Hammered dulcimer artist Max ZT, flautist Shashank Acharya and more add to the London-born, Indian-origin artist’s renditions of ‘Hanuman Chalisa,’ ‘Maha Mrityunjaya’ and ‘Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram’
U.S.-based British-Indian artist Radhika Vekaria. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Indian-origin British artist Radhika Vekaria turns to the mainstays of Indian devotional and spiritual music for her new album Warriors of Light, giving widely-chanted prayers a deeply personal rendition that yearns for inner strength and peace of mind.
The spacey, new age album sees Vekaria on vocals (in Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil and English) and piano team up with producer George Landress, flautist Shashank Acharya, hammered dulcimer artist Max ZT, sarod artist Pratik Shrivastava, tabla artist Alok Verma and others. Everything from “Asato Ma Sadgamaya” to the “Maha Mrityunjaya” mantra and “Hanuman Chalisa” are given an atmospheric version, fitted with spoken word and sung English parts as well as Vekaria taking on Sanskrit, Tamil (“Aganitha Tara”) and Hindi chants. Sure, her accent is not always accurately Indian enough to do justice to the chants, but the essence of spirituality remains strong on Warriors of Light, which also has “Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram,” “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu” and “Release Your Fears (Jaya Jaya Durge Ma).”
Vekaria sums up her intention as an artist, “I do not make music for you to see me. I make it for you to see yourself.” Born in Africa to Indo-British parents and now living in the U.S., Vekaria adds in a statement that she’s always been dawn to mantras, “Vedic sciences and my ancestral lineage.” She says, “Much like a tree, my roots have provided strength and resilience, guiding me through life’s storms.”
Acknowledging the “generational histories” that she’s reconciled being of African, Indian and British lineage, Vekaria notes that she was “nurtured” by Indian devotional music even before she could speak. As someone who has “grappled with a chronic speech impediment” that reduced her speaking abilities, Vekaria says it was in those “darkest moments” that she “discovered the transformative power of ancient sounds.” She adds in a statement, “The resonance of Sanskrit and Tamil mantras became my allies, their vibrations a bridge to a deeper truth and state of being. These were not just words but potent sounds imbued with the wisdom and strength of millennia. They became my warriors, each chant a beacon of light piercing through the darkness. The silence finally began to release me.”
Warriors of Light is her second album after 2020’s debut album Sapta: The Seven Ways. Vekaria went on to become the first mantra artist to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas in 2022. “I presented an immersive dome show that resonated deeply with diverse listeners,” she says.
Coming up next, she’s heading to perform at Harvard University, in collaboration with NASA-JPL astrophysicist Dr. Nicholas Siegler at a symposium this month. Indian-origin wellness and spirituality figure Deepak Chopra has also called on Vekaria in the past, for opening and closing an online meditation for peace with music and chanting at the start of the Ukraine-Russia war.
Vekaria will also perform with Grammy-winning violinist Nathalie Bonin on Sept. 20 in California, followed by a set at the Grammy Museum on Sept. 29.
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