Projects// Songs of the Saints

India has a rich history of saint poets who spoke of their faith and devotion through their songs. She is the mother land which gave birth to a whole host of bhakti (devotional) poets, who enriched her, each with their unique language and voice.

They belonged to various castes and communities, spoke a varied language and dialects and came from different professions.There was Rabindranath Tagore, who, while receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, also encouraged Indians to strive for independence. Then there were Mirabai and Narasinh Mehta - who, intoxicated with the love of God, faced pain and suffering by singing and dancing to their beloved Lord.

They belong to no one religion or tradition. They belong to India and her people. They did not write high philosophies in Sanskrit, but preached and sang in the common dialect and their poetry survived hundreds of years of oral tradition.

In order to bring this rich culture to a modern day audience, Sandhya worked with modern European musicians to give it a contemporary feel. These musicians come from varied backgrounds and all bring their unique blend of styles. They are all essentially improvisers, like Sandhya.

In a nutshell, music with the rich sound of Indian languages combined with the universality of English, jazzy and Indian Classical improvisatory vocals, Indo/European classical and gypsy violin, jazz/Balkan/Latin guitar, pure sounds of acoustic and bowed bass and multi timbred world percussion.

Narayan © Sandhya Sanjana 2010 play