AXIS MUNDI is the Spine of the World,
the World Tree, The Pole Connecting
Heaven and Earth, The Central Cord of
the Cosmos.

Our music is based on the LIVE PLAYING of SPONTANEOUSLY ARISING SOUND - everything
is improvised in-the-moment. Although
some of our music is posted in WORLD FUSION
and some in ELECTRONICA TRANCE, we create our sound totally from live Vocal, Percussion and Didgeridoo performance, with real-time on the
fly processing of effects, if any. Nothing is created on a computer or synth/beat box. We
are live, Whole Body embodyments of the TRANCE.

Power to the People!

Stuart Sovatsky - Shamanic Trance Chant
Sondra Slade - Producer/Percussion
Lisa Sangita Moskow - Percussion

Rotating GUEST DIDJERIDU PLAYERS:
*Vlad Cardemas
*Frankieman Cepeda
*Alan Tower
*Jonah Kai





*Alan Tower

Former Member:
Travis Wernet - Didjeridu - 1999 - 2006



Members Bios:

Stuart Sovatsky, PhD, - Trance Chant - After completing a degree in East/West Religion from Princeton University in 1971, Stuart was initiated into the Shaktipat Kundalini Yoga lineage of Swami Kripalu in 1973. Stuart's own intensive 30 year yoga practice includes decades of emotionally rigorous tantric monasticism whereby his style of spontaneously-arising chanting, (known as "anahata-nad") emerged. Akin to the magical, sacred speech of Hebraic nigune, Islamic qwaali, gospel "holy ghost "
and Glossolalia "speaking in toques" inspired vocalizations, it also draws upon raw energy reminiscent of jazz improvisation and heavy metal ranting. While "melodic" kirtan chanting has become a popular form of group musical meditation with several fine kirtan leaders in our midst, Stuart took the road less traveled, into the origins of Devotional Chanting as manifestations (kriyas) of Kundalini Yoga. His
chanting sounds other-worldly, driven by the private intimacy of intoxicated worship and passions that exceed the norms of musicality. Between 1972-78, he had opened one of the first yoga studios in the US, taught the earliest prenatal Yoga classes, led numerous asana and kirtan retreats, had received the first Federal grants to bring yoga & kirtan to incarcerated youth and the mentally ill living in the flop-houses of Atlantic City, and was first choice to co-direct Ram Dass's "prison ashram." Now a psychotherapist for 30 years, he is Co-president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, a trustee since 1991 and faculty member since 1987 at the California Institute of Integral Studies, &
co-convener with Robert A.F.Thurman of the 2001 Infinity Roundtable on Eastern Religion (Columbia U). He has led chanting meditations at numerous Association for Transpersonal Psychology Conferences (1982-1995) & has presented over 25 scholarly presentations on Kundalini Yoga, nationally and in India, including at the 13th International Congress on Vedanta (U Miami-Ohio), World Association of Vedic Studies (U Mass), Global Renaissance Conference (Menla Institute), Science of Consciousness (U AZ), World Congress on Sexology (Delhi, India), Brain/ Consciousness Conference (Madras, India), Indian Psychology (Pondicherry, India) & Consciousness & Psychology (Hyerdabad, India). In 2000, he convened the first International Conference on Prison Yoga and in 2004 he will be the only Westerner invited to partake of rare Tantric rituals in Kerala, India. He is the author of Words From the Soul: Time, East/ West Spirituality and Psychotherapeutic Narrative (State Univ NY Press) recommended by Ken Wilber, Eros, Consciousness & Kundalini (Inner Traditions, 3rd edition reissued by Motilal Banarsidas in India), endorsed by Georg Feuerstein, Ken Wilber, Richard Rosen, Prabhakar Vaidya, & "The History of Euro-Hinduism in America" in the Columbia University Desk Companion on Eastern Religion (ed. Robert Thurman).

