{"id":19443,"date":"2020-09-20T05:30:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-20T09:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19443"},"modified":"2020-08-26T15:00:50","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T19:00:50","slug":"adi-the-monk-the-cosmic-thread-running-though-his-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/09\/20\/adi-the-monk-the-cosmic-thread-running-though-his-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Adi the Monk: The ‘Cosmic Thread” Running Though His Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Asheville\u2019s music community features an impressive number of unique personalities. But it\u2019s safe to say that only one has a personal history that includes a period spent as a Vaishnava monk. \u0100di Puru\u1e63a Das performs and records as Adi the Monk, making instrumental music that \u2013 on the surface at least \u2013 has little to do with his devotional practices. But as showcased on Soul of the Earth, <\/i>his fourth and latest release, his jazz\/funk\/blues instrumentals are informed by his time in Nepal and India. He will celebrate the album\u2019s release with a socially-distanced August 29 lawn concert at Isis Music Hall.<\/p>\n

On his earlier releases, Adi played all of the instruments. And many of his live performances around Asheville \u2013 whether at venues or on downtown sidewalks \u2013 were solo affairs as well. Soul of the Earth<\/i> was made using a similar approach, but it was created with the idea that the songs would be played live by a trio. \u201cI’ve just been waiting for an opportunity, really, to put the Himalaya Soul Trio together and to start a group of my own,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The trio format \u2013 featuring bassist Jhon Bellizia and drummer Perry Lavin \u2013 brings an energy to the music that builds upon the approach of Adi\u2019s previous releases, including his full-length, self-title debut album from 2018. He says that having a band makes the music \u201cmore dynamic, because you have the elements of the personalities and tastes of all of the members all mixed together on the palette.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adi says that for him, playing alone is a sort of prayer or meditation: \u201cIt\u2019s a lot like talking to yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He characterizes the experience of leading a trio as \u201cmore like being in a conversation. There are so many more elements every time you add a new musician.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though he name-checks Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix among his favorite artists, neither those influences nor many others manifest themselves in an overt way in his original music. \u201cI wouldn’t say that I’ve put a whole lot of time into imbibing or trying to mimic any particular artist’s style,\u201d he says. He does acknowledge that both jazz great Wes Montgomery and Howlin\u2019 Wolf sideman Hubert Sumlin have influenced his approach on the guitar.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Echoes of Montgomery\u2019s guitar tone show up across Soul of the Earth<\/i>\u2019s eight tracks. But Adi prefers to chart his own musical path. \u201cWhat’s really important [to me] is to be able to express myself through the music,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, I’ve really never been one too much for trying to imitate another sound. My thing is making my own music and just enjoying whatever comes out naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The song titles on the new album suggest a contemplative mindset: \u201cThe Cosmic Thread,\u201d \u201cWay of the Ancients\u201d and \u201cThe Art of Letting Go\u201d are representative examples. But Adi isn\u2019t explicitly conveying philosophy within the compositions. \u201cI generally name the songs generally after they’re written, and I usually pick the name based on the type of feeling or sentiment or thought that it awakens within me,\u201d he admits. \u201cI certainly don’t expect it to have the same effect on everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Adi\u2019s background as a monk does color the music he makes. \u201cMy motivation for doing anything<\/i> is affected by my spiritual path, and the time that I spent pursuing deeper understanding of that spiritual nature,\u201d he says. \u201cThe way that I do what I do, the reasons why I play music, my expectations from playing music, and my drive behind playing music: those are all directly influenced by my spirituality, which is still very much a part of my everyday life. My spiritual practice is not something that I left behind in the temple many years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asheville\u2019s music community features an impressive number of unique personalities. But it\u2019s safe to say that only one has a personal history that includes a period spent as a Vaishnava […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,40,41,42,49],"tags":[3406,237],"class_list":["post-19443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-instrumental","category-interview","category-jazz","category-new-release","tag-adi-the-monk","tag-asheville","cat-9-id","cat-40-id","cat-41-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19446,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19443\/revisions\/19446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}