Susan von Seggern

Public Relations

Korean Content Streamer KOCOWA is now available via Prime Video Channels in the US

07/15/2022 by adminbolhuis

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As the demand for Korean content reaches new heights, KOCOWA adds thousands of hit K-dramas, K-pop, K-variety, and library titles to Prime Video Channels.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 16, 2022 – wavve Americas (wA), a joint venture between the top three Korean broadcasters KBS, MBC, SBS, along with SK Telecom, will deliver KOCOWA’s premium entertainment programs to Prime Video channels customers in the US starting today. KOCOWA’s international service allows customers to access new authentic content from Korea daily via their mix of K-dramas, K-pop, K- reality, and K-variety, in addition to thousands of hit and highly rated library titles.

“Korean content has become so much more mainstream recently, and we are excited to offer Korea’s fresh storytelling with our diverse programming package on such an influential, global streaming service like Prime Video through Prime Video Channels,” said wA CEO, KunHee Park. “As a niche streaming service with broad reach, KOCOWA is well-positioned to be competitive in the battle among streaming services by super-serving fans of Korean-produced content. It will now be even easier for viewers to watch new shows coming out of Korea at home, fully subtitled in English. I am happy that viewers will be able to discover us and enjoy Korea’s world-renown brand of entertainment.”

On KOCOWA customers can watch select shows the same day they air in Korea and dig into thousands of high-quality library titles. Discovery is easy, as audiences can immerse themselves in award-winning relatable comedies and dramas, and hilarious reality competitions. For fans of K-pop, there are more than enough idols’ moments to binge on.

KOCOWA makes Korean TV accessible for new viewers by showcasing the Top 10 current series, featuring an impressive lineup of addictive hits, such as, ”Young Lady and Gentleman,” “Moonshine,” “The Penthouse” Seasons 1-3, “Dali and Cocky Prince,” “Music Bank K-Chart,” and long-time fan favorites like, “Home Alone.”

Prime Video customers can access KOCOWA via Prime Video Channels for $6.99 per month.

As the service provider in the Americas with the largest library of Korean content, KOCOWA has quickly risen as an international platform since 2017. KOCOWA’s millions of viewers are diverse, with 90% of viewers of non-Korean ancestry, in the prime under 44 age demographic and female. Programming is available in real-time after broadcast airtime in Korean, making KOCOWA the preferred destination for fans to watch new series, award-winning library titles, or to discover new and exciting Korean content only available on KOCOWA.

About wA and KOCOWA
wA is a joint venture between the top three Korean broadcasters – KBS, MBC, SBS, plus SK Telecom. wA launched KOCOWA, a subscription video streaming platform in the Americas in 2017, with primary audiences in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. KOCOWA provides a robust lineup of over 17,000 hours of Korean Dramas, Reality, and K-Pop content in multi-languages on its direct platform. For more information please visit: www.kocowa.com.

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Filed Under: Business, Television

Carbon-Ion Announces Reg D 506(c) Offering

07/15/2022 by adminbolhuis

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New York City – July 7, 2022 – Carbon-Ion Energy, Inc. (Carbon-Ion or C-Ion), a leader in advanced research and development of next-generation power storage and delivery, today announced that it has launched an equity fundraising campaign under the Regulation D 506(c) exemption. The offering is only open to accredited investors here.

Carbon-Ion was founded to develop and bring to market the groundbreaking technology initially developed by ZapGo Ltd. With over 100 patents either issued or pending, Carbon-Ion Energy and its subsidiary Oxcion Ltd. will engage in the continuous expansion of its intellectual property portfolio, working towards a product that will be a key enabler of delivery and storage solutions. C-Ion’s products will offer sustainable power on demand from existing power grids to support the additional power needs from EVs, aviation, heavy transportation, warehouse robotics, as well as enhanced management of electrical grids themselves.

Andrew Sispoidis, Carbon-Ion’s CEO notes, “With the climate crisis reaching critical levels from the American West to the Indian subcontinent and beyond, technologies that enable renewable energy sources to smooth natural sun and weather cycles via energy storage and power on demand are becoming increasingly necessary. With a Reg D 506(c) raise any accredited investor interested in a fossil fuel-free future can be part of this game-changing work. We are excited to build a product that can deliver much more robust power storage and delivery solutions required for a livable planet in the years ahead.”

Today, lithium- and cobalt-based batteries are in widespread use in our phones, laptops, cordless appliances, power tools, electric vehicles, and even electrical grids. However, these batteries are not a perfect solution as their base materials – lithium and cobalt – are increasingly challenging to source, difficult to recycle, and potentially flammable. Carbon-Ion is developing a new high-power storage device called Carbon-Ion or C-Ion. It is safer, faster charging, longer-lasting, does not use rare-earth materials, and is not harmful to the environment if damaged or discarded. On its own, C-Ion can provide these benefits in many products and applications. In addition, C-Ion can also improve the safety, lifetime, and performance of energy storage systems when used alongside Lithium-Ion batteries in a broad range of applications.

With respect to grid management, our product will be particularly useful for a variety of grid services. Specifically, those that require a very fast reaction time and sufficient power to stabilize the frequency, reactive power, and voltage of grid systems. Those kinds of grid management services will become increasingly important as green energy solutions come online and the dependence on fossil fuel generators is reduced.

In the critical power grid market, dynamic containment is one of a new suite of frequency response services that have been rolled out by the UK national grid in 2021. This represents an excellent example of how the move to renewable generation offers opportunities for fast-responding energy storage. Today, this dynamic containment market relies almost entirely on batteries. However, batteries simply cannot provide the amount of energy necessary in the short time required. Worse still, using batteries for this purpose reduces their usable life by 50% or more.