In 1994, he began pioneering the application of electronica to vocal anahata-nad to approximate the acoustics of the Vedic Cave Rituals of Elephanta Island, India, from whence all modern hatha yoga originated as ecstatic trance dance transhistorically linked to the present world-fusion music and dance scene, thus creating a temporal bridge connecting transformative spiritual & shamanic practice from past to future. He joined Axis Mundi in 1999.
http://home.jps.net/~stuartcs



Sondra Slade - Producer/Percussionist - Founded Axis Mundi and is the band's Producer and Artistic Director. She is a Musician, Event Producer, Visual & Media Artist, Ritualist and Herbalist, and she teaches TRANCE DRUMMING in the Bay Area. She has studied and performed music her whole life. In the 1960's she studied New Music under John Cage at the University of Illinois, and in the 60's and 70's was a singer and percussionist with renowned Jazz and New Music Composer Bill Russo's Rock Opera "Free Theatre" companies in both Chicago and San Francisco. She studied Classical North Indian music with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, (Vocal), Zakir Hussain and Shankar Ghosh (Tabla), and Vince Delgado (Dumbec), at the Ali Akbar College of Music in the 1970's, which is when she first became involved in Sacred Sound as a spiritual path. She continued her studies of Middle Eastern and Indian Percussion at The Center for World Music and with several other private teachers. She has performed with a variety of bands from Rock n' Roll, to Spoken Word and Acid Jazz. In addition to music, Sondra has been working professionally for over 25 years in the Bay Area as a Visual Artist and Event Producer, creating Immersive Media for the AXIS MUNDI performances and a spectrum of clients ranging from Comdex and Sony to the Black & White Ball and the S.F. Art Institute Galas, with her partner in their own business, Synapse Productions. She designed and produced Lightshows for several Theatrical and Music companies, including The George Coates Performance Works, and the rock band PRIMUS. She has produced several media shows for the greater Bay Area spiritual community, including Da Avabasa and the Free Diasts, and a video on the mystical visions and music of Hildegard of Bingen, in conjunction with the Rev. Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral. For three years, she also created the Media Surrounds for Rev. Matthew Fox's Techno Cosmic Mass. She has been the Producer, Artistic Director & Publicist for a variety of World Music Events, including the Association for Transpersonal Psychology's premiere Sacred Music Concert, assorted Sacred Sound Ritual Celebrations for the California Institute of Integral Studies at their
campus and Saint Gregory's Church, Rodney Yee's Piedmont Yoga Studio, the Harmonic Concordance, Open Secret, Earthdance, and PantheaCon, to name just a few. Sondra has served as Adjunct Instructor of Spirituality at Holy Names College and the University of Creation Spirituality, served on the faculty at GaiaAlliance teaching Sacred Sound for Transformation, and has been teaching Trance Drumming at Belladonna, Spiral Muse, Change Makers, the SF Spiritual Enrichment Center, the Humanist Fellowship and private lessons throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
http://soundclick.com/sondraslade
http://people.tribe.net/auntiematter
http://pweb.jps.net/~synapseprod



Lisa Sangita Moskow - Percussionist - is a well known figure in the World Music scene. Lisa began studying with Ali Akbar Khan (sarod and vocal) and Shankar Ghosh (tabla) in 1969. She studied classical Indian music for 15 years, while pursuing her interests in the fusion of different forms of music, incorporating improvisation and composition with equal enthusiasm. Best known as one of the worlds' premiere Classical Indian Sarod players, she has 30 years of innumerable collaborations, tours, and recordings to her credit. She also plays and teaches Tabla, and with Axis Mundi she pioneers the use of Electric Tabla on the Handsonic. http://www.lisasangitamoskow.com


GUEST DIDJERIDU PLAYERS:
Currently Axis Mundi is playing with
a variety of Guest Didj players.....

