Turiya Sings

Alice Coltrane is the undeniable godmother of spiritual jazz and an acknowledged influence on everyone from Flying Lotus and Kamasi Washington to Solange and Radiohead. Kirtan: Turiya Sings features Alice Coltrane at peak spirituality and is presented in this arrangement for the first time in any format. Turyia Sings was originally released in 1982 on cassette as a collection of devotional songs including vocals, organ, strings, and synthesizers available only at Alice’s Sai Anantam Ashram. Kirtan: Turiya Sings features a sparser arrangement of organ and chanting, produced by Ravi Coltrane. This is intentional, devotional music created with the purpose of connecting to a higher power. The pared back arrangements on this new release are enchantingly haunting and encourage the listener to reach a meditative headspace so as to channel connectiveness to a greater spirit. The perfect introduction to Alice Coltrane for listeners interested in music for mediation and personal wellness. “Turiya” is short for Alice’s full Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda. “Kirtan” means “narrating, reciting, telling, describing, of an idea of story”.

Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s devotion to spirituality was the central purpose of the final four decades of her life, an often-overlooked awakening that largely took shape during her four-year marriage to John Coltrane and after his 1967 death. By 1983, Alice had established the 48-acre Sai Anantam Ashram outside of Los Angeles. She quietly began recording music from the ashram, releasing it within her spiritual community in the form of private press cassette tapes. On May 5, Luaka Bop will release the first-ever compilation of recordings from this period, making these songs available to the wider public for the first time. Entitled ‘World Spirituality Classics, Volume 1: The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda,’ the release is the first installment in a planned series of spiritual music from around the globe; curated, compiled and distributed by Luaka Bop.