Significant loss of grid inertia has led to more frequency deviations and ‘brownouts’ than ever before. A range of technologies is needed to plug this gap as we move toward a grid that is fully supplied by sustainable, green energy production. Every country will require these kinds of grid support technologies as the world increases its demand for electricity, even more so for those countries that adopt a net-zero carbon footprint.

Carbon-Ion can perform several roles in grid management. It will enable better battery management and be important to other longer-term storage systems that will be needed as we move forward in the world energy transformation. It has unique qualities that allow it to perform very fast-responding power balancing which is important to control frequency and other grid management stabilization. It will absorb and release energy in short duration balancing, providing the amount of power required to keep the lights on and industry running. Its design is inherently stable and has a very long life without appreciable degradation over many charge-discharge cycles.

By upgrading the way we deliver power and energy to electric vehicles (EVs), C-Ion can help reduce the need for expensive grid reinforcement and deliver cheaper energy prices to the EV customer, much faster charging times, and better returns to the owners of charging stations. Costs can be reduced using a form of safe energy storage that smooths out the energy needed to the hours that the local network can deliver, again without the need for expensive network reinforcement. Faster delivery of this energy and power to the EV allows more vehicles to use a single asset, therefore, giving the customer a quicker, cheaper service and the asset owner a better return.

A different form of the Carbon-Ion product could also be built into the vehicle’s structure (structural energy storage), making for simpler and cheaper onboard energy storage than the complex lithium packs currently used. Carbon-Ion already has the IP necessary to create structural energy storage.

Carbon-Ion’s mission is about improving the performance and manufacturability of supercapacitors. This is achieved by using improved materials that allow for rapid assimilation and disbursement of energy, increasing energy density, and very long life spans. Carbon-Ion uses a combination of advanced carbons and ionic electrolytes. Non-flammable chemical solvents are used in the manufacturing of the electrolyte. This makes Carbon-Ion’s products very safe, non-volatile, and with improved sustainability.

Carbon-Ion will enable true power on demand. Carbon-Ion cells have unique properties that allow them to charge and discharge extremely quickly while still retaining meaningful energy storage, which enables the delivery of fast, clean power on demand. These unique Carbon-Ion cells can also deliver a powerful boost in hybrid systems, such as grid energy storage or electric aviation.

Currently, global energy systems are at the beginning of a transition to fully electric living, disrupting nearly every industry in the world. As a result, there is a critical need for better and more diverse energy storage so that industries can provide more impactful solutions to all consumers. Carbon-Ion can bridge this gap in a groundbreaking way by delivering fast, clean power on demand to a broad range of applications from infrastructure to individual products and from grid services to drones.

Carbon-Ion’s speedy, reliable, and safe technology and unique material properties allow for a swift response time that adds value to the entire power system. Carbon-Ion cells have high cycle life and ramping capabilities. Furthermore, they can perform without noticeable performance degradation over hundreds of thousands charge-discharge cycles. This will create significant efficiencies in energy systems that will, in turn, save money, time, and resources.

# # #

Forward-Looking Statements: Certain information set forth in this presentation, together with any supplements and any other information that may be furnished to prospective investors by the Company in connection therewith, contains “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable United States securities legislation (referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements which include but are not limited to statements related to activities, events, or developments that Carbon-Ion Energy, Inc expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, statements related to the Company’s business strategy objectives and goals, and management’s assessment of future plans and operations which are based on current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by the use of words such as “may”, “will”, “could”, “would”, “anticipate”, ‘believe”, expect”, “intend”, “potential”, “estimate”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “plans”, “planned”, “forecasts”, “goals” and similar expressions or the negatives thereof. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of factors and assumptions made by management and considered reasonable at the time such information is provided, and forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

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Filed Under: Business, Green

Longtime Weird Al and Slack-Key Guitarist Jim “Kimo” West and Billboard New Age Chart Topper Joss Jaffe Release Aum Akua Album Tomorrow

05/11/2022 by adminbolhuis

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Los Angeles, CA – Gorgeous instrumental album, Aum Akua, the latest from Grammy-winning slack-key and 40-year “Weird” Al guitarist Jim “Kimo” West and Billboard New Age Chart-topper Joss Jaffe, will be released by Be Why Music on all platforms tomorrow. (Press only listening link here. All public links are here.)

The album presents a never-heard combination of unique instrumentation, including Indian tablas, Hawaiian percussion, African Ngoni (harp), custom and rare guitars, and ambient soundscapes. The music at times feels like a tapestry of dreamy ambiance, Hawaiian music, African kora music, jazz, and world music reminiscent of the 70’s band Shakti with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussein, who the tabla player Jaffe counts as one of his primary teachers and with whom he has performed en ensemble.

West, respected in his own right with a 2021 Grammy win for More Guitar Stories, is also well known as the lead guitarist with “Weird” Al Yankovic for over 40 years. In fact, he is currently on 130+ date tour with Weird Al! Additionally, West will be portrayed in an upcoming Weird Al feature biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe coming out this fall.

Jaffe is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist known for his ambient album Meditation Music, which reached number 3 on Billboard’s New Age Chart in 2019. He has toured the world, performing at premier yoga events and transformational festivals.

The album opener “Blossom” was also the lead single released late last year. The inspiration for this song was to open the album with a light, sunny, happy, upbeat track. The guitar evokes the descending and ascending melodic runs of a kora (African harp). The instrumentation includes Ngoni, playing a fun 6/8 ostinato with an African high-life feel. The tabla brings in world instrumentation with an uplifting, lilting groove that brings to mind a flower opening to the sun.

