On New Year’s Day 1968 I heard Swamy Haridhos for the first time in Bombay and was struck by his charismatic personality and great singing. I was brought to hear and meet him by the family of K. Sridhar and K. Shivakumar with whom I was staying studying tabla and Hindustani music.

Ever wondered how ancient spiritual wisdom could resonate on modern global stages? The answer lies in an extraordinary musical journey that began at the sacred confluence of three holy rivers. Sounds of Kumbha represents far more than just another album release. Moreover, it embodies a revolutionary fusion of India’s deepest spiritual traditions with contemporary global artistry. Furthermore, this groundbreaking project has captured the attention of Grammy voters worldwide. Additionally, the album showcases how customer experience principles apply even to spiritual music ventures.

Manizeh's debut album "Mahku" is a bold entry into the world of contemporary spiritual jazz. Co-produced by LEITER labelmate ganavya—who recently released the celebrated "Daughter of a Temple" and "Nilam"—and LEITER co-founder Felix Grimm, the album was recorded in early 2025 at the label’s renowned Funkhaus Studio in Berlin.

Naya Beat is delighted to announce the release of an astonishing lost “holy grail”, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s 1982 masterpiece ‘Punjabi Disco’. The reissue includes remixes by Peaking Lights, Danger Boys, Psychemagik, Dexter+Franz, Mystic Jungle, and Baalti, as well as a cover by Say She She’s Piya Malik and Turbotito & Ragz.

Abdul Karim Khan’s familial musical lineage is thought to have extended back to the end of the 16th century to Dhondu Nayak, a Hindu musician who was active in Gwalior and to a family of Sufi qawwali devotional singers and sarangi players who began as folk musicians and refined their music over generations. He was born Nov. 11, 1872, the eldest of four siblings to a Sunni family in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh. For at least 250 years, through a complex network of familial relations, Abdul Karim Khan’s family handed down the technology of music, from elder to younger, one note at a time.

Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar was an exponent of Dagar vani Dhrupad of Indian classical music. He represented the 19th generation of Dagar Tradition. Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar was known not only for the power and spontaneity of his alaap, but also for his rich repertoire of compositions, some of which are believed to date back to the 12th and 13th centuries. It is the quality of music which has taken him to many countries like the United States, France, Germany and Italy for performances before select audiences. His recordings have been released in Switzerland, Germany and Italy.

Sage Warrior is a genre-crossing, borderless, 12-song odyssey into ancestral wisdom from the critically acclaimed singer, trumpeter, and songwriter Sonny Singh. The album explores the Sikh spirit of the sant sipahi, the sage warrior: the sage leads with love; the warrior answers the call to courage. Introspective and urgent, spiritual and rebellious, the album offers bold new renditions of Sikh devotional poems from South Asia, channeling ancestral wisdom for our time. Singh created the album as a companion to the new book Sage Warrior by visionary civil rights leader and bestselling author Valarie Kaur. Each track on the album accompanies a chapter in the book. Together, the Sage Warrior book and album offer an electrifying multisensory experience of Sikh wisdom—a clarion call to love, devotion, and courage in dark times.

Award-winning record producer, composer and tabla player, Kuljit Bhamra MBE, brings together celebrated Bollywood singers, lyricists and musicians for Namaste Bombay. With 38 original songs inspired by the origins and developments of 'Bollywood' music over the decades, it features lush instrumentations with traditional strings performed by the Bombay Gold Orchestra - An enthralling filmi journey designed to evoke your own imagined Bollywood fantasy!

Gandhi is a 1982 epic biographical film based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, a major leader in the Indian independence movement against the British Empire during the 20th century. A co-production between India and the United Kingdom, the film was directed and produced by Richard Attenborough from a screenplay written by John Briley. It stars Ben Kingsley in the title role. The biographical film covers Gandhi's life from a defining moment in 1893, as he is thrown off a South African train for being in a whites-only compartment and concludes with his assassination and funeral in 1948. Although a practising Hindu, Gandhi's embracing of other faiths, particularly Christianity and Islam, is also depicted.

Snatam Kaur is a world-renowned, Grammy-nominated devotional singer, musician, teacher, and author, known for the stirring luminous quality of her voice and insightful teachings. She is currently embarking on an Into the Light Tour, with summer concert dates across Europe, the UK, and Israel. The tour corresponds to the release of Snatam’s 16th major album release, Nirankaar, on Be Why Music.

Afghan singer Elaha Soroor and award-winning music / producer duo Kefaya (Al MacSween and Giuliano Modarelli ) join forces for a mighty and mesmerising new album, Songs Of Our Mothers; a fresh, vibrant take on Afghan folk music filtered through myriad forms, from spiritual jazz and dub to Indian classical music and electronica.

Cult band The Bombay Royale are set for a triumphant return with their third studio masterpiece ‘Run Kitty Run’. A Retro Bollywood fuelled rampage through Psyche-Surf, 80’s Electro-Pop and Desert Rock, ‘Run Kitty Run’ is, like its predecessors, conceived as the soundtrack to a lost film.The music conjures into life a devastated futuristic landscape peopled by robotic horsemen, killer satellites and grinning sadhus. Overlaid with vocals in Hindi, Bengali and English, the resulting soundtrack is one of love and betrayal, hopeless escapes and unlikely salvation.

A rich and unique collection of new and traditional verses, performed by a leading artist and proponent of Punjabi wedding ceremonies.

Nonesuch Records releases Junun – an album from composer/musician Shye Ben Tzur, guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and The Rajasthan Express, a group of Indian qawwali musicians – on November 20. Recorded earlier this year in a makeshift studio inside the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India, the album was made with Radiohead’s producer Nigel Godrich, who worked with the ensemble to create this Vinyl album. The album features Ben Tzur’s compositions, which combine ecstatic, devotional Sufi qawwal musical traditions and his native Hebrew.

Here you can experience how some progressive krautrock pioneers manage to melt their roots with new musical influences like synths, electronic, lounge, new age. If you want to hear 70ies prog, you better search for 70ies prog ;-)