Biography
J. Donald Walters, also known as Swami Kriyananda, studied directly under Paramhansa Yogananda, the celebrated writer of Autobiography of a Yogi. After spending years in India, he delivered lectures—delivered in nine languages—and performed vocal pieces in a gentle baritone, rendering songs in authentic Bengali and Hindi before audiences numbering in the thousands. He took up composition in 1964, ultimately generating more than 300 pieces for chorus and solo voice. In 1968 he established the Ananda World Brotherhood Village, a planned spiritual settlement close to Nevada City, California. That same organization maintains both a publishing division, through which Walters issued more than sixty titles such as Secrets of Life from Warner Books, and the music imprint Crystal Clarity Light and Sound, responsible for issuing several of his devotional recordings intended for meditative practice. Given their meditative purpose, his albums rarely pursue elaborate arrangements and instead favor theme-and-variation forms. While certain releases incorporate Indian instruments including sitar, tamboura, and tabla, Walters frequently draws on Western sonorities, as illustrated by his partnership with famed Celtic harpist Derek Bell on The Mystic Harp.
Albums