hi friends - love from eastern europe...right now russia...which doesn't actually consider itself as part of 'europe' - a bit like england!

we're moving fast and that's the way we like it.

stockholm
a total blast...something happened that night
all the concerts are magical, but in that grand old philharmonic hall

it felt like all the ghosts of the great composers, conductors and musicians were watching over us and guiding us into even deeper realms of bliss.

here's sakha at his mixing desk.
we couldn't ask for anyone more in tune with our music.
we feel safe and in good hands with sakha at the mixing desk.

this year we're travelling with a lighting technician for the first time.

york wegener usually works with one of our all time favourite musicians – the norwegian saxophonist, jan garbarek

fortunately for us jan is not touring right now, so york is out on the road with us – as you can see, he's pretty inspirational.

there's a lot more preparation to one of our 'concerts' than you might imagine...here's york on the crane preparing his rig

our old friend from brasil, chandra, joined us on stage, playing his marimba [thumb piano], which made the evening even sweeter

of course the audience is key to the whole evening...in stockholm they were incredible!

at the copenhagen concert we met up with 'the essence' and 'password' producer and ashram pal, rajrishi

here he is with his wife ranvita and angel daughter, elvira.

while in copenhagen we took the opportunity to spend a day in the recording studio, completing mixes on password.

here's deva and jorgen lauritsen, string arranger, discussing life and other important subjects

our password team
standing: sakha [live sound], boe larsen [studio owner, mix engineer], deva, manose, miten
sitting: jorgen [string arranger], moussa [bass], klaus [drums] rishi [producer]

moussa is from mali – and you can hear it in the way he grooves...it's in his blood – he brought the spirit of africa to om dhara

which is a mantra in praise of mother earth

the main train station in antwerp...not a cathedral, although it could be...

..elke and her team in antwerp sure know how to welcome a ragged band of kirtan wallahs

delicious back stage food in antwerp

pre concert scene, antwerp

...off to the concert...

sound check is not my favourite time of day...

maybe because it's too much like work...

....even manose gets serious...!

...brain work needed...

...intense discussions...

...but hey, it's not all bad...!

our friends from estonia, kerli and laurie did a great job in organising a concert in their home town of tallinn

they even asked hare krishna devotees to come and prepare the food for us – needless to say it was prasad.

kerli and laurie are sitting in the fornt, to the right of the picture are their three great kids – gauri, erika...and ...uwe

inside
we were welcomed to estonia by a packed theater of 1000 kirtan wallahs

and good bye to estonia

st. petersburg in sunlight – a rare occurence apparently!
viewed from our hotel window...

we were welcomed back as long lost friends...

with great after-concert hugs...

it warms my heart to know children get to hear the mantras and the healing music

in moscow we played the biggest arena of the tour!

over 3,000 people came to sing with us, and sit in silent meditation.
historically, i'm sure this had never happened before - that so many people had sung and chanted sanskrit mantras in moscow.
a first!

as bob says, the times they are a-changin'...

i think we now qualify for the title – road warriors!

with love
dp&m...and m!

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