In April of 2019, Kees van Boxtel, Shabbir Hussein and I loaded up a small hatchback car and took off for a whirlwind tour of Europe. We played in small, humble and beautiful venues in Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Germany while being hosted by friends and music lovers throughout the journey. Thanks to Kees’ ambition, we recorded just about every concert. Now I’m happy to share with you a collection of those recordings in our album ‘Sacred Groves - Live in Europe'. We attempted to make the album follow a similar structure as our performances. In Europe, I learned, it is typical for concerts to have a ‘pause’ half way through or even just 40 minutes in. First we would play a full Raga (on the album, we selected Raga Yaman with alap, jhaptaal (10 beats) and teental (16 beats). Then we would take a pause, followed by some lighter pieces: Kees’ beautiful dhun in Raga Hamsadhwani and guruji Pt Alok Lahiri’s dhun in Mishra Bhairavi to close. credits released August 16, 2019

Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer - Indian slide guitar Kees van Boxtel - Bansuri Shabbir Hussain - Tabla

Recorded by Kees van Boxtel during our concert at Tao Sangha Zentrum in Dornbirn, Austria on April 13, 2019.

Mixed by Joel Eisenkramer, Root Cellar Sound, in Vermont USA.

Special thanks to all our wonderful hosts throughout the tour: Roopa ji, Frans at Art Base, Hannah, and Rolf.