Matador Records has announced the first complete and official release of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda’s Ashram Tapes: Turiya Sings, Divine Songs, Infinite Chants,and Glorious Chants
The Ashram tapes were originally recorded during the 1980s and 90s, and were first distributed to members of the Sai Anantam Ashram — a sanctuary founded by Coltrane in 1983 in the Santa Monica Mountains in Southern California — on cassette, with the fourth being on CD. The recordings feature gospel, traditional Indian chants, and avant-garde jazz using synthesisers, organs, and the Ashram choir
While some tracks from the tapes were compiled on the 2018 album The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda (Luaka Bop), and a version of the first tape, Turiya Sings, was released without synth parts in 2021 as Kirtan (Impulse!), this will be the first time that all of the tapes will be made available with full mixes, artwork, and sequences on physical and digital formats. Release dates are yet to be announced
“Alice’s vow to a monastic life opened a passageway that introduced her to ancient sacred recitations, voices, rhythms, and melodies – divine, ethereal sounds that bridged the material and spiritual realms,” says Coltrane’s daughter, Michelle. “Many interpret this experience as offering a profound understanding of the human experience. Musically, it’s a pure reflection of the life journey my mother was on at the time. She was seeking, in every, most authentic way, a life of devotion, transcendence, and spiritual elevation. The music was an inspired offering to the sanctity and feeling of this spiritual path.”
The profundity of Turiya Alice Coltrane’s musical offerings now being made publicly available is in alignment with a divine order, something Alice often spoke about,” she continues. “Artists never stop creating.”
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