*Frankieman Cepeda
*Jonah Kai Morreales
*Vlad Cardemas
*Alan Tower

Alan Tower - Didjeridu, Huaca & Ocarina, Hang -
The Hang (pronounced Hung) is a new instrument out of Switzerland
that is in resonance with the natural world. A magical instrument
invented by two visionary artists, metallurgists & former steel pan
tuners, this instrument with its remarkable micro-tonal sound palette
and devotional spirit is a new form of love - a call to creativity.
Says it's inventors..."The Hang is a prayer".

Alan is a multi-instrumentalist & composer, and has played with Ancient Future, Stephen Kent, Mark Deutsch, Rafael Bejarano, The Tesla Group, and countless Bay Area & International World Music musicians. Since becoming sensitized in 1986 to our current ecological crisis, Alan's work became to bring music to the heart of environmental & social activism. In 2002 he launched Octave Alliance 501c3, a musical venture to promote work in this area which then become the Green Music Network. The Green Music Network (GMN) works at the intersection of science and spirit in developing a community of artists, healers, academicians,
activists and scientists to participate in the evolution of music. GMN investigates and promotes the new field of 'Vibrational Ecology' as a catalyst for other disciplines to reinvent solutions through seeing nature as our teacher. They create and promote an integral music based on these principles, that include yet transcend ethnic traditions as touchstones of the spirit, manifesting a future where nature's vibrational DNA is the fabric for developing new musical art forms. The result
is building beautiful and compelling tonal systems that shift consciousness, provide healing and serve as a new model for sustainability.

Alan also teaches composition and lessons to orient beginners to the world of Didjeridu.

www.greenmusicnetwork.org
www.alantower.net




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Former Member - 1999 -2006
Travis "Travieso" Wernet - Didgeridoo -
Our outstanding Didj player Travis, who contributed his supurb talents to Axis Mundi for over 7 years,
has moved on to pursue his own career.
We wish him all the luck he so richly deserves!!

Travis has lived in the Bay Area since 1994, having moved here from Colorado. He came into contact
with Didjeridu shortly after arriving in San Francisco and became mesmerized by the beauty and sound
of this awesome instrument, and has played with Axis Mundi since 1998, also stepping out as a Poet
and Fire Dancer with the group, performing Mystical Spoken Word with Poi and Fire Fans. The healing vibration of Didjeridu, which draws upon the breath to craft an earthly yet otherworldly listening experience, has deeply affected Travis and his life and inspired him to continue his years long exploration of music and the joy of creative collaboration through the offering of Sound Healing. Currently, he is providing sessions in his home in Emeryville, where he shares space with two housemates who also
create music and art. In August 2005, he started working with clients interested in a powerful healing modality known as Clarity BreathWork. He also offers on-going dream groups at his home in Emeryville.
His background includes two years study in Dreams and Universal Archetypes with Jeremy Taylor at the University of Creation Spirtuality as well as 11 years experience working in the Community Mental Health Field in San Francisco. Lanterns of Midnight , his first solo effort highlighting original Mystical Spoken
Word Poetry, Multi-instrumental, Hypnotic Grooves & Didjeridu is currently available @www.cdbaby.com and showcases a collaborative journey with Producer Ben Leinbach, who also has recorded and Produced Axis Mundi's upcoming, long awaited and Time Seasoned, Deep Groove, Devotional-Trance-Fusion Tour
de Force.
You can contact Travis at www.intuitivesound.net

Indian, Middle Eastern, Sacred Chant, Nu Jazz,
Ethno & World Groove, Asian Massive, Asian Underground, Bhangra, Trance & Goa, World Beat

Ecstatic Human Voice with Live Looping and Vortex Sonic Processing, Shruti, Harmonium and Electronic Bagpipes - World & Tribal Percussion: Doumbek, D'jembe, Klong Yaw, Talking Drum, Rik & Tambourine, Roland Handsonic Electronic world Drums, Gongs, Bells, Shakers, Zils (Finger Cymbals) - Didgeridoo, Triangle, Khatak Bells.

Additional Info & Bookings:
axismundi@jps.net

Our Other Websites -

http://pweb.jps.net/~axismundi

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