In Concert (W/Dvd) [Enhanced, Live]

To observe playfulness while in deep devotion is always amazing, but to hear it manifest itself in music is another thing altogether. Then when you add the accompaniment of Manose to what is already divine you have a situation that happens only on rare occasions and it's all captured in its entirety on their CD and the DVD. Some moments would be difficult to duplicate so it's our good fortune to have this available for all time. Being Brazilian I especially enjoyed Calma e Tranquilidade and Ilumina which are Brazilian Chanting.

Dhara Lemos, Lotus Guide Magazine Dhara's latest CD: (Dhara's Active Meditation) Dhara is the co-author of The 12 Spiritual Laws of Recovery: and Meditations for the 12-Step Program

I would love to share many specifics on the DVD content, but I don't want to spoil the freshness of discovery by the viewer. If I had read about the content, I would have not enjoyed the DVD as much as I did.

I absolutely loved this DVD. The production quality is superb - from the camera shots and editing to the sound recording.

One thing that was particularly noteworthy and unique about the way in which the concert is edited, is that only the musical portion of the performances are shown - that is, no applause is heard to interrupt the quiet energy of the music (with one exception) and very little conversation between musicians between songs is captured. So, in the one hour and 37 minutes or so of concert film footage, most of that time is devoted to actual music.

A very helpful booklet is included in the packaging which lists all the lyrics to the songs, both in Sanskrit, and English (and Spanish for the several Spanish songs). The lyrics to the songs are included not only for the CD selections, but also for the selections on the DVD that are not featured on the CD. The booklet contains various pictures of the musicians and their friends, favorite places and things, and concert shots.

I have seen the musicians in concert before and liked the more minimal sound of the performance vs. the more elaborate studio production of most of their recordings which include vocal multitrack overdubbing and many instruments. At the concert, I found the presence of just the use of the keyboard (Deva Premal), electrified acoustic guitar (Miten), and the bansuri flute and minor percussion instruments (Manose) more than adequate in providing colorful and supportive musical background to the voices.

This DVD features the experience of seeing these musicians at one of these concerts, as well as feeling the energy from their music and being a part of the audience and feeling THEIR energy, too. I was very very very moved by just experiencing the very first song performed, the "Gayatri Mantra." Beautiful melody, lyrics, vocals by the musicians, and singing by the audience.

The DVD captures the rapture the audience is in as they listen to the performances. (How could anyone not be in such a state in being in the space of this music?)

I had hoped that the DVD would feature more well-known chants (at least, to me), but I recognized only a few. As it turns out, all of them are very beautiful, both lyrically and melodically. An advantage of having a few nonoverlapping songs sung in English on the DVD and CD is a greater variety of such songs to listen to, as well as one song, in my opinion ("You Gotta Move"), whose energy does not match the mood of the music featured on the CD.

My one reason for buying this DVD/CD was to hear "Aad Guray" performed exactly as I heard it in concert - even though the only instruments played were the keyboard, guitar (and bansuri?), the rendition moved me very deeply. (Their recorded version is much more enhanced with vocal overdubbing and many other instruments. This is a purer and rawer version of the chant, which I find more powerful. I love Snatam Kaur's version, too. This has a different feel to it, just as powerful, just as heartfelt and touching.)

I would have preferred fewer songs sung in English (there are five on the DVD), but the mix of 14 songs includes a variety of styles - a few mantras, two songs sung in Spanish, a few pop-style ballads of a very spiritual nature, and Sanskrit chants. Deva Premal has an exquisite way of pronouncing Sanskrit words, articulating the individuals sounds in a very delicate and profound manner.

(Note that the CD contains only three songs sung in English. "You Gotta Move," and "Free Spirit," are left off. "In the Light of Love," not featured as part of the DVD, closes out the CD track selection.)

The choice of the closing track on the DVD and CD are interesting. Each helps to put the listener into a specific energy state - the visual aspect of the DVD makes the "Moola Mantra," its closing number appropriate, particularly after the preceding surprise pairing of melodies, as does "In the Light of Love," fit into the more aural intake of music from the CD listening experience.