If Blossom is bright and sunny, the next track, “Open Ocean,” also released as a single last year, is more profound, more lunar, and moodier. A very different type of 6/8 groove creates a deeply meditative feel. Percussion comes from an Ipu Heke Hawaiian gourd with layers of shakers for a trance-like vibe. The middle section brings in the Bansuri bamboo flute from India. The ending ride out opens up into a major key refrain with a longing, hopeful energy, like clouds parting over the sea.

The album’s central track, “Free Float,” and third single, released this year, has been described by West as, “The most relaxing song I’ve ever recorded.” It features Joss’ vocalization to create an ambient pad with slow, meditative washes of notes surrounded by Ngoni and guitar for a dreamy atmosphere. This song is perfect for spa, massage, floatation therapy, and savasana.

“Kauai Daydream,” the album’s most recent single, invites you to picture yourself in Hanalei Bay on the North Shore of Kauai, looking out across the water to the green cliffs and mountains running off to the Nāpali Coast of Hawaii. You see clouds dance over the blue sky, idyllic, peaceful, and restful. It’s as relaxing as an afternoon daydream on the garden isle.

The focus track for the album release is “River,” which evokes the famous jazz/Indian classical/world fusion album Meeting by The River by Ry Cooder and VM Bhatt. “River” has a driving tabla beat that speeds up to a crescendo with slide guitar and layers that at times sound like blues, jazz, world, and classical Indian music.

Other tracks on the album include “No Rain No Rainbows,” from an expression popular in Hawaii that is similar to the Buddhist saying “No mud no lotus.” It speaks to the beauty that emerges from what’s dark, cloudy, or challenging; “Path Through The Bamboo” is a short interlude evoking the feeling of walking through a peaceful, tropical bamboo grove with the wind rustling above and the bamboo drifting around you; the album’s penultimate track “Voyaging” is dreamy ambient piece evoking the lilting, rolling waves of the open sea; the album closes with “White Sand Blue Waves,” a gentle, soothing ambient piece that is perfect for savasana, yoga, meditation, or just relaxation.

Not on the album, but a bit of a bonus single on all platforms, Jaffe and West cover John Lennon’s classic “Imagine.” The track is a benefit for Seeds of Peace, an organization that equips exceptional youth and educators with the skills and relationships to work in solidarity across lines of difference to create more just and inclusive societies. For info on this single, please go here.

Listeners are sure to enjoy this sonic trip to Hawaii by way of India and Africa! Aum Akua is released by Be Why Music, the California-based record label dedicated to music that uplifts humanity and known for its three Best New Age Album Grammy winners.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

The Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists Names 16 Artist Fellows for its 2019 Art-Business Accelerator Program

12/10/2018 by adminbolhuis

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Designated Artists To Receive Free Tuition for the Fund’s Intensive Educational Program, Which Features Tailored Business Training and Expertise


SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO (November 27, 2018) — The Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists (CHF), the acclaimed national nonprofit organization, has chosen 16 artist fellows for its 2019 Art-Business Accelerator Program. The selected artists will participate next year in CHF’s innovative and comprehensive initiative, a yearlong virtual course of business study for visual artists that is designed to impart the necessary business training to succeed as entrepreneurs and make a complete living through the creation of their art.

Fellows in the program receive customized business training, publicity, network-building opportunities, sales assistance, and one-on-one support to boost their careers and help make their businesses self-sustaining. The educational program consists of broad strategic workshops and labs delivered by remote technology (a laptop or desktop computer is required), and provides participants with practical knowledge that’s actionable in the real world, including information about how to develop a business strategy, build a compelling brand narrative, find buyers for their art, negotiate contracts, handle copyrights, communicate more effectively, and manage their finances and taxes. Each workshop is led by an expert in the pertinent subject matter, and the labs are deep dives that include extensive time for Q&A, allowing our Fellows to obtain feedback on their specific questions and hear the perspectives of their peers.

At the course’s conclusion in December 2019, CHF will select a group of participants to continue into a second fellowship year that features even more personalized coaching and assistance with signature projects, as determined jointly by CHF and the artist. The CHF team will provide these artists with one-on-one business support and guidance to ensure the greatest possible positive impact on each recipient’s business. This support can include anything from assistance with strategy and implementation, to help in evaluating bids from vendors to carry out specific tasks, such as designing a website or drawing up a contract.

Of the 113 artists who applied for the Fellowship in September 2018, 23% came from the Four Corners region (Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico), with 11% from New Mexico, which is unsurprising given that CHF is based in Santa Fe. Fifteen percent of applicants were from the tri-state metro New York City area, where CHF’s other office is located. Fourteen percent were from California. The average applicant has been a professional artist for approximately 15 years.

“This year’s group of applicants was very diverse, in terms of medium, style, genre, stage of career, business model, interests, background, and location. It was a really broad, fascinating group, which made for a competitive and exciting selection process,” said Elizabeth Hulings, CHF’s director. “One of the things we have to do is make sure the cohort will integrate and coalesce around the intense work they’ll be doing,” she added, “and that was a bit of a puzzle this time around. We are thrilled for our 16 Fellows and anticipate a vigorous and fun Accelerator in 2019.”

