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Members
Bios:
Stuart Sovatsky, PhD, - Trance Chant -
After completing a degree in East/West Religion from Princeton University in 1971, Stuart
was initiated into the Shaktipat Kundalini Yoga lineage of Swami Kripalu in 1973. Stuart's own intensive 30 year yoga practice includes decades of emotionally rigorous tantric monasticism
whereby his style of spontaneously-arising chanting, (known as "anahata-nad") emerged. Akin to the magical, sacred speech of Hebraic
nigune, Islamic qwaali, gospel "holy ghost " and Glossolalia "speaking in tongues" inspired vocalizations, it
also draws upon raw energy reminiscent of jazz improvisation and heavy metal ranting. While "melodic" kirtan chanting has become a popular form of group musical meditation
with several fine kirtan leaders in our midst,
Stuart took the road less traveled, into the origins of Devotional Chanting as
manifestations (kriyas) of
Kundalini
Yoga. His chanting sounds other-worldly, driven by the
private intimacy of intoxicated worship and passions that exceed the norms of musicality. Between 1972-78, he had opened one of the
first yoga studios in the US, taught the earliest prenatal Yoga classes, led numerous asana and kirtan retreats, had received
the first Federal grants to bring yoga & kirtan to incarcerated
youth and the mentally ill living in the flop-houses of Atlantic City,
and was first choice to co-direct Ram Dass's "prison ashram." Now
a psychotherapist for 30 years, he is Co-president of the Association for Transpersonal
Psychology, a trustee since 1991 and
faculty member since 1987 at the California Institute of
Integral Studies, & co-convener with Robert A.F.Thurman of the 2001 Infinity Roundtable on Eastern Religion (Columbia U). He has
led chanting meditations at numerous Association for Transpersonal Psychology Conferences (1982-1995) & has presented
over 25 scholarly presentations on Kundalini Yoga, nationally and in India, including
at the 13th International Congress on Vedanta (U Miami-Ohio), World Association of Vedic Studies (U Mass), Global Renaissance
Conference (Menla Institute), Science of Consciousness (U AZ), World Congress on Sexology (Delhi, India), Brain/ Consciousness
Conference (Madras, India), Indian Psychology (Pondicherry, India) & Consciousness & Psychology (Hyerdabad, India).
In 2000, he convened the first International Conference on Prison Yoga and in 2004 he was the only Westerner invited to partake of rare Tantric rituals in Kerala,
India. Stuart is the initiating co-convener of the World Congress on Psychology and Spirituality, Delhi
India, 2008, that has drawn BKS Iyengar, SS Ravi Shankar and the designated heir to the Dalai Lama (Lama Samdhong) to present
on deeping the world's understanding of authentic Indo-Tibetan spirituality. He is the author of Your Perfect Lips, A Spiritual-Erotic Memoir; Words From the Soul: Time, East/ West Spirituality and Psychotherapeutic Narrative
(State Univ NY Press) recommended by Ken Wilber, Eros, Consciousness &
Kundalini (Inner Traditions, 3rd edition reissued by Motilal Banarsidas
in India), endorsed by Georg Feuerstein, Ken Wilber, Richard Rosen, Prabhakar Vaidya, & "The History of Euro-Hinduism
in America" in the Columbia University Desk
Companion on Eastern Religion (ed. Robert Thurman).
In
1994, he began pioneering the application of electronica to
vocal anahata-nad to approximate the acoustics of the Vedic Cave Rituals of
Elephanta Island, India, from whence all modern hatha yoga originated as ecstatic trance dance transhistorically linked to the present world-fusion
music and
dance scene, thus creating a temporal bridge connecting transformative spiritual & shamanic practice from past to future. He joined Axis Mundi in 1999. http://home.jps.net/~stuartcs
Sondra
Slade - Producer/Percussionist
- Founded Axis Mundi and is the band's Producer and Artistic Director. She is a Musician, Event Producer, Visual
& Media Artist, Ritualist and
Herbalist, and she teaches TRANCE DRUMMING in the Bay Area. She
has studied and performed music
her whole life.
In the 1960's she studied New Music under John Cage at the University of Illinois, and
in the 60's and 70's was a singer
and percussionist with renowned Jazz and New Music Composer Bill Russo's Rock Opera "Free Theatre" companies
in both Chicago and
San Francisco. She studied Classical North Indian music with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, (Vocal), Zakir Hussain and Shankar Ghosh (Tabla), and Vince
Delgado (Dumbec), at the Ali Akbar College
of Music in the 1970's, which is when she first became involved in Sacred
Sound as a spiritual path. She
continued her studies of Middle Eastern and Indian Percussion at The
Center for World Music and with several other private teachers.
