Ananda Xenia Shakti on Devotion and Love Power the Band

Photo: Narendra Kumar.

Ananda Xenia Shakti connects songwriting with devotion, mantra and her work with Love Power the Band. In “The Perfumed Garden” and “Devotion,” experiences on retreat became starting points for songs about love and spiritual practice.

Following Exposed Vocals’ earlier coverage of those songs, Shakti discusses what she learned from Baul devotional singers, how she works with musicians around the world, and the Divine Feminine theme of her next song, “SHE.” Here is the conversation.

EV: “The Perfumed Garden” grew out of a retreat with Baul devotional singers from Bengal. What did those singers teach you about singing as a spiritual practice?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: Wow its almost too inclusive of everything to pin point it. They live in a relationship with life that sees everything that happens in life as song, and as an opportunity to express devotion and create a deeper unity with Source Love. They taught me how to trust my heart, and its wish to sing and dance with passion for ecstasy and love, and to know that this prayer.

EV: You released it on Epiphany. Why did that date matter for this song?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: Ah yes. To me Epiphany the most important day of Christmas. It’s the day that Humanity begins the recognition of its Divinity, which is the reason Christ comes to earth. The Perfumed Garden is all about that ! Recognizing our Divine nature.

EV: The title points to divine union. How do you write about something that personal without making it abstract for the listener?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: Everybody in their heart of hearts is seeking union with that which creates them. The Angels say ‘All Seeking is Seeking for the Self.’ Not everybody is aware of this, we think we want all sorts of things, but as we have seen ‘things’ whether they are objects, achievements, relationships etc. can never fill that void of separation. So yes it is a very personal place in the heart, yet it is an archetype that lives in all hearts in humanity…. So when the time is right, hearing about the concept of Divine Union helps the latent desire wake up and find it Self.

EV: “Devotion” came from a difficult night of illness during a silent retreat. How did that night become a song?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: It was truly an act of self-soothing. I took a chance that if I could create sound as an act of remembering that I am always with Love, no matter what is happening, I could recalibrate my reality and return to the knowing that, whatever life brings, I am never separate from Love.
To me, this is the greatest strength we can have in this world. We will always encounter difficulties, but when we know that we are never separated from Source, however you choose to name it, we are free.

EV: What role does mantra play in the way Love Power the Band builds a piece?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: In the songs that we choose to use mantras in, we use them in the classical way . Repetition because that is where their power of transformation lives. Although we choose to place music that would be not be considered under them to create a bridge in consciousness from east to west and ancient to modern.

EV: How do the band members help shape a song that starts as your private prayer?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: The band is no longer a set group of players. I now reform it wherever I happen to be in the world when I am recording or playing live. So what happens with recording is I come in with the idea and I ask them to play what they hear to complement it . It’s been an amazing journey ! People are so talented when you give them freedom to express. I am always blown aways by their additions and how deeply they ‘hear’ the music.

EV: What is “A Revolution in Love” asking of the people who hear it?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: That life is a love story and when we ‘get’ that all experience is on our side, helping us evolve, even the really hard stuff, we become co creators with life. When we see that our true freedom lies in how we embrace the other, discovering love no matter what . We become Cosmic, Innocent and deeply Wise in heart and soul.

EV: How do you balance devotional music traditions with the instruments and production of a Western band?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: Everybody I play with practices yoga and enjoys Indian culture, so it just happens naturally we don’t try…. It births itself.

EV: What do you hope listeners who don’t share your faith take from these songs?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: That they are Love, and they are worthy of Love, and that the Universe Loves them.

EV: What are you working on next, and where can people hear it?

Ananda Xenia Shakti: I am working on a song called SHE. It’s about the Divine Feminine, and about the need for the feminine aspect in men and women to rise and assist our collective from the conflicts into understanding and compassionate action. It will be available on all major platforms.

Shakti is working on “SHE,” which she says will be available on all major platforms. Visit her official Love Power the Band page for more on her music.