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THE STORY: This summer I was playing at the NO MIND festival at Ängsbacka Kursgård. My friend Talasi asked me to lead the band for her Heart Dance. So, there I was with a full band, Joseph on drum kit, Hanzano on bass and Stefan on keys. While rehearsing we had fun fooling around like musicians do. I liked what we did and came up with this song. The next day I had a bass line ready, we rehearsed, and played it the same night in the Big Barn. I sort of forgot about the song, but I had sent a take recorded on an acoustic guitar in my room to Dr. Sel on Telegram. You know, WA and Messenger are useless, because you can't send to anybody outside that system. With Telegram you can, so I used my message to Dr. Sel as a spring pad to send the song to my musicians. Weeks later Dr. Sel actually replied that he really liked the song!!! OK, I thought to myself, I better record it properly then. Fast forward to August 2024 in Himachal Pradesh, India. Rajendra Acharya had recommended me to work with Manas Chowdhary in Naggar. Well, I first went to visit him together with my English friend Bholey Shyam driving in an old ambassador that our old Guru used to have. Manas and I hit it off. Om namah Shivaya24 was a perfect project for us to work on. Together we worked out the bass line, Manas played the didgeridoo, I worked out the keys but Manas played them, and Manas also distilled the guitar from my simple recording this summer. Crazy what we can do with technology these days.... I wanted a choir. Manas' wife, Kiku (Anindita), is a very sweet woman, but she was hard to convince. However, when she finally agreed to sing, it turned out that she has a very sweet and unique voice! Then we persuaded Hymn, the 15 year son in the house to add his voice to the mix as well. On Tuesday 13th August Manas and I went on a day trip to Sissu in Lahaul - just on the other side of the Atal tunnel (9 k long!!!). There we met up with Rajesh Chand. He had news for us! Palga Rinpuche would be coming the same evening. I decided to stay on a few more days. Manas had work to attend to, so he went back. (Well, first we did some filming for other upcoming you will see later.) That's when I met Naadi Asha, the only other foreigner for the occasion. She had a big camera with her that she knows how to use. She has made a great music video of “Jai Mata Kali“ sung by Nina Hagen (). She offered to make the music video for this track, and that she did!!! It is filmed at Vashisht just above Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Back in Bali Adam Alydrus has worked with me to complete the mix with drums, damaru, and technical skill and taste. I am very grateful for all the help and support I have had in the process of making this song come to live! Jai ho! Vasudev
