Keyboardist and composer Surya Botofasina, who is also the music director of the Sai Anantam Ashram Singers, is gearing up to release his debut album this November. Entitled Everyone’s Children, Botofasina pays homage to Alice Coltrane, who was his mentor during his upbringing in her Ashram in Los Angeles.
To bring the album to life, Botofasina assembled a terrific cast of guest contributors including his mother, the harpist Radha Botofasina, jazz singer Dwight Trible, indie folk vocalist Mia Doi Todd, guitarist Nate Mercereau, saxophonist Pablo Calogero, and drummer Efa Etoroma Jr.. Featuring on the album too is revered producer, composer, ensemble orchestrator, percussionist, DJ and mentor Carlos Niño, who has also produced the album.
Stunning and contemplative, Everyone’s Children “soothes, enriches and uplifts the soul” as the press release describes.
We’ll have to wait until November 4th for the album to be out through Spiritmuse Records but Botofasina has already unveiled two marvellous singles from it, ‘Surya Meditation’ and ‘Beloved California Temple’. The latter is an ode to the Swamini Turiyasangitananda Alice Coltrane’s Sai Anantam Ashram, as he explains:
“I can still hear the sounds of Swamini’s organ, along with the water flowing through the property. The Ashram to me is the main reason why I have any redeemable qualities throughout my life. I learned all of my values there. More importantly I learned what introspection feels like. I learned what meditation does for the body, and how to wait for an answer from the Divine. Every time I reach a place of music that may connect with other human beings on the planet . . . It is only because I have watched Her connect with beings both visible and invisible to common eyesight, effortlessly.”
‘Beloved California Temple’ comes with an accompanying video. Watch it below and check an excerpt of the epic ‘Surya Meditation’ straight after.
In other related good news, and to celebrate the album release, Surya Botofasina has announced a string of lives including including a show at Le Guess Who? festival on November 11th.
