An Evening with Katie Wise and Bhakti Explosion

Date and Time

• Friday, Nov 21, 2025  7pm - 9:30pm

Location

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Details

Join Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion for an evening of devotional chanting, heartfelt songs and community connection. Blending mantra with folk and Americana, Katie weaves together stories, chants and music from the heart. As Australian Yoga Life writes: “Wise’s soulful, earthy voice embodies vulnerability in a way that turns emotion into art.”

Katie has performed at leading sacred music festivals worldwide — including Bhakti Fest, Hanuman Festival, Arise, Festival of Colors, Mammoth Yoga Festival, Holistic Manchester and Bhakti Love Reunion — and has shared the stage with chant luminaries such as Donna DeLory, Deva Premal & Miten, David Newman, Girish, Brenda McMorrow, Wah and Sean Johnson.

Yoga Magazine UK calls her work “a refreshingly hip spiritual and musical journey,” while sacred mantra artist David Newman describes her as “a force and presence for those who look to their music for peace, heart, groove and spiritual inspiration.”

Katie makes kirtan accessible and inviting, creating a space where everyone—whether brand new or longtime practitioners—can feel at home. Her events are family-friendly, with chants easy to sing along with and others to simply receive as Katie layers her own vocal harmonies live using looping technology.

For this event, she will be joined by her full band: Yoshi Aono (Acoustic Junction) on electric guitar, Gayan Gregory Long (Desert Dwellers) on percussion and John Hoelle (Pro Audio) on bass and vocals.

About Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion:

Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion are igniting hearts at the crossroads of mantra, folk and Americana. With soul-stirring harmonies and songs that weave together the sacred and the contemporary, their music invites listeners into a space of devotion, healing and connection.

Based in Boulder, Colorado, the band has become known for their dynamic live kirtans at premier sacred music and folk festivals across the U.S. and internationally—including Bhakti Fest, Hanuman Festival, Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Holistic Manchester, Arise, Festival of Colors, Shakti Fest and Stonehenge Music Festival.

At the center is songwriter and chant leader Katie Wise, whose voice has been praised by Australian Yoga Life as “embodying vulnerability in a way that turns emotion into art.” A classically trained pianist who became a comedian and voiceover artist in Los Angeles, Katie’s path shifted when she discovered yoga, meditation and chanting. She opened two yoga studios before founding Bhakti Explosion in 2014. By 2017, the band was touring internationally and in 2023 Katie and her family embarked on a year-long “slow tour,” traveling with the band around the world. Staying in many communities for a week or more, they offered concerts, workshops and built deeper connections through music.

Katie’s debut album Lovolution—produced by Grammy-nominated Ben Leinbach and featuring guest vocals by Jai Uttal—earned international acclaim in Yoga Journal, Kindred Spirit and beyond. Grammy-nominated artist Dave Stringer described her sound as “beautifully nuanced country and Americana influences, inflected with just the right amount of Eastern mysticism.”

Together with bassist/vocalist John Hoelle (Pro Audio), guitarist Yoshi Aono (Acoustic Junction) and percussionist Gayan Gregory Long (Desert Dwellers), Bhakti Explosion channels a rootsy world-soul energy—layering original songs with the power of traditional chants. Their recordings include two live albums (Live at the Starhouse and Live at eTown) and, most recently, their sophomore studio release Akashic Rock on White Swan Records.

Katie and the band have shared the stage with luminaries such as Donna DeLory, Deva Premal & Miten, Girish, Brenda McMorrow, Wah, Sean Johnson and David Newman—who calls Katie “a force and presence for those who look to their music for peace, heart, groove and spiritual inspiration.”

Pioneering their own genre of mantra-folk, Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion carry forward the tradition of devotional music as a force for connection and community.

For more information: BhaktiExplosion.com