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Click here to join the Mandala mailing list.Real Audio Streams

from Mystica:
• Surfing the Zavuye (hifi) (lofi)
• Kaleidoscope (hifi) (lofi)
• Sita Ram Chant (hifi) (lofi)
• Blue Desert Trance (hifi) (lofi)
• Blue Desert Trance Re-Mix (lofi)

from Tantrica:
• 7 Sacred Stars (hifi) (lofi)
• Frogs Dream Too (hifi) (lofi)

from Sons of Ganesh:
• Snake Trance (hifi) (lofi)

with Michael Kott
• Trance Galactic (hifi) (lofi)

Archives
• And I Love Her remix (lofi)
• Radhe Jaya Calcutta (lofi)

Other Mandala Artists:

Michael Kott

Shanti Shivani

Sacred Temples

Rik Sharaj

Bio Background

Black Rock City, 2000.

Rik Sharaj is an ambassador of the sitar to the twenty first century.

At events like the Glastonbury Festival, Burning Man, Mountain Air, Zenfest and Moontribe, tens of thousands of music-lovers have been wowed by hearing the subtle, mesmerizing tones of Rik's electric sitar amplified on massive sound-systems.

While most Westerners are familiar with the faster, flashier sound of Ravi Shankar, Rik was trained in the more esoteric and ancient temple tradition of slow, trance-inducing drones. On his recordings such as Mystica, Sitara Tantrica and Sons of Ganesh, Rik combines this transporting sound with an eclectic array of acoustic instruments (cello, guitar, didjeridu, tablas and drums), voice, and digital effects played by a talented cast of collaborators.

THE SITAR is one of the most sacred instruments of East Indian culture. The traditions of the sitar are closely bound up with the discipline of Nada Yoga--the mystical science of sound and its effect on the human being. Sitar music is based on structured improvisation around the Sruti, or micro-tonal scales, creating a sound palette unlike anything heard in Western music.

Born Rich Piccolo in New York city, as a teenager Rik was a passionate participant in the 1960s psychedelic rock scene. He credits George Harrison and the Beatles for turning him on to the music of Ravi Shankar. Rik was 19 when Hendrix died. In mourning, he sold his Les Paul and Marshall Stacks guitars, flew to Amsterdam, bought his first Sitar, and travelled onwards to India as a Hare Krishna devotee.

Once in Vrindavan, the hometown of Swami Prabhupada, he received the name Rik Sharaj from the Swami. Vrindavan has over 5,000 temples in a 60 mile area, and immersed in the rich kaleidosope of Hindu religion, Rik gradually became exposed to many other currents. Eventually he left the Hare Krishnas and set out on his own, searching to understand how music embodies cosmic spiritual laws. Over the course of a decade he studied with some of the great masters of Indian classical music, among them Pandit Deva Choudhury, and the late great Dagar Brothers in Delhi. In the process he became proficient in sanskrit, harmonium, devotional chanting, and tablas, as well as the sitar.

Over the years Rik has played alongside stars like Stuart Copeland, Micky Hart, George Clinton, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Zakir Hussain, and Weather Report. His current passion is performing at outdoor festivals and underground rave parties up and down the West Coast (Moontribe, Integral, LearningParty, Forest Jam).

Rik's most recent explorations have been in the arena of digital dance music, working closely with some of Southern California's best underground DJs like Lorin, Solar Angel, & Odysseus.

On a related front, Rik is assembling the software to allow real-time interactive lightshows driven by his sitar. Also a multi instrumentalist and producer in his own right, Rik has recorded over a dozen CDs of his own music and that of his associates. He recently founded his own independent label, Mandala-Music, based in Valencia, California, with a recording retreat in Santa Fe. Alongsie his own releases, Rik will be releasing a CD of music by Shanti Shivani, one of the few Westerners trained in the Drupad style of singing, and a double CD of live on-site recordings of music from the temples in and around Vrindinavan.

Rik can be reached at riksharaj@mandala-music.com.

--Cinnamon Twist

Michael Kott | Shanti Shivani | Sacred Temples | Tantrica | Sons of Ganesh