Kula Shaker
The band are known for their interest in traditional Indian music, culture, and mysticism, with a number of their most famous songs, including "Tattva" and "Govinda", featuring lyrics written in Sanskrit. The name Kula Shaker was itself inspired by King Kulasekhara, an Indian emperor from the 8th century. In addition, many of the band's songs feature traditional Indian instruments, such as the sitar, tamboura, and tabla, juxtaposed with guitar-heavy, Western rock instrumentation. Despite achieving commercial success, Kula Shaker were unpopular with many critics, with "The Observer"'s Simon Price describing them in 2014 as a "joke band".
Kevin Siegfried
Siegfried is especially noted for his work with the music of the Shakers, which he first encountered in 1995 during a visit to the Shaker village at Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. He has since produced many choral arrangements of Shaker songs, and has composed a cantata, "Angel of Light", for which they served as a basis. He has been associated for some time with Canterbury Shaker Village in New Hampshire, and Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine, as of 2017 the home of the last living Shakers. Siegfried's arrangements of Shaker music have been recorded by the Tudor Choir and the Dale Warland Singers. He has also written works for the Nashua Symphony Orchestra in Nashua, New Hampshire.