She has performed with a variety of bands from Rock n' Roll, to Spoken Word and Acid Jazz. In addition to music, Sondra has been working professionally for over 25
years in the Bay Area as a Visual Artist
and Event Producer, creating Immersive Media for the
AXIS MUNDI performances and a spectrum of clients ranging from Comdex and Sony to the Black & White Ball and the S.F. Art Institute
Galas, with her partner in their
own business, Synapse Productions. She designed and produced Lightshows
for several Theatrical and Music companies,
including The George Coates Performance Works, and
the rock band PRIMUS. She has produced
several media shows for the greater Bay Area spiritual community, including Da Avabasa and the Free Diasts, and a video on the
mystical visions and music of Hildegard of Bingen, in conjunction
with the Rev. Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral. For
three years, she also
created the Media Surrounds for Rev. Matthew Fox's Techno
Cosmic Mass.
She has been an Adjunct Instructor of
Spirituality at Holy Names College, where she
taught a course in: "Immersive Media Environments For Ritual, Healing & Celebration".
Sondra currently teaches TRANCE DRUMMING in workshops
and private lessons throughout the Bay Area.
Lisa
Sangita Moskow - Percussionist -
Lisa Sangita Moskow is a well known figure in the World Music scene
and she applies her North Indian classical training on the Tabla
drums to the electronic percussion she plays in Axis Mundi. With a wide palette of world
music sounds to choose from and rhythms that are mostly tuned, she functions in
a mode that can be melodic
as well as rhythmic. Her original
inspiration and love of the tablas began when she saw Mahapurish
Misra in concert with Ali Akbar - Misra’s
playing was very pure and lyrical. She began studies on the tablas at the Ali Akbar College of Music in the late
60’s with Shankar Ghosh, a brilliant tabla master
noted for his fiery musical repartee with maestro Ali Akbar Khan. She continued her studies with Zakir Hussain.
These players inspired her musical aspirations for a melodic percussive sound, technical
purity, and a commitment to continuous interactivity with other players in the group.
Most of Sangita’s performing career
has been as a sarod player specializing in East-West collaborations and
as a singer/songwriter with the sarod. She has
composed scores of songs with themes of sacred places and deities from various goddess
traditions. She currently teaches trance chanting using mostly traditional
world music chants.
For sound samples of her
recordings (other than Axis Mundi) -
For her performing schedule go to:
GUEST DIDJERIDU PLAYERS:
Currently Axis Mundi is playing with
a variety of Guest
Didj players.....
*Vlad Cardema
*Frankieman Cepeda
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Guest Performer:
*Alan Tower on Tuned Metal HANG
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Former
Member - 1999 -2006
Travis
"Travieso" Wernet - Didgeridoo -
Our outstanding Didj player Travis, who contributed his supurb talents to Axis Mundi
for over 7 years, has moved on to pursue his own career.
We wish him all the luck he so richly deserves!!
Travis has lived in the Bay Area since 1994, having moved here from Colorado. He came into contact
with Didjeridu shortly after arriving in San Francisco and became mesmerized by the beauty and sound of this awesome instrument,
and has played with Axis Mundi since 1998, also stepping out as a Poet and Fire Dancer with the group, performing Mystical
Spoken Word with Poi and Fire Fans. The healing vibration of Didjeridu, which draws upon the breath to craft an earthly yet
otherworldly listening experience, has deeply affected Travis and his life and inspired him to continue his years long exploration
of music and the joy of creative collaboration through the offering of Sound Healing. Currently, he is providing sessions
in his home in Emeryville, where he shares space with two housemates who also create music and art. In August 2005, he started
working with clients interested in a powerful healing modality known as Clarity BreathWork. He also offers on-going dream
groups at his home in Emeryville. His background includes two years study in Dreams and Universal Archetypes with Jeremy Taylor
at the University of Creation Spirtuality as well as 11 years experience working in the Community Mental Health Field in San
Francisco. Lanterns of Midnight , his first solo effort highlighting original Mystical Spoken Word Poetry, Multi-instrumental,
Hypnotic Grooves and Didjeridu is currently available @www.cdbaby.com and showcases a collaborative journey with Producer
Ben Leinbach, who also has recorded and Produced Axis Mundi's upcoming, long awaited and Time Seasoned, Deep Groove, Devotional-Trance-Fusion
Tour de Force.
You can contact Travis at www.intuitivesound.net
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