Anjali

The first collaboration CD from acoustic guitarist Michael Mandrell and multi-instrumentalist Benjy Wertheimer is mythic instrumental journey. The album transports the listener into both the faraway lands of ancient India – through the soulful sounds of the esraj, tamboura and tabla – and the mystical Celtic landscape with lyrical splashes of acoustic guitar. From this timeless inner landscape, listeners are invited to travel into the spontaneous journey of the heart that is accessed through yoga and meditation.

A founding member of the internationally acclaimed world fusion music ensemble, Ancient Future, Benjy has studied Indian classical music for over 20 years with some of the greatest masters of that tradition (including Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan and Z. M. Dagar). An award-winning songwriter, composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist (playing tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards), Benjy has toured the US, Canada, and Japan with renowned bamboo flute master G.S. Sachdev and has opened for such artists as Carlos Santana, Paul Winter, and Narada Michael Walden. For over five years, Benjy scored music for the internationally syndicated NBC series Santa Barbara. He has recorded with numerous artists on such labels as A&M, Windham Hill, Narada, Nippon Phonogram, Rounder and Global Pacific, and was a contributing composer/member of the Zakir Hussain Rhythm Experience (along with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead).

As Public Radio International's Echoes host John Diliberto put it in an interview, "Michael Mandrell is the acoustic guitar player infusing his original melodies and Indian scales with a Celtic lilt." Michael honed is open-tuning guitar craft in the early 80's on the Texas folk circuit, performing with and opening for many prominent and upcoming artists such as Nancy Griffith, Lyle Lovett, John Gorka, Kate Wolf, Spyro Gyra, California Guitar Trio, William Ackerman, Shadowfax, Townes Van Zandt, and Robert Mirabal. Michael has been touring nationally, playing solo as well as with Benjy Wertheimer and many others.