Sheela Bringi - Shakti Sutra (2016)

Indian-American musician Sheela Bringi has been exploring the connections between her ancestral and actual homelands her entire life. The talented young singer and multi-instrumentalist plays a 36-string harp, the Indian harmonium and bansuri (Indian bamboo flute). Bringi straddles the entire range: she has performed in concert halls and universities presenting traditional material, yoga studios leading kirtans and in dance clubs overtop throbbing, bass-heavy beats. Her invigorating openness to possibility is helping to further the classical tradition without diluting its meaning and sense of personal and communal worship. “My music is about accessing a place of mystery and divinity,” says Bringi. Her harp, harmonium and bansuri create an exquisite foundation for her unique singing of ancient Sanskrit mantras—a practice as musically pleasing as it is culturally progressive.