"Ananta" Volume 1 - Maestros of India, the official submission of the Art of Living Foundation to the 60th Grammys; has been accepted for consideration for Nomination as a World Music Album & one of the tracks, Guru Stotra, composed by Pt. Vikku Vinayakram and performed by his 3 generations, Selvaganesh Vinayakram and Swaminathan Selvaganesh featuring Siddhant Bhatia on Indian Classical Vocals has been entered for Arrangement - Instruments and Vocals. The album is being distributed by Sony DADC India and the music label is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Publications Trust.
Ananta was recorded in just 33 days. Producer Siddhant Bhatia, traveled across the country and single handedly employed traditional forms of live performance recording without electronic music production support. The intention was to capture the magical moments in short studio sessions. Almost all music tracks were composed and created spontaneously. Ananta, while being experimental, maintains the sanctity of Indian music in its true, classical spirit.
"Ananta", (sansrkit for Infinity), the world's largest compilation of original Indian music features 30 legendary maestros and over 300 minutes of Indian music.
The music album features Grammy award winning musicians such as Pandit Vikku Vinayakam on the ghatam (percussion), Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt; senior Violinist and Grammy winning composer Kala Ramnath and many Grammy-nominated musicians such as U Rajesh on the Mandolin, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Majumdar on Sarod. Legendary exponents such as Pandit Jasraj, Aruna Sairam, Ustad Shahid Pervez Khan, Ronu Majumdar, Ustad Rashid Khan and Anoop Jalota; Oscar winning Bombay Jayshree of the Life of Pi fame and young maestros like Purbayan Chatterjee on the sitar, Kaushiki Chakraborty on Vocals, Rajhesh Vaidhya on the Veena and Rakesh Chaurasia on the flute; Bollywood magicians like Hariharan, KS Chithra and Javed Ali; all musicians present a taste that is hard to forget.
Listeners are treated to unique vocal and instrumental music combinations, some of which have never been performed or recorded earlier! There is no other album in the world that brings together such an array of musical exponents together.
Legendary Pt. Anindo Chatterjee with his son Anubrata Chatterjee and the backing vocals of upcoming singer Shruti Dhasmana; Live Drums of Siva Mani and the voice of Siddhant Bhatia are some interesting musical renditions.
"The album offers music for every taste. From Rumi's couplets to devotional songs in praise of the mother divine, and intense meditative chants blending with heavy percussion. The music is set to take the listener to a state of bliss and that of inexpressible joy," says Siddhant Bhatia, the album producer.
Proceeds from the sales of the album are channelized towards the internationally acclaimed 'Gift a Smile / Care for Children' program by the Art of Living where more than 58,000 underprivileged students are provided free education in 435 schools around India. Inspired by the vision of the Art of Living's founder, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Ananta, is also a channel that seeks to bring the world together through the power and magic of music and of universal love. It is a way to preserve the grand tradition of Indian classical music.
