Deva Premal

About

German singer, born 2 April 1970 in Nürnberg. Deva Premal is a singer known for introducing Sanskrit mantras into the mainstream. Her meditative, spiritual music, composed and produced with Prabhu Music, puts ancient Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras into contemporary settings. Her album Deva (2018) received a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Age Album for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. Premal and Miten say they use a process of "natural selection" to choose the mantras on their albums. Premal has said she gravitates toward Sanskrit mantras, rather than mantras from other languages. She says that, for her, removing her ego from her understanding of the mantra allows the creative process to express the true meaning of the mantra. She explains that the purpose of their work "is to be open to the Goddess of music, to be true to ourselves, as musicians, as 'teachers;' as partners, and ultimately, as individuals, fellow travellers. We accomplish this by not 'trying' to accomplish anything. We take very little credit for what is happening around our so-called success (we have sold over a million albums now) – we see ourselves as messengers of a 5,000-year-old tradition...so, our part in the process is simply to show up and chant." Her vocal range is contralto.