naamleela free jones
Naamleela Free Jones is a composer, singer, classical pianist, and music producer dedicated to invoking heart communion with the Divine through her art. Her rare spiritual upbringing on an ashram in Fiji, combined with the multi-faceted breadth of her training in both Eastern and Western classical traditions, brings an embracing range of expression and contemplative depth to Naamleela’s music.
Born in 1980, Naamleela is the youngest daughter of spiritual teacher and artist, Adi Da Samraj. She was raised in a traditional ashram setting on an island in Fiji where, from an early age, she was intensively schooled in spiritual practice and sacred art. Chant and devotional music were a part of everyday life, so as a young girl Naamleela learned to view music not as a performance, but as a sacred offering that invokes the Divine.
Naamleela's musical style developed set apart from the world of popular music, and was influenced by a wide range of musicians and teachers who came to visit her father's ashram. Showing strong talent at an early age, she had composed her first chants as well as 4-part choral arrangements by the age of 9. At 10, she was making field recordings of the natural sounds of the island, splicing together multi-layered soundtracks on 8-track tape. By 15, she had mastered and performed many of the great works of classical piano, from Chopin and Rachmaninoff to the entire Goldberg Variations of J.S. Bach.
In her late teens, physical difficulties developed as a result of her many hours of piano playing, which pushed her to expand and channel her energy in to composition and production. She went on to study East Indian music at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music, and received a master certificate in music production from the Berklee College of Music Online. Collaborating with world-renowned artists and friends, Naamleela has self-produced and released eight albums to date, including original compositions, classical piano, jazz fusion, and traditional chants.
Since 2007, Naamleela has become increasingly involved with multimedia productions, combining art, music, dance, and theater. She collaborated with Adi Da Samraj in creating original scores for screenings of his image-art, learning and developing a unique language of modern aesthetic interpretation. She now frequently plays in and directs improvisational performance groups of modern music combined with Adi Da's art. In 2010 she performed her original compositions at the Bargello Museum with the Florence Dance Company, as well as in the Netherlands, Boston, and Washington D.C.
Naamleela lived closely with her father and spiritual teacher, Adi Da Samraj, witnessing and serving his unique work for nearly three decades. She dedicates all of her music to him as the source of her creative and spiritual inspiration. She continues to reside primarily in Fiji, from which contemplative setting she writes, records, and produces music reflective of the profound depth of sacred and artistic sensitivity that has been the focus of her life.