Embodiment of Love

9 years ago, I came across 'Embodiment of Love' in Prashanthi Nilayam, India. It was during Guru Poornima (July) that I first heard a remixed version of Swami singing the 'Gayatri Mantra' and was mesmerized. To think that someone could even actually do this, blew my mind. The music in this album (and volume 2, more on that later) has to be heard, and frankly I'm surprised that its not "out there". The album contains 9 tracks, mostly consisting of poems recited in Telugu, one Bhajan ('Murali Gana Lola') and the Mother of all Mantras, the Gayatri Mantra - all sung by Swami Himself! How did they manage that? Read on my friend... A couple of days ago I was searching for the english translations to the songs, and eventually, found the website created by the composers, "Premasound", founded in Rome, Italy. In a nutshell, I experienced some download errors after purchasing two of their other albums late Monday evening, so after sending them an email, I left it, thinking 'that's it. leave it'. Today, I got a reply from Gianluca Ducros, one of the gentlemen who produced the album! I was stunned. Not only did he fix the download errors, he sent me two complimentary links to both Volume 1 and 2 of 'Embodiment of Love'. Generosity.com. He and his brother Gabriele came up with this concept of using old recordings of Swami's poems, Bhajans and fusing it with Indian/Modern Contemporary music. The result is breathtaking. Close your eyes, and prepare to lose yourselves. I would define it as "soul-stirring music". You have to hear it to believe it. It all began in the mid 90's when Gianluca was entrusted with the task of digitizing and cleaning up all the old recordings of Swami giving Discourses and chanting Mantras. While working on it in Rome, the brothers mixed fusion and ethereal sounds to the old Gayatri Mantra recording. They took the final mix to Parthi where it was played to Swami. Bhagavan was happy. He gave them permission to use His old recordings for their albums. The rest, is history. I've been listening to this album for 9 years but today, it feels like I'm listening to it for the first time.

Edit: Now that I think about it, if those download errors didn't occur, I would never have gotten in touch with Gianluca and heard how it all happened....