The 2019 Clark Hulings Fund Fellows are:

Terri Albanese, Westerville, Ohio, Glass painting
Manuelita Brown, Encinitas, California, Bronze sculpture
Carrie Cook, Austin, Texas, Painting
Sharon Crute, Saratoga Springs, New York, Painting
Andie Freeman, Apex, North Carolina, Oil painting
Adreon Henry, Austin, Texas, Mixed media
Robin Holder, West Milford, New Jersey, Mixed media
Jonathan Keeton, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Watercolor and acrylic painting
Steven Lester, Canton, Georgia, Acrylic painting
Kara Maria, San Francisco, California, Painting and mixed media
James Moore, San Jose, California, Mixed media and sculpture
Bradley Reyes, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Acrylic painting
Tim Saternow, Jersey City, New Jersey, Watercolor painting
Todd Scalise, Erie, Pennsylvania, Installations
April Wagner, Pontiac, Michigan, Glass
Karen Whitman, Bearsville, New York, Printmaking

For biographical info on each artist, please go to https://clarkhulingsfund.org/accelerator/#fellows and click on the 2019 tab.

About The Clark Hulings Fund
The Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists (CHF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that champions economic sustainability for working artists. We do this by delivering business education and entrepreneurial learning through a rigorous Art-Business Accelerator, a Digital Learning Portal, in-person education events in local communities, and a federation of artist-formed and artist-led networks of opportunity. All of this work achieves one aim: equip visual artists to thrive as self-sustaining entrepreneurs.

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Filed Under: Art

Jai Uttal Performs First NYC Solo Concert at Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew June 16

06/12/2018 by adminbolhuis

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New York City – May 10, 2018 – Grammy nominated spiritual music pioneer Jai Uttal will perform his first New York City solo concert at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 West 86th St., at 8pm on Saturday, June 16.

Stepping into a new and deeper level of vulnerability, Jai invites the audience into what he calls The Spirit Room, his solo acoustic concert, to share songs, instruments, kirtans, and stories from every phase of his inspiring musical and spiritual journey. From ecstatic love songs of the Bauls of Bengal, to dark banjo ballads of Appalachia, to the Bossa Nova kirtans on his 2017 release Roots, Rock, Rama! Jai promises an intimate heart space of communion, invocation and celebration. Tickets are $30-$65 in advance here.

A native New Yorker, Jai Uttal is a Grammy nominated sacred music composer, recording artist (20 albums to date!), multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist, combining influences from India with elements from American rock and jazz, along with Jamaican reggae, Brazilian samba, and more, to create a stimulating and exotic multi-cultural fusion that is truly world spirit music. Having travelled extensively in India, where he met many great saints and singers, Bhakti Yoga became his personal path. Jai has been performing and teaching around the world for nearly 50 years, creating a safe environment for people to open their hearts and voices
Jai is a favorite performer on the growing yoga festival circuit, playing to thousands each summer at Bhakti Fests and other events. He also leads his own workshops and retreats that deepen yogis’ practice of the heart based Bhakti yoga method, Kirtan, that is chanting the names of god to further enlightenment.

With a unique boomer upbringing in the NYC music biz of the 50s and 60s (as a child he was at the session where Mitch Ryder recorded “Devil With a Blue Dress”!) Uttal understands true musicianship and has worked with top musicians including Bill Laswell, Don Cherry, and his musical guru Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, throughout his career.

Additionally, his story flows with that of his generation – in the 70s he studied with Khan in the Bay Area while making extended trips to the Indian Ashram of Neem Karoli Baba the same guru who influenced Ram Dass’ classic Be Here Now. Maharajji, as the guru is known to his students, encouraged the practice of bhakti (devotional) yoga as expressed through kirtan, the call-and-response chanting of sacred names, over and over again until they become deeply instilled in the consciousness, providing an experience of profound peace and spiritual insight.

The 80s were dedicated to his music career which took off in 1990 with his first album Footprints that featured Don Cherry and other notables, launching him into the exploding world music scene. Now, marriage, fatherhood, a Grammy nomination, and 28 years of worldwide acclaim later this return to New York City for The Spirit Room acoustic solo show continues his legacy.

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Filed Under: Music

Jai Uttal’s Roots! Rock! Rama! Juggernaut Continues April 22 in Sonoma at Sacred Music Sessions

04/02/2017 by adminbolhuis

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Sonoma, CA – March 21, 2016 – Coming off a sold out Kirtan event with over 400 bhaktas at Spirit Rock, Grammy nominated spiritual music pioneer Jai Uttal will perform a more intimate Northern California event to celebrate the release of his acclaimed 19th album Roots! Rock! Rama! in the town of Sonoma April 22 at Sacred Music Sessions. Open to just 50 ticket buyers, these sessions are videotaped for a larger audience online. Tickets are $30 in advance here.

In Sonoma Jai will be joined by noted Kirtanista Prajna Vieira on vocals, bassist Greg Barnett, Radhanath Das on mridangam, and the co-producer of Roots, Rock, Rama! Ben Leinbach on drums and percussion.

Of the album, top music trade magazine Hits says it’s “simply undeniable” and about the live show adds “the mood was as purely positive, inclusive and uplifting as any gig I can recall. And isn’t that exactly what we need these days?” LA Yoga says “There’s no way to sit still as this music plays and it’s easy to see how the live concerts Jai will perform in celebration of this collection will go down as unforgettable.” And the Marin Independent Journal adds, “The production values are impeccable and the call and response between Uttal and his chorus of backup singers is heavenly.”

Common Ground raves “This spectacular DBL CD is a journey through the splendors, riches and tribulations of the India sub-continent, musically, spiritually and globally. Jai Uttal has reigned over the Nor Cal kirtan/chant scene for three decades. His musical monarchy has been a rollicking, beneficent parade of high energy and sacred spirit through 18 albums and countless live shows. While kirtan is not a ‘musical genre’, Jai has infused his world vision with an amalgam of reggae, blues, Indian and Beatles-inspired pop music. All of these have come together on his celebratory Roots, Rock, Rama! — an ultra-dynamic raise the roof high and open the heart wide offering.”

