Uma Mohan fuses western and Indian music for her Sanskrit devotional albums. Quite foot-tapping. Recently, an English Druid friend of mine heard Mohan’s version of the Nirvana Shatakam (she was directed to it by someone else) and rather liked it.

Divine Chants Of Mahalakshmi – Prayers for Prosperity, Peace and Power-Uma Mohan

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Mohan has used western music, employing harmony better than some have in the category of devotional music and in Indian film music. She often comes up with a rather upbeat “pop” sound. It’s all quite new-agey, but I go through phases when I quite listening to the albums she’s conceptualised, before going back to something more classical.

One of the advantages of Mohan’s renditions is that the enunciation is clear, and one can sing along. I’ve found myself remembering the words to a lot of Sanskrit compositions because of Uma Mohan. Children, and those who don’t have an ear for Indian classical music, but who still want to listen to Sanskrit chants might like them too. What I don’t like is how synthetic the orchestration can sometimes sound, wish I could cancel that out.

Below are some albums that have some good music in the devotional genre.

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