World Peace Chants by Sean Johnson and The Rishis

These original songs with lush instrumentation feature chants that honor the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Yoruba, Vodun, and Native Americian spiritual traditions, and the sacredness of all spiritual paths. This limited edition CD was especially created to accompany the labyrinth walks at the Parliament of the World's Religions meeting held in Barcelona, Spain in July of 2004. The songs are a prayer for spiritual awakening and world peace- for people of all religions and cultures to walk together in beauty.

Featured instruments include harmonium, tabla, tambouras, violin, oboe, classical guitar, saxophone, Native American flute, harp, tambourine, chimes, and bells.

Bio

Seán Johnson was born and raised in New Orleans amidst the soulful flavors and sounds of jazz, blues,

r & b, and hip-hop. As a child, Seán sang in musical theater and The New Orleans Symphony Children's Chorus. His vocal exploration led him to study sean-nos (old-style) Irish singing, an ancient form of song known for its elaborate ornamentation. He has since made many trips to Ireland to sing. Inspired by a powerful chanting experience with a Sufi teacher and an initiation into yoga, Seán began exploring Eastern music and Sanskrit chant. He completed an apprenticeship in mantra yoga, devotional singing, and meditation with South Indian teacher/musician and Gaiam recording artist Russill Paul at The Naropa Institute in Oakland, California. At Naropa, the focus of Sean's research for an M.A. degree was sound and music as spiritual practice. In recent years, Seán has studied intensely with Grammy-nominated kirtan singer Jai Uttal. He has also taken lessons in Indian vocal music with Shuboshish Mukerjee, Nayan Ghosh, and Dr. Guy Beck, author of "Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound." and learned sean-nos singing from Dr. Sean Williams.

Seán teaches yoga and leads kirtan at the studio he founded, Wild Lotus Yoga, named "Best Place To Take A Yoga Class In New Orleans" in the Gambit Weekly readers' poll two years in a row. In addition to performing regularly at clubs, theaters, churches, and yoga studios in and around New Orleans, Seán also travels around the country and abroad leading kirtans, as well as workshops and retreats that integrate yoga and chant. He has sung at The Convergence Festival in Dublin, Ireland; the Omega/New Age Journal Conference in San Francisco; Techno Cosmic Masses led by Matthew Fox in Oakland; labyrinth walks hosted by Dr. Lauren Artress in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Houston; kirtans hosted by Jai Uttal in California and Guatemala; and various yoga conferences. He has led kirtan at centers in New York, California, Washington, Texas, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee as well as Mexico and Ireland. Upcoming events include a kirtan party at Laughing Lotus Yoga in NYC in September, 2005, and a string of kirtans on the California coast in October, 2005 with the Wild Lotus Band including an evening of ecstatic chant and music at The Ojai Yoga Crib.

Recordings/Soundtracks

Seán and fellow musician Hans Gruenig, under the duo name DevaDeva released "In the Moment," a CD collection of live chants and performances in 2002. In 2004, Sean was invited by The Parliament of the World's Religions to compose a CD soundtrack of world peace chants played during daily walking meditations at their meeting in Barcelona, Spain. Seán is accompanied on this recording by members of a world-spirit music ensemble he founded called The Rishis. The recording seeks to heal the conflict between religions by celebrating the harmony between all spiritual traditions through music, and includes chants from the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Yoruban, Vodun, and Native American traditions. Seán also co-scored the soundtrack to New Orleans' filmmaker Mark Morris' short film The Sadhu, and contributed music to an instructional DVD created by local Astanga yoga instructor Melanie Fawer. He is currently composing music for New York-based yoga teacher Jasmine Tarkeshi's instructional CD, and is working on a new kirtan recording, seeking to capture the ecstatic spirit of live call and response kirtan on CD.

The Wild Lotus Band

Seán founded The Wild Lotus Band in 2004. This group of talented yogi-musicians love to create music as prayer and meditation. Different configurations of the band accompany kirtan with Seán, depending on the venue. Seán sings, plays harmonium, tamboura, and percussion; Allen Frost plays djembe, ton ton, congas, dunbek, and other persussion instruments; Hans Gruenig plays tabla, guitar, native american flute, and other percussion instruments; Seán's brother Matt Johnson plays guitar and saxophone; Mike Coleman sings and plays percussion; Alvin Young plays bass, and Kristen Jensen plays violin. Other musicians who often sit in include Andrew McLean on tabla, and sitar; Benny Dominach on guitar; Becky Wasden on vocals; and Ben Shenk on clarinet.

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