As if the Shpongle Gods hadn’t showered us with enough magical particles already, Caeli La & myself (Dizzy G) had the pleasure of taking a first-hand look at the world through [the most] authentic Shpongleyes. What will be looked back upon as Lost in Sound‘s Divine Moment of Truth fell on a night where ten year anniversaries were plentiful: The first Shpongle Live Band performance in Tokyo, and the first Camp Bisco festival. Running an online publication in charge of turning up the silence on Linguistic Mystics, it only felt appropriate to sit down and have a chat with the acclaimed Connoisseur of Hallucination. Feeling like we were inside of a dream, we found ourselves erecting our Periscopes of Consciousness to lend a hand to our Circuits of the Imagination – as they were clearly running wild. These are the feelings Caeli & I felt, after an incredible Shpongle Live Band performance amongst THE Levitation Nation, as we made our way to the Spaceship of the Imagination, or in layman’s terms – the interview room. Without further introduction, please take a seat and enjoy our in-depth conversations with the Stamen of the Shaman, our greatest inspiration, the legendary Raja Ram.
Upon walking into Dizzy’s bedroom three years ago and getting smack-dab Shpongled in the face by the giant six eyed mural on his wall, my benign paradigm was forever unraveling from that moment on. The mask symbolized a wild devotion, an unbounded love felt by Dizzy, Ranch, and the rest of the outrageous ragers I had recently met, who had all been blowing my mind wide open. I knew that if this was the music they loved the most, it was sure to be something special. They played many a Shpongle song that night (it was Dizzy’s birthday party; a silly hat party, of course) and I fell hopelessly in love with the sound, the feeling, the communion that we all felt through the music. Since then, it has permeated so many areas of my life… My yoga classes begin with “Around The World in a Tea Daze” (my favorite track, thanks to the Sanskrit mantra Hara Hara Maha Deva Shambo Kashi Vishvanatha Gange) and end with the haunting hang drum of “Nothing is Something Worth Doing.” Raja Ram, the divine maestro, is my daily source of inspiration; through his ingenious bits of Facebook wisdom (which I will someday compile into a book of Raja-isms), the unthinkably deep and delightful interviews he’s given, and the pure light I perceive just from listening to him tell his stories and work his magic on stage. I am so honored and delighted to have developed a rapport with this most magical of creatures, and look forward to many happy memories and wild adventures in the inner (and outer) world we all share; all of us, in this most magical of tribes – Shpongleland.
STAY SHPONGLED EVERYONE! SEE YOU NEXT TIME IN SHPONGLELAND!
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