I just received Sattva and popped it into my CD player... it knocked me out! I am subbing on an eclectic mid-day show on Tuesday and will kick the show off with track #1. After that, it will get lots of spins on my show - and others when I alert them to this great new release. I hope you also sent a copy of it to WERU, because I'm not giving up mine!
World/New Age Music Director, WERU-FM, Blue Hill, Maine, USA

What a superb creation! I have listened to "Sattva" several times & every repeat only gives me more inner vision. Really! So deep & soulful!!! I played the title cut on PHOENIX FLIGHT, this morning & will keep it on our Merit Shelf for the next month. Thanks for getting it to us!
Host, Phoenix Flight, WTUL-FM, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Fabulous albums - Sattva is great and the follow-up circuit with your other albums : healing ragas and rejoicing are also excellent .brilliantly composed, beautifully played and very well recorded...pls keep up the good work. I'll surely recommend this to friends of mine. My only comment is that it's not in the HMV store in Hong Kong.
Atul Kansara, Hongkong

Manish Vyas: Sattva—The Essence of Being
By Derk Richardson
White Swan Records

On this debut cd, Indian vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Manish Vyas reveals a mature, fully realized approach to the challenges of sustaining spiritual and musical integrity while fusing traditional and modern sensibilities. Vyas and his many collaborators (including Prem Joshua and producer Raj Rishi) judiciously apply electronica effects and synthesizer atmospherics to sutras, mantras, and original chants, yielding gorgeously embellished melodies and gently loping rhythms that soothe frayed nerves and elevate the spirit.

Having studied classical tabla with the late master Ustad Alla Rakha, Vyas moved on to the hundred-string hammered dulcimer–like santoor and, eventually, harmonium, piano, and electric keyboard. He brings all those instruments to bear in seven pieces lushly textured with bamboo flute, strings, sitar, bass, drums, percussion, and male and female vocals. The performances range from intricately arranged renditions of sutras and chants to Vyas's breathtakingly simple vocal-and-keyboard improvisation "Karuna." Suitable for accompanying all kinds of contemplative practices, Sattva is pleasing as pure listening.

As more artists begin to create music faithfully based on ancient sacred texts and musical traditions while incorporating contemporary instrumental and technological innovations, a new genre is emerging—call it "devotional pop." And if it endures, we may come to regard Manish Vyas as one of its most convincing avatars.

January/February 2004