Biography
There are at least two artists named Govinda - in chronological order -:
1) Govinda start their activities in 1994, when original members of Keshava (Satya Mana, Pandit Ananda and Yasodanandana), that had some of their new age tracks released on Klaus Schulze label “Innovative communication” decided to change. Everything started when the three Keshava members met DJ Om, who was quite well known in the Los Angeles area, Balearic Islands and Barcelona, so they decided to start a new project, Govinda, along with the support of Indian and Sri Lankan singers, plus the singer/dancer “Chandra”. The new project gets immediate interest, and Govinda release their first album “Selling India by the pound” and their first 12” single “Trascendental Ecstasy” which also includes a long and uptempo version of “Awaken”. They were signed by Vox Pop, an Italian indie label which, at the time, included some of the most interesting indie bands such as Mau Mau, Africa Unite, Afterhours and Prozac+ among others. While touring Italy, they start to write songs for a new album, “Atom heart Madras” which will be released in 1997 by Chimes/EMI . Meanwhile, the Govinda combo, which now includes Satya Mana, Pandit Ananda, Yasodanandana, Maureen Fernando, Chandra and DJ Om, starts to collaborate with other artists such as Transglobal Underground, Loop Guru, Lovecalò, Farfa, Stefano Noferini and the cult label “Materiali Sonori”, that will ask Govinda to work on several remixes. The album “Atom heart Madras”, which features a few prestigious collaborations, is licensed and distributed by EMI Music Italy and through its company partners released in several other countries. Three singles are released from the album and several tracks end up included worldwide in a big number of top compilations, including the Gold selling EMI compilation “Eterea”, which includes among others Paul McCartney, Sting, Art of Noise and David Sylvian, “Chillout Moods”, the world famous “Buddah Bar”, “Chilled out in Paris” and “Stoned Asia”, edited and created by the world fame London based DJ Pathaan, at the time resident dj of Ibiza’s Pacha and opener of the David Bowie concerts with his DJ set. Since the very beginning, Govinda start a collaboration with musician/DJ Alexander Robotnick who produced several records for Sire/Warner in the States and was an inspirational source for the whole 90’s electro/house movement. This collaboration took to the recording of several tracks from all of the Govinda albums, including “Shiva” and “Yasomati” written along with one of the most prestigious and respected Italian artists: Franco Battiato. In 2002, a few years after their debut, a with a slightly different line-up, due to the departure of Pandit Ananda and a new American singer , Lucretia, Govinda record and release their third album “Wish you were India”, signed for the world by Nun Entertainment and distributed by Edel. The first two singles off this third album are “Dance in XTC” and “Starship” both used on big commercials , while “Shiva” becomes the soundtrack of a Giorgio Armani campaign. Of course, during these years, Govinda has been touring at different stages and was also invited on some of the most prestigious indie festivals, such as Sonar in Barcelona (along with Underworld and Moby), Sonoria with Orbital, The Budapest Music Festival along with Massive Attack and The Orb among others. Finally, in 2012 they published "The Original Soundtrack" at the 69th International Venice Film Festival through "Giornate degli Autori". A new album will be published throughout this year.
2) Originating from Austin, Texas, Govinda is the project of multi-instrumentalist and composer Shane O’Madden. On albums like his 1998 debut O Earthly Gods and the following year’s Entwined & Entranced, O’Madden blends elements of classical Indian and Asian music with breakbeat and trip-hop inspired beats.
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