UNITED ONE. RECORDS LOTUS BEAT

Lotus Beat - B&3 6001 phaeder, originally from northern Germany, moved to New Zealand 18 years ago. He quickly established himself as a leading avant-garde guitarist and composer for film and television music, with his outstanding sense of pop/jazz/blues/ melody and hooks. Phaeder is a long-time Buddhist with a profound mastery of deep voice chanting. Over the past five years, and much to the amusement of the Buddhist Lamas, he has married this with his German electronic roots. The result is outstanding. He fires up the world music scene, complimenting his bass tonal deep voice singing with strong, chant-based pop structure, Peter developed the LOTUS Beat compilation series inviting world music artists Joshna La Trobe and EastTranzWest to participate. He has worked with New Zealand's top performance artists to wide acclaim. Not just a prolific instrumentalist, his love of technology - he is also a computer engineer - embed him happily in the trance, down beat, dance, techno and drum & bass styles of electronic music. He's versed in flamenco & jazz and attended the renowned Performance Arts School in Kassel, Germany. Gokullan, (EastTranzWest) the son of a Hindu priest, trained in South Indian classical music and started playing the mridangam (double-headed drum) at the age of 11. He received a scholarship In India to study the instrument professionally under the famous mridangast Padmashri Raghu. Gokullan currently resides in New Zealand where he met Jyosna, phaeder and Usha. Joshna La Trobe, (EastTranzWest) as well as contributing to Lotus Beat , Joshna has just completed her new dance album Magnificence, her latest chant-based CD Era Dynamic with the Kirtan Gosthi, and her field recordings of Music of Rarh, also available from Visitors LTD. Joshna currently resides in Spain and already has 19 albums under her belt!. Her music is influenced by the sounds of many cultures, not surprisingly she holds a Masters degree in Ethnomusicology. Usha Kameshwar has been singing Carnatic vocals (South Indian classical music) since childhood and is a regular voice on the radio and has won many awards. In New Zealand, where she also teaches music, she is a regular contributor to the field of Indian music. phaeder (German): tantric voice, overtone singing, break beats, drums, bass, keys, chitarra, synths Usha (Indian): Carnatic South Indian classical singing, free form chanting Jyosna (British/NZ): Bengali bliss chants, western vocals, free form chanting. Gokulan (South African): Mridangam - double headed drum Produced by phaeder