Illustrated by a small incident from the late Nineties in Pune. The scene is a walled compound on the outskirts of the city of Pune. Here the farms beyond the suburb of Koregaon Park, where I am living as part of the Osho Commune International,...
I arrive in June from Pune via South Africa, broke and in a troubled relationship. Iâve got my room back in Shastroâs house and am given a little box room off the garage to use as a studio. Anugama loans me an eight track recorder and a funny little drum machine which displays âbummer dudeâ whenever I make one of my frequent blunders in using it. I stuff the room with borrowed instruments, most of which Iâve never played before – Celtic harp, santoor, bass, keyboards – as well as my trusty sarod and embark on what I plan to be a follow up to the previous yearâs âCeltic Ragasâ album.
Chinmaya Dunster with Abhirama Sangeet and Sean OâBryan Smith Multi-instrumentalist Chinmaya Dunster originally created the project Ragas Relax 2 as a duet with himself during Covid lockdown in 2020. His trademark sarod providing original melodies based on Indian classical ragas ,while his guitar work introduces...
Light Electronic Dance Music mixes of six tracks from the album Ragas Relax 2. Spotify Apple Music Amazon
1997 the birth of CELTIC RAGAS I arrive from India in the spring of 1997 at the invitation of Shastro, whom Iâd met in the music department at the Osho Commune in Pune. I join eight sannyasins living in two houses on his two acres...
Edmonton Alberta, June 1980 English boy follows Canadian girlfriend and arrives in the New World. The first thing that makes me wonder is how, compared to England, the blue skies above feel so distantly remote. When autumn brings the cityâs initial snowfall, will come a...
Prologue 1979Devon is special to me. Not just the voluptuous curves of its verdant countryside but also its underlying geology, which has been quarried and mined for millennia. It may not be Brazil, or Madagascar, where the worldâs most beautiful mineral and crystal specimens are...
I gave up eating meat in 1975 at the age of twenty. Like many of my hippy generation (toying with yoga and Eastern philosophy) Iâd been a practical vegetarian for years, but not averse to a chicken dinner when visiting my mum, or a comfort-food...
Nelspruit, Transvaal I arrive on 24th March 1998 together with my South African partner Tula, just a day after receiving the news in Cambridge, England that her father is in a coma on his deathbed.After an expensive last minute flight from London, weâre picked up...
1 Long ago and far away, in a forgotten land called Dragony, there lived the dragons. They were a peaceful folk and serene, not much given to travel, passing the time of their long lives in the practice of their two great passions. The...
