Gaura Vani

For Gaura, the road to As Kindred Spirits took a few detours and scenic byways, but now the view behind him couldn’t be better. Gaura was born into an American Hare Krishna family and left the US at age six for a gurukula (temple school) in the holy city of Vrindavan, India. He studied ancient Sanskrit and Bengali prayers, learned to play traditional instruments and sing sacred music. It was here that a lifelong desire to make inspirational music was born. After returning to the states and a typical American lifestyle, Gaura rebelled against his spirituality: he drank, ate meat, and committed other Hare Krishna no-nos. He started a rock band and flirted with Hollywood, landing bit roles in a few blockbuster movies and TV shows.

When waves of inner emptiness became too hard to ignore, Gaura switched gears and became a monk at a temple in Venice, CA. Later, he went to India, found his guru, Radhanath Swami, and through an interesting turn of events, became the lead singer of a Slovenian rock band. In Washington, DC, Gaura met his beautiful wife and started a wonderful family. A desk job in the State Department was made slightly less claustrophobic by evening and weekend kirtans. A rotating cast of fellow kirtaniyas gelled into a band, and As Kindred Spirits was born. Over time, the desire to inspire and serve the world through music consumed him, and the cubicle was traded in for a kurta, the briefcase for bhakti.

In January 2009, Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits launched the radical, first ever Chant4Change, when 1,000 people gathered in Washington, DC on the eve of the presidential inauguration to empower the new Obama administration. Since then, they have performed for NPR, CBS, Lollapalooza, Burning Man, Bhakti Fest, as well as in countless yoga studios and grassroots get-togethers on every continent.

Jahnavi Harrison

Violin
Jahnavi Harrison was raised in an environment full of kirtan from birth. She began studying Western classical violin as a child, exploring different styles of music, from Irish to Klezmer. In recent years, her studies in South Indian dance (Bharatanatyam) have led her to undertake further study in South Indian Carnatic vocal and violin. She is a kirtan singer, writer, dancer, and a visual artist.

Shree Shyam

Percussions, Bass Guitar
Shree Shyam is a percussionist, bassist, and drummer who has worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe, world-music pioneer Jai Uttal, beatbox/loop phenom Kid Beyond, qawwali-fusion stars Riffat Salamat and Sukhawat Ali Khan, San Francisco’s New Pickle Circus, Polish reggae band Village of Peace, Indian hip-pop diva Shakti, world-renowned tabla artist Suphala, and Afrobeat ensemble Tinsaedu, among others. He has been an editor at Bass Player, editor-in- chief of Guitar World’s Bass Guitar magazine, and a freelance editor for Rolling Stone, Vibe, and the City of New York. http://myspace.com/basswriter

Shyam Kishore

Tabla, Sarod

Shyam’s family comes from Gujarat, in India, but he was raised and educated in America. Shyam has personally trained under India’s greatest musicians including Zakir Hussein and others at the Ali Akbar Khan School of Music in California and is an expert tabla player, and a tasteful and sensitive sarod and violin player.

Vrinda Rani

Bharata-natyam Dancer

Vrinda has performed throughout the world from Poland to Southern India, receiving recognition for her grace and energy. She practices a sacred dance that was, until recently, performed only privately in the inner sanctum of temples in front of the icon or deity. Made public in the last 75 years, this dance incorporates hand gestures and rhythmic foot patterns to relay the stories and philosophy of devotion. Vrinda is the mother of two and an Electrical Engineer.