Vajra Vocalist Annamaria Pinna Meets His Holiness The Dalai Lama
New York, NY (PRWEB) February 23, 2015 -- Annamaria Pinna, Vajra vocalist and founder, met with His Holiness The Dalai Lama at an event hosted by the Development Organization for Societies in Transition (DOST) to discuss the concept of service. Sheikh Fadhil al-Sahlani, representative of His Eminence the Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Sistani, Islamic Relief USA CEO Anwar Khan, U.S. Institute for Peace vice president Manal Omar and Muflehun executive director Humera Khan, joined His Holiness and His Eminence for a panel conversation on the idea of service. Richard Gere, of Pretty Woman fame and a practicing Buddhist, showed up and sat in the front row. Around a hundred American Muslims and American Buddhists were in attendance and the event was reported in Time Magazine (http://time.com/3697856/dalai-lama-islam/).
"Meeting His Holiness is such an honor and a blessing, and i am so very grateful. I've traveled through Tibet, helped a couple of Tibetan men get asylum here in the US and have been a student of Tibetan buddhism for a number of years now. In fact, the name Vajra, which is the thunderbolt or the diamond, and the Tibetan Buddhist equivalent is the Dorje," states Annamaria.
Vajras music is hauntingly dark and hypnotic weaving Eastern Indian themes with melodic, progressive rock creating foreboding and mysterious lullabies. Their single Blind (Blood Mix) is now in rotation at terrestrial commercial rock stations including: WOBG/Fairmont, WKKI/Celina, KZND/Anchorage, KEYJ/Abilene, WGBF/Evansville, KJML/Joplin, KGRR/Dubuque, WOBJ/Fairmont, KAZY/Cheyenne, KFML/Little Falls, KHAD/Upton, KHWL/Altus, KMZK/Grand Junction, KOZE/Lewiston, KQDI/Great Falls, KROW/Cody, KRWN/Farmington, KTED/Casper, KTRX/Ardamore, KXPZ/Las Cruces, WECL/Eau Claire, and WPNT/Villa Rica and it was added to SiriusXM's hard rock Octane Channel over the Summer.
"Blind (Blood Mix)" ranked #37 on the Under the Radar Music Chart and was #1 for two consecutive weeks (10/6/14 &10/13/14) at Rockfile Radio Ice, and the #30 Most Requested Song of 2014 on Ice. Blind is also being played at a host of other internet radio stations including Radio 106, WPNY, Rock 939 and Hard N Heavy Radio.
Creem Magazine states, Vajra marries the sound of eastern India with the abrasive, melodic infrastructure of progressive rock. Since playing their first show in 2011, Vajra has been captivating the NYC music scene with their eyebrow raising theatrical antics and uncanny sound. [Their] live show is like a cathartic punch in the face."
The Big Takeover Magazine describes Vajra's music as, "sinister, sprawling, and stately featuring booming, tribal drums, ominous synths and lucent, spiraling guitars...[w]hat further sets them apart is the East Indian mysticism that pervades thanks to Pinna's hypnotic, Classical Hindustani-tinged singing."
According to Progression Magazine, Vajra's music is, "an innovative nexus of melodic prog, world beat and hypnotic eastern vibes, delivered with dramatic panache."
Catch Vajra perform at The Mercury Lounge on Friday, March 20 at 10:30pm.
For more about Vajra and for ticket information, visit their website at http://www.thevajratemple.com.
AMP, Vajra, +1 (845) 430-6283, [email protected]
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