Rasa

Vocalist Kim Waters and German-born multi-instrumentalist/producer Hans Christian form the San Francisco-based duo Rasa, whose focus centers on Indian devotional music. Waters maintains a separate path as an illustrator grounded in her command of classical Indian art styles, whereas Christian served as a session musician in Los Angeles throughout the 1980s before later working alongside Robert Rich, Vas, Krishna Das, and Jai Uttal. In their joint work, Rasa emphasizes the calming, hypnotic qualities of Indian spiritual music by incorporating contemporary production techniques without straying from established tradition. Hearts of Space issued their first album, Devotion, in 2000, yet the 2001 follow-up Union brought them wider recognition. This exotic and sensual recording aligned more closely with their artistic goals and prompted several live appearances, one of which appeared the subsequent year as a live CD.