Miten

Miten, born Andy Desmond in Britain, is a musician and songwriter who performs chant and mantra music with his musical partner Deva Premal. Together they are Deva Premal & Miten, and their concerts weave Indian Sanskrit mantras with Miten's own songs. Their YouTube channel describes them as Grammy-nominated chant artists who share music, mantras and meditations.

Miten's musical life began long before the mantras. In the late 1960s he founded the folk/rock duo Gothic Horizon with Richard Garrett, which released two albums on UK Argo. From 1973 he performed solo and was part of a group of folk musicians signed to Ray Davies's Konk Records. His 1975 album Living on a Shoestring featured members of The Kinks, and in 1976 Ariola released a self-titled album of ten of his own songs. He opened for artists including Fleetwood Mac, Randy Newman, Hall & Oates and The Kinks, and for Ry Cooder on his 1978 European tour.

He then turned toward meditation and Eastern philosophy. In 1980 he was initiated into sannyasa by the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and given the name Prabhu Miten, meaning "Friend of God". At Osho's ashram in Pune he recorded In Wonder, a tribute to his guru, and later worked with producer John Leckie on Blown Away.

He met Deva Premal in India in 1990. Their recordings together include Strength of a Rose, Trusting the Silence, Satsang, Songs for the Inner Lover, More Than Music and Temple at Midnight. Their version of the Gayatri Mantra was covered by Cher on her Farewell Tour album in 2002.

Beyond the music, their site gathers a mantra course, a book of mantras, lyrics and chords, and the Gayatri Fund, a Nepal-focused project they call compassion in action.