Jai Uttal has been rightly hailed as a world music pioneer. Singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, he was among the first to hear the universal heartbeat in the variegated rhythms of the globe. But his powerful, plangent voice and panoramic musical vision have also long been at the core of the yoga community’s tradition of call-and response devotional chanting known as Kirtan. While his music is deeply rooted in Indian classical tradition—he studied long and hard under the Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan—it is also plentifully imbued with echoes of reggae, rock, folk, Brazilian music, Bollywood and other sounds from across the musical universe. All of these diverse and colorful strands are woven together beautifully on Roots, Rock, Rama! The title is a play on the name of the Bob Marley song “Roots, Rock, Reggae.”

“I feel that this album is the completion of a cycle,” Jai says. “And it’s a cycle of many years. I wanted to put every mood, feeling and experience I’ve had into these songs. I wanted to offer a rainbow of devotional feeling.”

But the centerpiece of the album is Jai Uttal’s amazing voice. With his unique gift for phrasing and melismatic ornamentation he can wrest a thousand moods from a simple Sanskrit mantra.

Jai Uttal’s musical journey began at an early age. Growing up in Manhattan, the son of record executive Larry Uttal, he was ideally suited to absorb pop music’s ‘50s and ‘60s golden age. “Every week my father would bring home the top ten singles and play them for my sister and me,” he remembers. “That was the coolest thing. And I was at the recording session of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels doing ‘Devil with a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly.’ That made me totally crazy; it was just so amazing.”

Jai learned to play piano, guitar, banjo and harmonica while still quite young. But a first encounter with Indian music at age 17 proved to be a life-changing experience. He would later say that this music “touched my heart like the sounds of home.” Soon he was studying with Indian sarod virtuoso Ali Akbar Khan. His endeavor to master the challenging Indian stringed instrument also led to the discovery of his singing voice.

“Ali Akbar Khan insisted that all his students study singing as well,” Jai explains. “He said, ‘All music comes from the voice. I won’t teach you sarod unless you also study voice.’ Most of the students just did it begrudgingly. We wanted to be instrumentalists. I was extremely shy and insecure about singing, but I found that when I was at home practicing, I started having glimmers of this deep, deep inner world when I started singing the ragas. But it was years before I took that outside my bedroom. And what took me out of the bedroom was kirtan. I was terrified at first, but somewhere along the line I realized that I couldn’t be paralyzed by fear because singing was my salvation and spiritual catharsis.”

Music and spiritual practice became inextricably linked for Jai when he became a student of Indian spiritual master Neem Karoli Baba in 1971. Maharaji, as the guru is known to his students, encouraged the practice of bhakti (devotional) yoga as expressed through kirtan, the call-and-response chanting of sacred names, over and over again until they become deeply instilled in the consciousness, providing an experience of profound peace and spiritual insight. Kirtan would become the center of Jai’s musical and spiritual life.
But while all this was unfolding, Jai was also exploring other music forms, including a stint as electric guitarist for Jamaican reggae artists Earl Zero. In time, he began searching for ways to integrate all the diverse musical styles and traditions he’d absorbed.

“I felt that the harmonic structure of Western music couldn’t really support the subtlety of the melodies in Indian music,” he says. “That’s where I started on my very first album, Footprints [in 1990]. I tried to make that leap between Indian melody and Western harmony.”

With contributions from jazz trumpet innovator Don Cherry and Indian vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Footprints was the first in what has become a deep and diverse catalog of Jai Uttal albums that includes 2002’s Grammy-nominated Mondo Rama, 2009’s Thunder Love and the 2011 children’s album, Kirtan Kids. Many of these recordings were produced by his longtime musical associate Ben Leinbach, who also played the main production role on Roots, Rock, Rama!

Roots, Rock, Rama! represents not only a grand summation of Jai Uttal’s musical and devotional journey but also a new chapter in conscious music-making. After all these years and so many recordings, concerts and workshops, he’s still wide open to new musical epiphanies.

“The universe is filled with colors and melodies,” he says. “They’re just everywhere, if only we could see and hear them more clearly. I feel that all art exists to enhance devotional practice and devotional expression. I just try to hear the melodies.”

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

Jai Uttal’s Roots, Rock, Rama! Successes Continue – Great Reviews, “S.A.M.B.A” Video Release, Patreon Relaunch

04/02/2017 by adminbolhuis

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San Anselmo, CA – March 23, 2016 – While most artists are slowing down at 65, Jai Uttal, the Grammy-nominated Kirtan superstar is revving up his storied career with his 19th album release, the acclaimed Roots, Rock Rama! In just the last few weeks he played a sold out Kirtan event with over 400 bhaktas at Spirit Rock in Marin, and to over 300 people at Wanderlust Hollywood. He also has gigs coming up in Sonoma, Maui, Miami, and his annual headlining gigs in Joshua Tree at Shakti Fest in May, and Bhakti Fest in September.

Last week also saw the release of a music video for the song “S.A.M.B.A (Shiva’s Adoration of Mata Bhavani’s Ambrosia)” shot in January at the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India.

Amazing reviews for Roots, Rock Rama! include top music trade magazine Hits saying it’s “simply undeniable” and about the live show adds “the mood was as purely positive, inclusive and uplifting as any gig I can recall. And isn’t that exactly what we need these days?” LA Yoga says “There’s no way to sit still as this music plays and it’s easy to see how the live concerts Jai will perform in celebration of this collection will go down as unforgettable.” And the Marin Independent Journal adds, “The production values are impeccable and the call and response between Uttal and his chorus of backup singers is heavenly.”

