CHICAGO: Though born in Germany, Prem Joshua, a master flutist and saxophonist, has huge love and connection with India, probably borrowed from his previous birth. He was asked once while in India if he loved any Indian woman, and he responded saying, “Yes, I fell in love with Indian women, but my love affair with India herself remained undiminished.”
Joshua was the name his parents gave him, he later added Prem to it, dropping the family name, to remind him of the essence of love – Prem means love in Hindi
Learning the flute at the age of five, he played the flute and the saxophone for various local bands. He traveled overland to India at the age 18 studying the indigenous folk music of countries along the way. Joshua was the name his parents gave him, he later added Prem to it, dropping the family name, to remind him of the essence of love (Prem means love in Hindi).
Prem learned to play the sitar from Ustad Usman Khan, but Osho inspired him and his music a lot. His website states that “In the presence of this man with a long white beard, eyes as deep as the ocean and a strong sense of humor, he came in touch with the art of the “inner music” – Silence. This was really coming home!”
The eighteen-year-old became deeply inspired by the ancient spirituality of his new adopted home, and began to hear his music as well in terms of fusing the familiar forms of western music with the exotic Eastern sounds that the culture of India began to unfold for him. He has tirelessly devoted his life’s work to channeling India’s rich spiritual depth into a new, global language through his music, recording a prolific nineteen albums over the past two and a half decades.
From combining elements of lilting, nuanced jazz with mantra incantations, to infusing Hindustani acoustic instruments with trance beats, his innovations have contributed greatly to the Asian Underground east-west fusion scene as well as the ever-growing ambient genre of meditation music, where he is among the best-known and most beloved pioneers. With his new album Kashi: Songs From The India Within, Prem Joshua and his talented ensemble have crafted a sparkling suite of new songs around beloved, traditional Indian mantras and shlokas (a type of couplet verse that is the basis of such ancient Indian poetry as the The Mahabharata and Ramayana epics). But, tradition aside, each original track – composed by Prem Joshua and collaborator Chintan Relenberg – offers a fresh take on devotional music that is transcendent but utterly and accessibly contemporary – and always highly enjoyable as well as enlightening.
While some songs pay homage through mantras to Hindu deities – Krishna, Ganesha, Durga, Shiva – Prem Joshua says “the images…have less to do with a religious belief system than a representation of basic life energies; so it is with mantras. It is not about blindly adopting religious concepts, but rather about experiencing these images and sounds as guide maps for the inner journey.”
Opening with the atmospheric “Balakrishna” – a modern take on kirtan that celebrates the life-affirming divine child Krishna and evolves into a breezy, beat-laden excursion – the album traverses rich and diverse terrain in both style and content.
Throughout, the mellifluous vocal chemistry of singers Hamsika Iyer (known for her work with Bombay Dub Orchestra and Juno Reactor), Prem Joshua himself, and Sanou Olszewski is framed with great subtlety by the multi-instrumental arrangements of Joshua (sitar, bamboo flute, and saxophones), Chintan (keyboards, bass, tabla, kanjira, pandeiro, udu, drum programming), guitarist Werner Schultheiss, and tabla player Raul Sengupta.
“Tumhaari Mara” marries sitar and Indian melody, vaguely evocative of Bollywood, with sturdy reggae rhythms and deep bass – as its lyrics honor the revered 16th century Rajasthani royal poet-saint Meera. The humorously-titled “All Roads Lead to Om,” (as opposed to “Rome”) – a joyfully lovely groove – draws its prayer from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads, which – at over 3,000 years old – are considered the oldest of all Vedic texts. Yet its message remains as urgently relevant today as ever. Joshua says, “In a world where fanaticism and ignorance seem to be taking hold ever more strongly, this prayer shines like a beacon – guiding our journey along the ‘Road to Om.'”
The final track, over ten minutes long and a stately yet rapturous delivery of the full traditional “Lingashtakam” mantra in honor of Lord Shiva, builds to a luscious vocal crescendo before easing gracefully off into mellow instrumentation, wrapping up a thoroughly rewarding and soulful sonic experience – and leaving the listener wanting more.
In a short talk with this paper Prem observed that India today is reigned by Bollywood music. Forget about the subtleties of classical music – Bollywood has to be loud and extreme, just like the Indian colors, the spicy food, the over-population, the contrasts of rich and poor. Bollywood music has become the national anthem of India; the identification of “I am proud to be Indian” is set to a loud beat.
Strangely enough, today Bollywood music is not really Indian at all – it is basically “stolen” Western pop music but with Hindi lyrics. But who cares? In the West, Bollywood films, music and dance are now being sold as “Indian culture” and Westerners feel a certain fascination in this loudness, colorfulness and extremity.
But knowing the real background and depth of Indian culture, Bollywood is just an extremely distorted and commercialized version of India’s true heritage.
He indicated that he planned to come visiting Chicago along with other cities in USA next year.
Surendra Ullal
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