Sound Meditation Experience

OM or Aum is the primal vibration from which all other vibrations emerge, including all light, sound, and physical matter.

In the field of acoustics, vibrations of vibrations are called overtones, and these resonances are based on simple natural ratios. For example, doubling a sound wave’s frequency creates a note one octave higher. This tuning system has fallen out of favor in western music since the 17th century’s advent of Equal Temperament, which uses scales that don’t conform to the natural overtones of nature.

Acoustic Mandala Project creates soundscapes ideal for journeying and meditation. As participants don eye masks and lie down on yoga mats, Alexandre Tannous and David Ellenbogen will invoke the overtone-rich vibrations of gongs, Tibetan bowls, and other instruments.

About the artists

Alexandre Tannous is one of the leading practitioners, researchers, and educators of the integrative experience he calls “sound meditation.” He has been active as a musician, educator, composer, and ethnomusicologist and has conducted fieldwork for seventeen years in more than forty countries around the world. For the past twelve years he has been researching the therapeutic and esoteric properties of sound from three different perspectives—Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs—to gain a deeper understanding of how and to what extent sound has been used to affect human consciousness.

David Ellenbogen is a musician, producer, and radio host who has recently made huge waves with the Brooklyn Raga Massive collective. Their boundary-pushing programming and exciting performances have led to many sold-out shows and praise from the New York Times for “Preserving the past while blurring genres in an inventive spirit” and the Wall Street Journal for “Expanding the notion of what raga—the immersive, epic form of Indian music—can mean.”

Ellenbogen is the producer of ambitious musical events like the twenty-four-hour Ragas Live Festival and the Africa/India Series all while playing guitar with a who’s who of New York’s world music scene. He has facilitated many sound and yoga retreats, from the Catskills to Costa Rica.