There’s no great secret here, but I’ll spell it out. I’m a Christian who has very little use for Christian music. Although some of my favorite music has been made by Christians (U2, Bruce Cockburn, Vigilantes of Love, Tonio K., Innocence Mission, Mark Heard, Peter Case, T-Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips, Buddy and Julie Miller, Over the Rhine, not to mention Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Blind Willie Johnson and Ralph and Carter Stanley), the Contemporary Christian Music genre in general, and the Worship Music wing of that genre in particular, holds little appeal. There’s too much imitation of Fleetwood Mac circa 1975, and too much wince-inducing, sub-Hallmark “apple of my eye/wind beneath my wings” shite. When it comes to music that actually connects in spiritual ways for me, and that I actually want to listen to in the car outside of Sunday mornings, give me Sigur Ros or Miles Davis. They probably didn’t know they were creating worship music. It just worked out that way for me.

So when an album comes along that fits squarely within the Worship Music tradition, and I actually like it, then there may be some evidence that hell has begun to freeze over. But it’s happened with Aradhna. The four core members of the band – Chris Hale, Peter and Fiona Hicks, and Travis McAfee – are as American as their names would indicate. But they’ve all spent significant portions of their lives in Bangladesh, Nepal, and India. And therein lies the strange and wondrous merger of two worlds that contributes to the uniqueness of the band’s music, and to the surprising vigor of Amrit Vani. There are sitars here. And tablas. They sound as exotic as you would expect. And there are acoustic guitar arpeggios and gently lilting violin solos that wouldn’t sound out of place on a very western Windham Hill album. It works beautifully. The lyrics are sung in Hindi, and far from being an impediment, the language barrier is actually a great help (see “apple of my eye” and “wind beneath my wings” above). Like Sigur Ros, sometimes the indecipherable is greatly preferable to the old, tired formulas. And by the time we reach the final song, “Narahari,” the music swells and soars, the ramshackle choir enters sounding like the Hindustani angelic host, and something remarkable happens. I find myself worshipping God.

Amrit Vani digs deep in a contemplative, meditative way that few worship albums even begin to approach. And it’s quite lovely. Even in the car.

Alright, I'm intrigued. More info, including samples and MP3s, here.

Aradhna came and played at my university several years ago during my senior year. Unfortunately, they were trying to set up for their concert on the same stage that we were trying to do our production week opera rehearsal. We were all a little stressed our mutual need for the same space. We made a funny scene: us in full make-up, character shoes and 19th-century Italian fluffy dresses and gondolier outfits, ready to sing boisterous high notes juxtaposed with these natural musicians, sitting on rugs in their kurtas and playing quietly meditative music.

In any case, our conflict made the whole opera company sit down and listen to them warm up and sound check for about an hour or so. It was a wonderfully refreshing hour of forced rest. I've always meant to look up Aradhna again. Thanks for the reminder!

This is probably of limited value, but in case any of you are considering a roadtrip to the heart of Buckeyeland, Aradhna will be playing a concert at Hughes Hall on the Ohio State University campus on Thursday, November 20th. The concert is free, although donations are accepted and appreciated. Aradhna is sponsored by International Friendships and Friends of Aradhna, the second organization being a high-falutin' title for, well, me and a couple friends.

All donations will be used to support Freedom Firm, an organization dedicated to abolishing human trafficking. If you're nearby, or even if you're not, come out to support a great cause and hear some wonderfully contemplative, uplifting worship music. And I don't write that lightly. There's very little contemporary worship music that I would describe as either "contemplative" or "uplifting."