Deva Premal

German singer

Deva Premal (born 2 April 1970 in Nürnberg, Germany, as Jolantha Fries) is a singer known for introducing Sanskrit mantras into the mainstream. They have been touring together since 1992, offering concerts and chant workshops worldwide. Best known for her top selling chant CDs, Premal is a classically trained musician who grew up singing mantras. Her albums have topped New age charts throughout the world since her first release, The Essence (1998), which features the "Gayatri Mantra." Premal and Miten's record company, Prabhu Music, reports sales of over 900,000 albums. Premal says she began her journey with mantra in her mother's womb, as her father chanted the "Gayatri Mantra" daily—one of the most sacred mantras of Sanatana Dharma. The mantra continued to be her bedtime lullaby after she was born. Years later, she heard a friend singing the Gayatri and was inspired to create an album. Premal and Miten recorded The Essence (1998) in her mother's apartment in Germany, where she was born and first heard the Gayatri Mantra. Premal brought this journey with the Gayatri Mantra full circle in July 2005, when she and Miten chanted it for her father as he was dying; "We kept singing for what must have been over half an hour when suddenly the monitor showed that he was about to leave. I continued to sing, and the last sound he heard as he passed on was his beloved "Gayatri Mantra." Finally, we ended with the mantra Om, and the circle was complete. He had welcomed me onto this planet with the "Gayatri," and I accompanied him out of this physical existence with it. What a blessing this was for me! It was the first time that I was present at a death, and to be at my father's is a memory I will cherish all my life." In an interview with Sam Slovik of LA Yoga Magazine, Premal discussed the potent effect many notice when chanting mantras:

"The meaning is secondary. The word table is not the table with Sanskrit, the word ananda is the sound vibration of bliss. In sound the energy of bliss. We have to say bliss; we have to make it smaller by putting it into an English word. Just the sound; ananda, If we were sensitive enough, we'd just feel the entire scope of that energy that's contained in this sound It's working on a cellular level. It's much deeper than the mind. It's not a language that you need to understand the meaning of before you use it. It's a deep universal sound code that connects us all." Premal's chants have been used in a variety of settings. Cher featured Premal's version of the "Gayatri Mantra" on her Farewell Tour and Russian prima ballerina Diana Vishneva danced to Premal's "Gayatri" in Moses Pendleton's F. L. O. W. series. Actor/director Edward James Olmos is said to have handed out copies of Premal's "Gayatri Mantra" to the cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica, as well as citing her music as an inspiration in preparing his role as Commander Adama in the series. Olmos also used "Om Hraum Mitraya" from Premal's album Dakshina (2005) to close his HBO movie Walkout. Premal and Miten performed for The Dalai Lama during a 2002 Conference in Munich, Germany on "Unity in Duality," which brought top figures from the scientific community together with members of the Buddhist community. They gave a concert for the full conference, and were also invited to sing for the Dalai Lama at a small pre conference gathering. They sang the Tara Mantra for the Dalai Lama because they had heard that it was his favorite mantra and that he had recently requested it while he was ailing. The mantra is dedicated to the Green Tara of Compassion. Premal's Tibetan Mantras for Precarious Times (2010) was recorded with the Gyuto Monks of Tibet, known for their tradition of overtone singing. It was created as a support for mantra meditation practice, featuring eight mantras each chanted 108 times. It is a benefit CD, with proceeds going to the Gyuto Monastery in Dharmsala, India, the Phowa Project, and Veggiyana.

Premal and Miten say they use a process of "natural selection" to choose the mantras on their albums. Premal has said she gravitates toward Sanskrit mantras rather than mantras from other languages. She says that, for her, removing her ego from her understanding of the mantra allows the creative process to express the true meaning of the mantra. She explains that the purpose of their work "is to be open to the Goddess of music – to be true to ourselves, as musicians, as 'teachers;' as partners, and ultimately, as individuals – fellow travelers. We accomplish this by not 'trying' to accomplish anything. We take very little credit for what is happening around our so called success (we have sold over a million albums now) – we see ourselves as messengers of a 5,000 year old tradition so our part in the process is to show up and chant." Her vocal range is contralto.