On a sweltering hot April afternoon in Delhi, I met my musical brothers Suraj Nirwan and Amit Singhal at NRAI Studios in Delhi. We had prepared one original piece (Jai Love) and one classical raga (Raga Jog) for recording. Magic happened inside the studio: Amit and my riyaz sessions earlier were given fresh rhythmic direction by Suraj as we arranged the pieces to carry our personalities and show our musicianship. During the session, I asked my friends, "Imagine if we could do this everyday, meet here and record music, what a life that would be..." It was a sentiment that resonated with all three of us and we used it as inspiration and focus to make the best performance possible...because it's not everyday that three good friends can record music together, making a musical message of harmony for the world. We are thankful to be able to share this music with you all.

Special thanks to: Our Gurus: Pt. Alok Lahiri, Pt. Subhash Nirwan and Shri Harsh Wardhan also Vidhi Salla, Puraskar Nirwan, Rohit Kullu, Sumeru Salla, our loving and supportive families. credits released September 2, 2019

Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer - Indian slide guitar Amit Singhal - Bansuri Suraj Nirwan - Tabla

Recorded at NRAI Studios, Delhi by Rohit Kullu Mixed by Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer, Root Cellar Sound, Vermont USA Mastered by Tom Hutten, Bionic Mastering, Vermont USA Produced by Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer Photography by Vidhi Salla Graphic design by Sumeru Salla, Design & Story

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.

Chintan is a jugalbandi (or duet, literally translated as 'entwined twins') between Indian slide guitarist Joel Veena (USA) and Bansuri artist Amit Singhal (INDIA). Joel and Amit met in 2016 by chance at a sarod concert in Delhi. After several missed connections, they finally sat down to play together in the winter of 2018 in Amit's home in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. They quickly found a brilliant chemistry while playing together, held three days of practice sessions and then headed to Satish Babbar Studio to record this album. What has emerged is an exciting, fresh rendition of Raga Bhimpalasi by two young artists exploring their collaborative potential. Also, a studio rendition of Joel Veena's original song, 'Jai Love', often performed at his concerts.

Despite the quickness with which this album came together, a good many hours were spent in planning their improvisations and how to make an effective recording even without tabla accompaniment. Hence Amit came up with the title 'Chintan' or 'thought and meditation.' credits released April 30, 2018

Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer - Indian slide guitar Amit Singhal - Bansuri

Recorded at Satish Babbar Studios, Delhi by Manku Gurpreet Mixed by Joel Eisenkramer, Root Cellar Sound Mastered by Tom Hutten, Bionic Mastering

During the first 12 days of lock-down here in Mumbai, Kees and I recorded ragas together over Skype and broadcast them live on Facebook. These were our prayers for the health workers, our offerings of peace and joy to those in isolation and our messages of hope for humanity. With the confinement of the population, animals have begun to reemerge in the cleaner air and quieter surrounds of the city. In addition to Indian slide guitar and bansuri, you can hear the birds of Mumbai on this recording. credits released May 7, 2020

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

Recorded and produced by Joel Veena & Kees van Boxtel Mixed and mastered by Joel Veena, Root Cellar Sound, Mumbai India

Sacred Groves is a collaboration between Joel Veena, Indian slide guitarist, and Kees van Boxtel, bansuri. They met in Auroville, India in 2016 after Kees followed his ears to find Joel practicing on the rooftop of International House. They quickly formed a friendship and played a series of concerts together. They share a common guru: sarod maestro of Howrah, Pt. Alok Lahiri.

This album includes two recordings from Kees' Bless U Studio in Netherlands and one live recording from their recent tour in India.

Regarding Track 2:

"It was our tremendous privilege to perform at Sur Sangam Academy of Music’s 24th annual concert at Bani Niketan Hall in Howrah, West Bengal, India. We for our Guruji Pt. Alok Lahiri, Guruma, guru brothers and sisters including Abhisek Lahiri.

This is a historic hall where the legends of Hindustani classical music have performed on the same stage. Hanging from the balcony opposite the stage I could see their portraits: the likes of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Ustad Zakir Hussain have performed here!

We are pleased to present our recording of Raga Yaman, an evening Raga, compositions in Jhaptaal (10 beats) and Teental (16 beats). Myself on Indian slide guitar, Kees van Boxtel, Bansuri and Arpan Bhattacharjee, tabla." - Joel 'Veena' Eisenkramer credits released April 7, 2019

Joel Veena - Indian slide guitar Kees van Boxtel - Bansuri

Tracks 1 and 3 were recorded at Bless U Studio by Kees van Boxtel in Haarlem, Netherlands Track 2 was recorded live at Bani Niketan Hall by Kees van Boxtel in Howrah, India Mixed by Kees van Boxtel & Joel Veena at Bless U Studio, Haarlem, Netherlands

Artwork design by Sumeru Salla, Design & Story.