Even the opening seconds of the third album by New York-based Ganavya Doraiswamy offer a glimpse into the direction of the ten tracks. On »Love Chant«, Doraiswamy sings in duet with jazz superstar Esperanza Spalding: A Love Supreme – that very piece many consider to be the magnum opus of saxophonist John Coltrane’s career, which is hardly short on highlights. Where Coltrane, in 1965, sang of God and divine love – giving voice to the anger and pain of the civil rights movement – in 2024 the focus has shifted to healing and reconciliation, to coming to terms with one’s own inner world. It is not only a homage to John, but also a direct reference to the work and compositions of the great Alice Coltrane (later Swami Satchidananda), particularly »Om Supreme« and »Journey in Satchidananda«.
Ganavya, born in New York but raised in Tamil Nadu, India, thus continues along the Coltranes’ path – one influenced by Brahmanic yogism. In contrast to the sometimes shrill recordings of Swamini’s devotional phase (recently rediscovered and featured on The Ecstatic Music Of …), Ganavya’s interpretation is delicate, elegant, and inward – more reminiscent of the gentle post-bop moments of the early 1970s. Fittingly, the so-called »new Pharoah Sanders«, Shabaka Hutchings, appears as a guest – a testament to the fact that Daughter of a Temple is driven first and foremost by musical excellence, not by a self-help narrative repackaged for turntables.
Daughter Of A Temple
