Shaman's Dream

The Shaman's Dream World Groove Ensemble is a collective of Los Angeles based musicians and dancers dedicated to building community though world music, ecstatic dance and sacred ritual. In 1997, Kohland and Berry created a highly acclaimed community world music and ecstatic dance journey process called "Zen Dancing". Their work with Zen Dancing has been highlighted on the BBC, Lifetime Television, The London Sunday Times, Spirit Magazine, Harper's Bazaar. Craig Kohland and Shaman's Dream create improvisational world music for the ecstatic movement meditation process which is facilitated by producer, dancer and yoga instructor, Micheline Berry.

What makes Shaman's Dream's music and dance unique they're improvisational and ritual-based. Creating music in this way requires the musicians to be spontaneous and source their musical inspiration from the immediacy of the moment during the ecstatic ritual, moving-meditation process. A deep listening to oneself, to the other musicians, to the environment and to the dancers is crucial. This approach allows the music to be open to follow the flow of the moment, leaving room for spirit to be present.

The world-class ensemble members of Shaman's Dream come from unique and diverse musical backgrounds and have years of professional recording, touring and improvisational experience to offer. A beautiful facet of the band is that no one player is the star and everyone takes turns leading or supporting.

Much of our skill as an ensemble lies our ability to fuse a variety of musical influences. In one performance we may transition from ambient to funk, from West to North African, from Balinese to Middle Eastern, from traditional world fusion to techno/electronica.

The need for community has encouraged us to find new ways of connecting and Shaman's Dream has been the focal point of community building through music ever since its inception. The tribal roots from which we draw constantly feed us with the life giving energy of rhythm, harmony and melody. As we reintroduce this ancient form of periodic celebration we find a sense of unity that is unparalleled. All the members of the band are deeply grateful for the opportunity to play in such a caring, supportive environment.

Shaman’s Dream began in 1995 as the result of a brainstorming session between percussion/producer Craig Kohland, and multi-instrumentalist Chuck Jonkey. The idea was to create music for yoga, meditation, and healing that had roots in the indigenous shamanic sounds of Africa and Asia. Kohland, who has long held an interest in Shamanic ritual practices, used his collective knowledge from his travels and healing work as the bockbone for three albums: Breathing, Bindu and Prana.

Next Craig joined forces with producer/dancer Micheline Berry in 1997. Shaman’s Dream began performing monthly live ritual dance concerts called ‘Zen Dancing: The Rhythm of Ecstasy”, adding an ecstatic dance component to their intoxicating world music.

“One of the most powerful aspects of our ritual concerts is that the music is almost entirely improvised, creating a dynamic, healing and trance-inducing relationship between musician and dancer. This ritual approach to making music keeps everyone open to the healing power of spirit behind the music and to the deep joy that comes from being spontaneous.

What sets the music of Shaman’s Dream apart from other world fusion collectives is that our artists have a predilection for very organic sounding rhythms that capture the sound of ancient cultures. There’s an infectious pleasure to the music – almost as if the musicians got together in an impromptu gig; not to record an album, but rather for the simple enjoyment of performing the music.