Jai has also recently re-launched his Patreon page with a new welcome video, the “S.A.M.B.A.” video, and more for his supporters. An album as musically ambitious and lavishly produced as Roots, Rock, Rama! is a rarity in our times, when digital downloading has made it hard for artists to earn a living from their music, let alone pay for extensive studio sessions. Jai’s new album was financed by two close friends who contributed the majority of the budget for the project. The remaining sum was covered by fans who donated through Patreon.com, a website that allows music lovers to strengthen their bond with their favorite artists by contributing funds.

When this mode of financing first became available, says Jai, “it felt like a spiritual affirmation.” In the same spirit, Roots, Rock, Rama! was released on the Mantralogy label, an organization that donates part of its proceeds to several charitable causes in India as well as partnering with The Call and Response Foundation which brings scared music to at-risk youth and into prisons. Jai is also partnering with a company called OneTreePlanted. For every copy of the album sold, a tree will be planted to combat deforestation around the world.

Jai Uttal has been rightly hailed as a world music pioneer. Singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, he was among the first to hear the universal heartbeat in the variegated rhythms of the globe. But his powerful, plangent voice and panoramic musical vision have also long been at the core of the yoga community’s tradition of call-and response devotional chanting known as Kirtan. While his music is deeply rooted in Indian classical tradition—he studied long and hard under the Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan—it is also plentifully imbued with echoes of reggae, rock, folk, Brazilian music, Bollywood and other sounds from across the musical universe. All of these diverse and colorful strands are woven together beautifully on Roots, Rock, Rama! The title is a play on the name of the Bob Marley song “Roots, Rock, Reggae.”

“I feel that this album is the completion of a cycle,” Jai says. “And it’s a cycle of many years. I wanted to put every mood, feeling and experience I’ve had into these songs. I wanted to offer a rainbow of devotional feeling.”

But the centerpiece of the album is Jai Uttal’s amazing voice. With his unique gift for phrasing and melismatic ornamentation he can wrest a thousand moods from a simple Sanskrit mantra.

Jai Uttal’s musical journey began at an early age. Growing up in Manhattan, the son of record executive Larry Uttal, he was ideally suited to absorb pop music’s ‘50s and ‘60s golden age. “Every week my father would bring home the top ten singles and play them for my sister and me,” he remembers. “That was the coolest thing. And I was at the recording session of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels doing ‘Devil with a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly.’ That made me totally crazy; it was just so amazing.”

Jai learned to play piano, guitar, banjo and harmonica while still quite young. But a first encounter with Indian music at age 17 proved to be a life-changing experience. He would later say that this music “touched my heart like the sounds of home.” Soon he was studying with Indian sarod virtuoso Ali Akbar Khan. His endeavor to master the challenging Indian stringed instrument also led to the discovery of his singing voice.

“Ali Akbar Khan insisted that all his students study singing as well,” Jai explains. “He said, ‘All music comes from the voice. I won’t teach you sarod unless you also study voice.’ Most of the students just did it begrudgingly. We wanted to be instrumentalists. I was extremely shy and insecure about singing, but I found that when I was at home practicing, I started having glimmers of this deep, deep inner world when I started singing the ragas. But it was years before I took that outside my bedroom. And what took me out of the bedroom was kirtan. I was terrified at first, but somewhere along the line I realized that I couldn’t be paralyzed by fear because singing was my salvation and spiritual catharsis.”

Music and spiritual practice became inextricably linked for Jai when he became a student of Indian spiritual master Neem Karoli Baba in 1971. Maharaji, as the guru is known to his students, encouraged the practice of bhakti (devotional) yoga as expressed through kirtan, the call-and-response chanting of sacred names, over and over again until they become deeply instilled in the consciousness, providing an experience of profound peace and spiritual insight. Kirtan would become the center of Jai’s musical and spiritual life.
But while all this was unfolding, Jai was also exploring other music forms, including a stint as electric guitarist for Jamaican reggae artists Earl Zero. In time, he began searching for ways to integrate all the diverse musical styles and traditions he’d absorbed.

“I felt that the harmonic structure of Western music couldn’t really support the subtlety of the melodies in Indian music,” he says. “So that’s where I started on my very first album, Footprints [in 1990]. I tried to make that leap between Indian melody and Western harmony.”

With contributions from jazz trumpet innovator Don Cherry and Indian vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Footprints was the first in what has become a deep and diverse catalog of Jai Uttal albums that includes 2002’s Grammy-nominated Mondo Rama, 2009’s Thunder Love and the 2011 children’s album, Kirtan Kids. Many of these recordings were produced by his longtime musical associate Ben Leinbach, who also played the main production role on Roots, Rock, Rama!

So Roots, Rock, Rama! represents not only a grand summation of Jai Uttal’s musical and devotional journey but also a new chapter in conscious music-making. After all these years and so many recordings, concerts and workshops, he’s still wide open to new musical epiphanies.

“The universe is filled with colors and melodies,” he says. “They’re just everywhere, if only we could see and hear them more clearly. I feel that all art exists to enhance devotional practice and devotional expression. So I just try to hear the melodies.”

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Jai Uttal’s Roots, Rock, Rama! Juggernaut Continues April 28 at The Sacred Space Miami

04/02/2017 by adminbolhuis

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March 30, 2016 – Coming off of two very well attended, incredibly uplifting album release events in Northern and Southern California, Grammy nominated spiritual music pioneer Jai Uttal will bring this unique celebratory Kirtan event for the release of his acclaimed 19th album Roots! Rock! Rama! to The Sacred Space Miami, at 105 NE 24th St, at 8pm on April 28. Tickets are $45 in advance here.

