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Ancient Spirit (Kirtan Cafe, Vol. II) captures listeners with full-length, richly woven kirtan songs (yoga chants).

From the producers of the largest independent and ongoing kirtan scene in the US, this kirtan CD offers beautiful vocals, a sea of chanters, and rich world instrumentation that bring to life the mantras of India.

Following their award-winning debut album, Best of Both Worlds, and based upon the sacred kirtan chants of India, this Ancient Spirit CD was released as a tribute to Sri Swami Rama of the Himalayas.

Artist Bio:

Ragani is a second-generation yoga practitioner, with lifelong involvements in yoga, meditation, and complementary medicine, and she has lectured in the US and abroad on topics of yoga science and stress management.   At the age of eight, Ragani met the legendary yoga master, Swami Rama, who initiated and personally trained her in the Himalayan tradition of yoga, meditation, and eastern music. During her teenage years, she devoted herself to a regular practice of meditation, asana, and other yogic methods, which became her life's foundation.  Over the next two decades, Ragani continued to deepen her practices under the guidance of Swami Rama, and she completed formal degrees in acupuncture and a doctorate in clinical heath psychology.   Ragani's deep love of yoga and meditation has also led her to India’s Himalayas, where she and her husband have traveled and studied with many known and unknown yoga masters.   As the featured yoga model for the award-winning book, Yoga: Mastering The Basics, and its two accompanying videos, Ragani's commitment to the tradition of yoga runs deep.  Her experience with kirtan began in 1979, when she began a more formal training in the path of yoga.  Traveling with the yoga master, Swami Rama, to India and the Far East, Ragani has led kirtan in India, Malaysia, Singapore, Curacao, and the U.S for the past twenty years.   She further studied classical Indian vocals with Laxmi Narayan Tiwari from Kanpur, India.  In 2001, Ragani, Dale (her husband), and Theresa Catlin founded Milwaukee's Kirtan with Ragani event, the largest ongoing kirtan scene in the Midwest, the second largest in the nation.   Her debut kirtan CD, Best of Both Worlds, was released in 2003, and featured Michael Kashou, the fretless bass artist from Garbage's platinum debut CD.  Early in its production, Best of Both Worlds received praise for its rock solid production and sound quality, and it caught the attention of Yoga International 's Contributing Editor and renowned author, Linda Johnsen, who called this CD a "winning ticket" and "the soundtrack for your spiritual life," adding that this CD delivers "uniformly excellent" back up musicians and overall mix.  Review: Ancient Spirit Music Design "Ragani, who has grown to become one of the nation's leading kirtan chanters, proves her worth with this exquisite collection of mantras... The recording provides a wonderful atmosphere for spiritual journeys and growth. Besides the smooth waves of chant brought forth by the gentle voiced Ragani, the release features the tabla playing of Girish, as well as an invigorating cocktail of rhythm that includes flute, harmonium and guitar."

Product SKU: VI-03762-ANCIEN