Jai Utall and the Pagan Love Orchestra February 23, 2007

One of the most spectacular and intriguing of Bay Area music ensembles, Jai Uttal’s Pagan Love Orchestra is also the only Hindu jam band around, with reggae bass, hip-hop drums, rock guitar, jazz trombone, Indian tablas, harmonium and flute, and a small choir of voices. Theirs is a spiritual quest through music, making trance music for ecstatic dancing. The project has been mostly on the back burner in recent years as its leader, singer and multi-instrumentalist Uttal, has been more deeply exploring kirtan chanting with his own music, here and in Brazil. The current Pagan Love Orchestra plays Uttal’s compositions from throughout his career, with more space now for jamming in what Uttal calls “world spirit music.”

Given Uttal’s background, the PLO’s focus makes sense spiritually and musically. He studied Indian music here and in India, then came into the spotlight in Peter Apfelbaum’s Hieroglyphics Ensemble in the ’80s, where Uttal played electric guitar and harmonium, adding the Indian stringed instrument the dotar. Members of Hieroglyphics and their friends formed the nucleus of his own Pagan Love Orchestra. On his own and with Pagan Love Orchestra Uttal has issued 13 albums, including three recent meditation CDs, “Pranayama,” “Music for Yoga,” and “Kirtan,” and the PLO’s Grammy Award-nominated “Mondo Rama.”
www.jaiuttal.com

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