Dada Nabhaniilananda - The Monk Dude

Genre: Singer/Songwriter
Secondary Genre: Folk Los Altos, California USA Contact

I call my music Spiritual Eco-Folk, in the style of Paul Simon or Cat Stevens. It features poetic lyrics, strong choruses, and melodic guitar. Using songs, multimedia, chanting, stories and meditation I seek to awaken in my audience a higher spiritual awareness and a sense of oneness with all life.

Artist Information

Biography

Dada Nabhaniilananda - yoga monk, meditation instructor, award winning song-writer, musician & author

Dada was born in New Zealand in 1955. During his early life he studied classical music and poetry. At the age of 11 he started composing music for the piano, and his teachers had high hopes of him becoming a concert pianist. However, during his time as a University student he developed a deep interest in Eastern mysticism. In 1975 he left his native land for Australia, and later Nepal and India where he studied the disciplines and philosophy of Yoga and Meditation within sight of the Himalayas, and was ordained as a Yoga Monk of Ananda Marga in 1979.

Dada plays melodic folk rock in the style of Simon & Garfunkel or Cat Stevens. He sings about spiritual experiences and ecological or human rights issues, and derives many of his ideas from myths and legends of different cultures. His early musical influences include folk singers Donovan and Don Mclean, and 70’s bands Yes, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Genesis & Santana. Dada’s immersion in eastern mysticism adds a deeper dimension to his music, giving it a lasting quality.

Dada has been recording and performing since 1984, and has played on every continent save Antarctica. He frequently appears at ecological protests or alternative festivals where his songs and audio-visual presentations about the environment are always well received.

In 1988 he recorded his second album, Warriors of the Rainbow, with guest artist Daevid Allen of Gong and Soft Machine, produced by Harry Williamson, also of Gong. In 1992 he was featured at the Rio Earth Summit where he played with Paul Winter, and a hot Brazilian backing band and performed for an audience of 10,000.

Dada currently lives in the US where he tours occasionally, performing and teaching at Yoga Centres, Festivals and conferences, Universities and New Thought Churches. In 2007 he performed in New York with Premik Tubbs, who has played with Santana, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Whitney Houston and host of other greats.

Dada is currently based in California, where he teaches a course at UC Berkeley in Yogic Meditation: A Technology for Conscious Evolution, writes new songs, and is working on a comic science fiction novel.

Instrumentation

Dada Nabhaniilananda: Vocals and acoustic guitar

Discography

LP length CD releases:

The Fire Dragon Suite (1985)
Anandakiirtan 3 (1988)
Warriors of the Rainbow (1990)
The Return of the Magic (2002)
Flight of Love (2009)
The Love Remains (due for release 2013)

Official Website

http://www.TheMonkDude.com

Audio

Lyrics

Video

Soft Wind, Clear Sky - live

OCEAN_OF_TEARS no intro.mp4

Photo Gallery

  • Taiwan concert 2007

  • POSTER

  • Serious look. Monochrome

  • Talking in the park

  • Concert in Eugene

  • Rio Earth Summit 1992

  • Meditation on cliffs of Moir

    Download print quality (high-res) version (Right Click -> Save As)
  • Playing in the park

  • Prague Concert

  • Australia concert

Press

  • Warriors of the Rainbow CD [+ Show ]

    One of the nicest surprises of the year is Dada Nabhaniilananda’s riveting collection of songs, Warr...

  • Concert Review at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit [+ Show ]

    Dada Nabhaniilananda gained a lot of new fans in Rio last night. Following John Denver’s solo perfor...

  • Return of the Magic CD Review [+ Show ]

    It's been many years. At long last, Dada Nabhaniilananda's stubborn refusal to yield to impatience d...

  • Close Your Eyes & Open Your Mind - book review [+ Show ]

    As Dada Nabhaniilananda says in the introduction to Close Your Eyes and Open Your Mind, yoga and med...

  • The Singing Monk [+ Show ]

    At first sight, Dada Nabhaniilananda (or just plain ‘Dada’ as he kindly allows those of us without a...

  • An Enchanting Night of Music and Light [+ Show ]

    Music, singing and slides-shows combined in a unique presentation at the Princess Hill Auditorium l...

Setlist

First half - Set 1 (35 minutes)
Shiva Giiti
Love is Everywhere
Perfect Love
Winds of Change
Pemulwuy the Rainbow Warrior
The Return of the Magic

Second half - Set 2 (35 minutes)
Shanti
Ocean of Tears
Warriors of the Rainbow
No Distance
Soft Wind, Clear Sky
Kiirtan
Meditation

Basic Requirements

PDF Rider

Interview with Yogalife Magazine

Calendar

DateTimeVenueCity
Jun 30, 2013 Sunday 4:00 PM Rosendale Retreat Center, 288 Hickory Bush Rd Kingston, NY, US
Jul 11, 2013 Thursday 4:00 PM Online interview on the show: The Summer of You US
Aug 4, 2013 Sunday 7:00 PM TEDx, Upper East Side, New York. New York, NY, US
Aug 28, 2013 Wednesday 12:00 PM Online Interview: Energized Living Today US