In Miami Jai will be joined by his friend, Maui Kirtan walla, and longtime accompanist, noted singer, harmonica, and India Fulbright Award winning tabla drummer and graduate of the Ali Akbar College of Music Daniel Paul. From his long association accompanying Jai and the exotic global vocalist Gina Salá, Daniel has also toured South America backing the soft prayers of Snatam Kaur and throughout North America contributing to the rocking chants of Dave Stringer and the Guru Ganesha Band. In addition, joining Jai will be married couple Bali and Dhyana Rico. He’s a magnificent Mridanga (2 headed Indian drum) player and she’s a beautiful singer, songwriter, and keyboardist. They are part of the popular Florida based Kirtan band The Mayapuris.

Of the album, top music trade magazine Hits says it’s “simply undeniable” and about the live show adds “the mood was as purely positive, inclusive and uplifting as any gig I can recall. And isn’t that exactly what we need these days?” LA Yoga says “There’s no way to sit still as this music plays and it’s easy to see how the live concerts Jai will perform in celebration of this collection will go down as unforgettable.” And the Marin Independent Journal adds, “The production values are impeccable and the call and response between Uttal and his chorus of backup singers is heavenly.”

Common Ground raves “This spectacular DBL CD is a journey through the splendors, riches and tribulations of the India sub-continent, musically, spiritually and globally. Jai Uttal has reigned over the Nor Cal kirtan/chant scene for three decades. His musical monarchy has been a rollicking, beneficent parade of high energy and sacred spirit through 18 albums and countless live shows. While kirtan is not a ‘musical genre’, Jai has infused his world vision with an amalgam of reggae, blues, Indian and Beatles-inspired pop music. All of these have come together on his celebratory Roots, Rock, Rama! — an ultra-dynamic raise the roof high and open the heart wide offering.”

Jai Uttal has been rightly hailed as a world music pioneer. Singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, he was among the first to hear the universal heartbeat in the variegated rhythms of the globe. But his powerful, plangent voice and panoramic musical vision have also long been at the core of the yoga community’s tradition of call-and response devotional chanting known as Kirtan. While his music is deeply rooted in Indian classical tradition—he studied long and hard under the Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan—it is also plentifully imbued with echoes of reggae, rock, folk, Brazilian music, Bollywood and other sounds from across the musical universe. All of these diverse and colorful strands are woven together beautifully on Roots, Rock, Rama! The title is a play on the name of the Bob Marley song “Roots, Rock, Reggae.”

“I feel that this album is the completion of a cycle,” Jai says. “And it’s a cycle of many years. I wanted to put every mood, feeling and experience I’ve had into these songs. I wanted to offer a rainbow of devotional feeling.”
But the centerpiece of the album is Jai Uttal’s amazing voice. With his unique gift for phrasing and melismatic ornamentation he can wrest a thousand moods from a simple Sanskrit mantra.

Jai Uttal’s musical journey began at an early age. Growing up in Manhattan, the son of record executive Larry Uttal, he was ideally suited to absorb pop music’s ‘50s and ‘60s golden age. “Every week my father would bring home the top ten singles and play them for my sister and me,” he remembers. “That was the coolest thing. And I was at the recording session of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels doing ‘Devil with a Blue Dress On/Good Golly Miss Molly.’ That made me totally crazy; it was just so amazing.”

Jai learned to play piano, guitar, banjo and harmonica while still quite young. But a first encounter with Indian music at age 17 proved to be a life-changing experience. He would later say that this music “touched my heart like the sounds of home.” Soon he was studying with Indian sarod virtuoso Ali Akbar Khan. His endeavor to master the challenging Indian stringed instrument also led to the discovery of his singing voice.

“Ali Akbar Khan insisted that all his students study singing as well,” Jai explains. “He said, ‘All music comes from the voice. I won’t teach you sarod unless you also study voice.’ Most of the students just did it begrudgingly. We wanted to be instrumentalists. I was extremely shy and insecure about singing, but I found that when I was at home practicing, I started having glimmers of this deep, deep inner world when I started singing the ragas. But it was years before I took that outside my bedroom. And what took me out of the bedroom was kirtan. I was terrified at first, but somewhere along the line I realized that I couldn’t be paralyzed by fear because singing was my salvation and spiritual catharsis.”

Music and spiritual practice became inextricably linked for Jai when he became a student of Indian spiritual master Neem Karoli Baba in 1971. Maharaji, as the guru is known to his students, encouraged the practice of bhakti (devotional) yoga as expressed through kirtan, the call-and-response chanting of sacred names, over and over again until they become deeply instilled in the consciousness, providing an experience of profound peace and spiritual insight. Kirtan would become the center of Jai’s musical and spiritual life.

But while all this was unfolding, Jai was also exploring other music forms, including a stint as electric guitarist for Jamaican reggae artists Earl Zero. In time, he began searching for ways to integrate all the diverse musical styles and traditions he’d absorbed.

“I felt that the harmonic structure of Western music couldn’t really support the subtlety of the melodies in Indian music,” he says. “That’s where I started on my very first album, Footprints [in 1990]. I tried to make that leap between Indian melody and Western harmony.”

With contributions from jazz trumpet innovator Don Cherry and Indian vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Footprints was the first in what has become a deep and diverse catalog of Jai Uttal albums that includes 2002’s Grammy-nominated Mondo Rama, 2009’s Thunder Love and the 2011 children’s album, Kirtan Kids. Many of these recordings were produced by his longtime musical associate Ben Leinbach, who also played the main production role on Roots, Rock, Rama!

