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Gino Foti (MIDI Bass Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Loops & Samples)
Guest Musician: Sri Sastry - Vedic chanting
Inspired by several "East meets West" jazz-rock artists that incorporate Indian culture, I chose to combine traditional Vedic mantras with modern instrumentation for my next project. The focus of this release is the Taittiriya Upanishad, one of the most important writings of ancient Indian thought. It presents a positive, world-affirming philosophy and is best known for its concept of the five selves (or five sheaths), that veil the light of the True Self. Having read an English translation years ago, I was already familiar with many of its theories and ethical principles and thought it would be a favorable complement to my other projects.
The Taittiriya is one of the oldest Upanishads - the word derived from the roots upa (near), ni (down), and sad (to sit), i.e. "sitting down near" which relates to the method this knowledge was imparted with the pupil sitting opposite the teacher. As a Mukhya (Principle) Upanishad, it was commented upon by Adi Shankara, the most famous Advaita philosopher; is associated with the Taittiriya school of the Black (Krishna) Yajurveda, the Veda of yajana (worship); and it figures as number 7 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads. It is divided into three sections, or vallis: Siksha, Brahmananda (aka Ananda), and Bhrigu. The Siksha Valli is the first of the six Vedangas (Limbs), or auxiliaries of the Vedas, concerned with phonetics and pronunciation, while the latter two sections deal with the knowledge of Atman (True Self).
It should be noted that the Vedic chanting on this album has been recited with the same accents, measures, emphasis, sequences, and rhythms for millenia. I took great care to juxtapose as many non-Indian elements and styles as possible to the arrangements, hopefully without sacrificing any of the devotional mood or integrity of the sacred texts. Unlike other releases of this type, which keep the mood meditative and the instrumentation sparse, I focused my attention to adding as much power, energy, and dense orchestration as I could, using compositional techniques that are not usually associated with mantric arrangements.
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