I wish "Mother Inside" had been replaced by another Sanskrit-based chant in this collection given the limited number of songs to be chosen from the large repertoire. MI has beautiful lyrics, but my preference is for the more traditional Sanskrit-based songs. I guess they wanted to have this collection capture the variety of songs they do in concerts which includes a bluesy number ("You Gotta Move") which is quite a departure from the more subdued and introspective chants (and includes musicians doing great blues riffs on the harmonica and bansuri flute), some semi-pop ballads (albeit with the very spiritual-based lyrics, such as "Awakening" and "In the Light of Love," both of which are very memorable and melodically/lyrically accessible), and the more traditional chants and mantras.

There are many beautiful selections on this DVD/CD collection, and as I started to list them, I stopped - it's just shorter to say the two songs that I didn't care for as much as the others included "Free Spirit," and "Mother Inside." I would not have missed if they had been replaced by other Sanskrit songs. These two songs do contain beautiful lyrics, but in the context of the other music, I would have preferred the other chants that Deva has done.

What was a HUGE surprise for me was the music featured near the end of the DVD (and I will not spoil the specifics about it for you here!), which borught back memories of the same song and feelings I had experienced near the closing of one of their concerts. There was only one small hint in the packaging about the nature of the second last song - "So Much Magnificance." As Miten began singing the lyrics to the song, I thought that the song had beautiful and meaningful lyrics and a decent melody, but I noticed that there were only a few words to the song, and the DVD time indicator for this song indicated a play length of 15 minutes. I thought, "this melody and lyrics can't sustain my interest for that length of time, and I might have to fast forward the DVD after another few minutes of this!" Within a few minutes of the song, Deva Premal began to sing a totally different song which blended with Miten's vocalizing. That's all I am saying here, other than when I got what was unfolding, I opened up with an outpouring of tears and release. I remembered that that portion of the concert I had attended was the moment of catharsis for many of us.

(Other features on the DVD include a photograph gallery of their favorite rishis, gurus, devas, divas, friends, accompanied by the music to the beautiful "In the light of Love," and an interesting interview with Deva Premal and Miten.)

The only two sound recording deficiencies on the entire DVD include a 20 second or so period where Miten is saying something before beginning a song and even with the volume up, his words cannot be made out. When he begins singing, he can be heard fine. The sound engineer evidently had his mike turned off or down during his speaking segment. The other sound disturbance occurs during part of the "special feature" interview which features Miten and Deva conversing inside a living room area. There is background noise during a good portion of the interview which almost sounds like the squeal made by certain bugs who make their presence known during a specific part of the summer season (Cicada insects?). Since they apparently shot this in Australia, it wouldn't surprise me if this sound did come from that source. I would think the sound engineer could have edited out that frequency, since it does cut into the sound of the human voices.

For anyone who is a Deva Premal fan who has her other CDs, but not this one, for anyone who has not seen Deva Premal in concert and wanted to, for anyone who is a lover of introspective meditational Sanskrit chanting, this DVD/CD is something you will deeply treasure and thank Deva Premal, Miten, and Manose for sharing with us, and thank yourself, as well, for having purchased it. Extremely recommended.

This review has been difficult for me to write, because I have been so moved by the content of the DVD/CD. It is one of my favorite DVD/CDs. (My most treasured DVDs include this one, Loreena McKennitt's "Nights form the Alhambra," Snatam Kaur's "Live in Concert," and Secret Garden's "A Night with Secret Garden.")

After recently seeing Deva, Miten and Manose in live concert, I really loved the DVD of the concert...while their music is special, it's even more powerful when you see a live performance. Deva creates a special spacious envelope of devotion for the audience.

The interaction between the artists brings an extra dimension, and even a sense of light playfulness, that you don't get from their CDs.

Deva and Miten couldn't find a better compliment to their music than Manose.
See for yourself.

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