Artist Jai Jagdeesh
Jai Jagadeesh: Spirituality and Song
Actress, classical Indian dancer, photographer, writer and musician Jai-Jagdeesh spent years traveling throughout Northern India. At the time, she was as a musical representative for Yogi Bhajan’s foreign education program to further global understanding and practice of the sacred texts of the Kundalini Yoga. She also has had the opportunity to connect with audiences at various live performances, festivals, and vocal workshops around the world.
Her previous studio album releases have garnered much critical acclaim, with one reaching #6 on the Billboard New Age Music chart. Her latest offering is: Down Come The Walls.
Down Come the Walls
I was immediately struck by the youthful timelessness of her voice and its combination of warmth and vulnerability. The album starts off with the beautiful track “Aykaa Maaee.” Here, her delicate voice is supported by a classical guitar and string quartet. The song “The Gift” has a pensive, blues-y feel to it that it reminiscent of Fiona Apple. “Har Har Har Gobinday” has an addictive and mysterious melody that you can’t stop repeating in your mind…certainly the perfect way to put you in a meditative mode.
On the gentle, waltz-like “Sohung (Sa Ta Na Ma),” the cello is nearly heartbreaking in its beauty. A dreamy sounding surf guitar adds its touch to the song later on. It’s gone in such a fleeting moment, I would have loved to hear more.
Jai-Jagdeesh clearly demonstrates not only incredible musical talent, but an authentic connection with and understanding of the power of these sacred chants. She is not a “show off” vocalist; she allows the true beauty of the chant to come through by paying due respect to the words and the melody.
Jai Jagdeesh on Tour
Jai-Jagdeesh is on tour in Fall, 2018 with California dates including in Encinitas, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Santa Barbara, and more.
McKenna caught the “yoga bug” as a little girl, watching Lilias Folan on PBS. She leads an active life hiking, running, sometimes snowboarding, and once was a nationally-ranked equestrian. After years of working in the digital industry for clients in entertainment, publishing and fashion, she took a sabbatical to acquire her yoga teacher certification. A desire to help people heal soon followed. Also a successful musician and composer, McKenna shares cutting-edge music during yoga classes, recruiting musicians and DJs to perform with her. She owned and operated East Hollywood’s Chakra 5 Yoga studio throughout 2011, creating a vibrant community on and offline, but decided to shift to a mobile model. Now Chakra 5 brings yoga classes on site and by appointment to businesses, schools and organizations throughout greater Los Angeles. McKenna was certified in Hatha/Kundalini at Karuna Yoga, and has additional teacher training in Restorative Yoga with Master Teacher Judith Lasater. She teaches yoga at Chakra 5 classes and international retreats.