ABOUT RON RAGEL AND VICKI HANSEN

Ron Ragel is a musician, blending Indian, world and contemporary music genres. He is also an author, educator and life long student of sound, spirituality and consciousness, having traveled all over India in his quest for knowledge and an understanding of the great musical tradition and spirituality of that country..

 He was born and raised in Colombo Sri Lanka where he began playing stringed instruments at the age of six and began playing music professionally after moving to Australia in the early seventies. In the late eighties his life took on a deep inward journey, following a life changing spiritual transformation he experienced in San Francisco. It was followed by long periods of global pilgrimage and introspection learning from scholars and sages who would become his pointers of Truth. It led him to meeting his future wife Vicki in 1997.

 Their initial union was a meeting of minds and musical talents together pioneering world music in Australia with recordings, concerts and festivals all over the country. At the turn of the century they had for a period of time been the most prolific contributors in the prestigious ARIA awards (Australian Record Industry Association) with over thirty percent of the entries coming from their record label.

Today their music and life are philosophies of expression deeply enshrined in a musical home that speaks of Universal love, spiritual awareness and devotion that leads to the Doorways to Enlightenment and is enjoyed by a wide and diverse international audience from Finland to New Zealand, all over the US and Australia.

Vicki Hansen is an accomplished composer and musician who has several albums on national and international release, and has been credited on numerous film, television and theatre soundtracks.  She is one of a rare breed of female didgeridoo players and  has also trained in the North Indian Hindustani tradition of Classical Singing, establishing her as a highly unique artist. She is dedicated to the upliftment of consciousness through music and sound.

 Together Ron and Vicki, as IndiaJiva, are inspiring musicians who give voice to an essential spirituality, common to everyone, through their music and song.  They are masters at weaving ethereal Vedic chants and Raga Sangeet (2000 year old Indian music tradition), with their mystical sonorities,  presenting their music in a contemporary and accessible manner, elevating consciousness wherever they go.  

Through their work, they support many humanitarian movements and are advocates of World Peace through inner transformation.  Their concerts, workshops and Satsangs have inspired thousands of people. The Sacred Sound Yoga sessions that they have developed are a journey through the frequencies of sound to the realms of the mystic that makes enlightenment a real possibility.

Together, they play a diverse range of instruments, both traditional and modern, including: Sitar, African Drums and percussion, didgeridoo, bansuri flutes, Keyboards, guitar, bass.

HUMANITARIAN CAUSE

Ron and Vicki continue to support the Sarvodaya Organisation in Sri Lanka, the largest NGO in the country, developed around a set of coherent philosophical tenets drawn from Buddhism and Gandhian thought. It has been operational for almost 50 years.

The comprehensive approach of Sarvodaya has worldwide appeal because it addresses root causes rather than merely the symptoms of poverty. Its attention to social, economic, cultural, spiritual and other concerns supports personal and village empowerment in ways that few ‘programs’ can match and is a perfect model for global peace building. 

For more information and direct support, see

www.sarvodaya.org