PORT TOWNSEND — A concert of sacred music with the kirtan band Shantala and folk artist Mikey Pauker will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The concert will be at the Madrona MindBody Institute in Building 310 in Fort Worden.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
Advance tickets are available online at www.madronamindbody.com/new-events.
The concert, part of their Shalom Tour, features sacred chanting in Sanskrit and Hebrew and “uplifting songs in the style of world folk music,” organizers said.
Time magazine has named Pauker one of the 10 Stars of The New Jewish Music. His devotional songs in English and Hebrew contain elements of folk, reggae and hip-hop.
His music has been compared to Michael Franti, Trevor Hall, Mike Love and Stick Figure.
His “Rise” music video swept the world with more than 1 million viewers this past year.
Shantala’s core members Benjy and Heather Wertheimer are joined by Greg Barnett on bass and Port Townsend musician David Michael on Celtic harp.
The music is a contemporary style of Kirtan — an ancient form of call-and-response singing of ecstatic chants and sacred music. There will be audience participation and invitation for all to sing.
Benjy Wertheimer is a composer, multi-instrumentalist (tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, keyboards and vocals) who studied Indian classical music for more than 25 years with such masters as Ali Akbar Khan and Zakir Hussain.
He has shared stages with Carlos Santana, Paul Winter and Mickey Hart and has produced 17 CDs which have received extensive airplay around the world.
Heather Wertheimer is a singer-songwriter, guitarist and prolific recording artist.
As Shantala, she and her husband, Benjy have led kirtan worldwide since 2001. They enjoy an international online following, with millions of streams on Spotify in 2018 alone.
Shantala has performed with such sacred-music luminaries as Krishna Das, Deva Premal & Miten, and Jai Uttal.
Barnett recently played with Jai Uttal, Prema Hara, Gina Sala, Kirtan Soul Revival, Sirgun Kaur, Adam Bauer, and Ben Leinbach. He also composes and performs as a solo guitarist.
Michael is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who has produced 25 CDs of original music, heard on syndicated radio shows, cable and network television, documentaries and nature films.
From castles, cultural centers and walking streets of Scandinavia, to the ferryboats of the Salish Sea, he has graced many with his Celtic harp.
For more information, call 360-344-4475.
