo... what is also nice is that we have begun a friendship which I'm gonna enjoy watch unfold. It was a real treat to have Jai with us... and, just in case you haven't heard any of his albums, check out "Beggars and Saints" and "Shiva Station"... it's really special music.

Which brings me to Teerth, who is the friend who turned me on to Jai's music a couple of years ago when we were in Costa Rica at a Meditation Festival at Samasati retreat center...... Teerth is a hot drummer and has been playing with us on and off for the last ten years...so we asked him if he could fill out the sound on Jai Radha... which is the piece we've been opening our concerts with lately... he brought a drum that you sit on to play it, called a cajon.... and he gave us exactly what we needed... a hypnotic groove without frills or ego... so cool.

This is such a joy!