Roots, Rock, Rama! represents not only a grand summation of Jai Uttal’s musical and devotional journey but also a new chapter in conscious music-making. After all these years and so many recordings, concerts and workshops, he’s still wide open to new musical epiphanies.

“The universe is filled with colors and melodies,” he says. “They’re just everywhere, if only we could see and hear them more clearly. I feel that all art exists to enhance devotional practice and devotional expression. I just try to hear the melodies.”

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Jai Uttal Brings Roots! Rock! Rama! To Maui for Two Special Events at the Historic Makawao Union Church April 14th and 15th

04/02/2017 by adminbolhuis

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Makawao, HI – March 16, 2016 – Grammy nominated spiritual music pioneer Jai Uttal will appear at the historic Makawao Union Church, 1445 Baldwin Avenue, Makawao HI 96768, on Maui for two events in mid-April. On the 14th he’ll perform a concert featuring songs from his recently released 19th album Roots! Rock! Rama! at 7:30pm. Then on the 15th at 4pm he will lead a Bhakti Satsang that will include live music, kirtan, discussions on devotional singing, stories from the spiritual path, and Hindu texts the Ramayana and the Bhagavad Gita, bringing it all together into a deeper understanding of bhakti yoga.

Tickets for the events are $30 cash in advance (per event). Tickets are available now at: Maui Kombucha in the Haiku Marketplace, MacNet in Kahului at the corner of Dairy Road & Hana Hwy, Monsoon India Restaurant in Kihei at the Menehuene Shores Building, Island Spirit Yoga in Lahaina at 840 Wainee St, behind Ace Hardware. Tickets $40 cash (per event) at the door day of event.

For these gigs, Jai will be joined by his friend, Maui Kirtan walla, and longtime accompanist, noted singer, tabla and harmonica player Daniel Paul. Daniel is an India Fulbright Award winning tabla drummer and graduate of the Ali Akbar College of Music who for more than two decades has been on the front lines of the international kirtan chanting movement as a singing tabla drummer to many of today’s top kirtan singers. From his long association accompanying Jai and the exotic global vocalist Gina Salá, Daniel has also toured South America backing the soft prayers of Snatam Kaur and throughout North America contributing to the rocking chants of Dave Stringer and the Guru Ganesha Band.

Clearly named after Bob Marley’s classic track “Roots Rock Reggae,” this project does celebrate the influence that reggae had on Uttal’s interpretation of classic Indian ragas. However, the title also refers to the practice of kirtan as the root of his life, the rock that is his foundation, and his devotion to Rama (God) throughout his work.

Kirtan is a call and response singing style popular with yoga practitioners who are now over 36 million strong in the US! Jai is a favorite performer on the growing yoga festival circuit, playing to thousands each summer at Bhakti Fests and other events. He also leads his own workshops and retreats that deepen yogis practice of the heart based Bhakti yoga method that is chanting the names of god to further enlightenment.

Co-produced with Uttal in 2016 by noted Northern California producer Ben Leinbach, the album is a double CD/extra-long stream with 12 5-12 minute tracks for about 80 minutes of music (typical of Kirtan, but also of that other California music staple – jam music!). CD 1 or the first 6 tracks are “Rama Sun” and are the more reggae influenced tracks (such as H.A.R.I., please listen here) – deeply steeped in earthy rhythms, hypnotic bass lines, jubilant horn charts and soulful vocal harmonies. CD 2, the next 6 tracks are “Rama Moon” and find Uttal in an entirely different mood. Grounded in the gentle, lilting sway of Brazilian samba, it also touches on the pastoral splendor of the more acoustic tracks from the Beatles’ White Album. The Beatles are another major influence, and Jai has brought their pioneering fusion of Indian music and Western pop into the 21st century.

With a unique boomer upbringing in the NYC music biz of the 50s and 60s (as a child he was at the session where Mitch Ryder recorded “Devil With a Blue Dress”!) Uttal understands true musicianship and has worked with top musicians including Bill Laswell, Don Cherry, and his musical guru Ustad Ali Akbar Khan throughout his career.

Additionally, his story flows with that of his generation – in the 70s he studied with Khan in the Bay Area while making extended trips to the Indian Ashram of Neem Karoli Baba the same guru who influenced Ram Dass’ classic Be Here Now. Maharajji, as the guru is known to his students, encouraged the practice of bhakti (devotional) yoga as expressed through kirtan, the call-and-response chanting of sacred names, over and over again until they become deeply instilled in the consciousness, providing an experience of profound peace and spiritual insight. Kirtan would become the center of Jai’s musical and spiritual life.

The 80s were dedicated to his music career which took off in 1990 with his first album Footprints that featured Don Cherry and other notables, launching him into the exploding world music scene. Now, eighteen albums, marriage, fatherhood, a Grammy nomination, and 26 years of worldwide acclaim later Roots! Rock! Rama! continues his legacy.

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Modern Folk Outfit Abby and the Myth’s When You Dig a Well Release Event February 11 at Hotel Café

01/18/2017 by adminbolhuis

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Los Angeles, CA – January 12, 2017 – What if a makeup free Ruby Rose was the leader of a modern folk band like The Lumineers? They would be Abby and the Myth! Tall gorgeous lesbian Buddhist practitioner and multi-instrumentalist Abby Posner is releasing her second album as Abby and the Myth, the twelve song When You Dig a Well, largely recorded on 8-track tape, February 10, 2017, with a release event at 7pm on February 11 at LA’s neo-folk headquarters Hotel Café. Legendary Sapphic folk singer Phranc will open the show.… Read More

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