For Cafe De Anatolia, New Age & Ambient music becomes a different kind of listening experience on EKTĀ, a nine-track album built around stillness, spirituality, traditional instrumentation, and the idea of human connection. Released August 14, 2026, the project brings the electronic collective together with GRAMMY®-winning artist and producer Antaeus, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree Madame Gandhi, Amani Sol, and a wide international ensemble of musicians and vocalists.
Rather than treating ambient music simply as atmosphere, EKTĀ approaches it as a space for contemplation. Across its 34-minute-40-second runtime, electronic production sits alongside guitars, tambura, sitar, esraj, ney flute, violin, oud, duduk, kaval, choir, vocals, percussion, and guided meditation. The result is a record that moves deliberately between contemporary electronic sound design and musical traditions with much older roots.
EKTĀ Gives New Age & Ambient Music a Global Perspective
The title EKTĀ comes from the Sanskrit concept of “oneness,” a theme that informs both the album’s musical direction and its collaborative character.
That idea is important because the record does not rely on a single cultural vocabulary. Instead, Cafe De Anatolia brings together influences associated with the Balkans, Mediterranean, Middle East, and India, allowing contrasting instruments and vocal traditions to share the same production environment.
For a collective known for electronic music shaped by international influences, the move into New Age & Ambient feels less like a departure than an expansion. The emphasis shifts from the dancefloor toward atmosphere, reflection, and sustained listening.
The album also benefits from its varied contributors. Antaeus adds keyboards and production, while Madame Gandhi contributes vocals, percussion, and guided meditation. Amani Sol is part of the wider creative collaboration, adding another dimension to a project designed around relaxation, mindfulness, and sonic immersion.
A Nine-Track Journey Through Ambient Sound
From “Home” to “Desert Night”
The album opens with “Home,” a cinematic introduction featuring guitars and tambura from Billy Esteban and vocals from AleMor. Its spacious production establishes the record’s central language: organic instruments placed inside a carefully constructed ambient environment.
“Ocean” follows with a stronger connection to nature and awareness, featuring Madame Gandhi. “Goddess Mantra,” meanwhile, draws from Indian mantra and chant traditions, widening the album’s spiritual vocabulary without abandoning its electronic foundation.
“Echoes of You” introduces violin performances from Frederika Krier and AleMor’s vocals, giving the album another melodic and acoustic dimension.
At 8 minutes and 25 seconds, “Shiva Nirvana” is the record’s longest piece and one of its clearest statements of intent. Guided meditation, Indian-inspired elements, Madame Gandhi’s voice, and downtempo electronic production unfold gradually rather than chasing a conventional song structure.
Antaeus takes the lead on “Kyrie,” an atmospheric composition conceived around the character of a prayer. “Aether” continues the cinematic approach, while “Deep Water” brings together the East Balkan Noble Voices choir and contributions from Rialians On Earth.
The album closes with “Desert Night,” featuring An Vedi and the East Balkan Noble Voices choir. Its placement at the end of the sequence reinforces the record’s sense of movement, taking the listener from an opening invitation into a more expansive and meditative sound world.
Traditional Instruments Meet Modern Electronic Production
One of EKTĀ‘s defining characteristics is the contrast between its electronic framework and its acoustic palette.
The credits reveal an unusually broad instrumental range. Billy Esteban performs guitar and tambura, while Pete Giatrakos contributes dulcimer. Thanassis Vassilopoulos plays ney flute, and the Iasi Ensemble contributes sitar and esraj. Frederika Krier and An Vedi provide violin, while Rialians On Earth bring kaval, oud, and duduk into the production.
These instruments are not treated as decorative additions. They help shape the identity of the album, giving its ambient passages a distinctly physical quality.
The vocal side is equally varied. Madame Gandhi and AleMor contribute vocals, while the East Balkan Noble Voices choir adds a collective choral presence. Together, these elements prevent the record from becoming purely synthetic, creating a dialogue between electronic textures and instruments that carry their own cultural histories.
Production credits include Nickarth, Billy Esteban, Antaeus, and Amman Ahmed, with engineering contributions from Joe Maldonado, Tony Correli, Alex Psaroudakis, Valdera, Stefan Petanovski, and Roman Uvarov.
Why Reflection Sits at the Center of EKTĀ
Ambient music has long occupied a space between conventional composition and environment. EKTĀ embraces that quality directly.
Cafe De Anatolia describes the New Age and Ambient tradition as a place where silence can become part of the musical experience. That philosophy is reflected in the album’s pacing. Tracks are allowed to breathe, while meditation, sustained textures, acoustic resonance, and spacious arrangements become part of the listening experience.
Importantly, the album does not prescribe one interpretation. Its themes include mindfulness, spirituality, nature, inner peace, and shared humanity, but listeners can approach those themes from their own perspective.
That openness is arguably one of the record’s strongest qualities. Instead of presenting meditation as a fixed concept, EKTĀ uses sound to create an environment in which reflection can take place.
The Sony Music Publishing MENA Connection
Beyond the music itself, EKTĀ also has a notable publishing dimension.
Sony Music Publishing MENA is identified as the exclusive publishing team behind five Cafe De Anatolia-produced tracks: “Home,” “Ocean,” “Shiva Nirvana,” “Deep Water,” and “Desert Night.”
The works are credited to Nikola Iliev, also known as Nickarth, Monika Ilieva, and Zoran Iliev, known professionally as Billy Esteban. The three are identified as exclusive songwriters signed with Sony Music Publishing through Cafe De Anatolia’s publishing arm, CAMELWAV.
The publishing relationship adds an industry perspective to an album whose creative identity is otherwise centered on collaboration and musical exchange.
EKTĀ Moves Beyond the Album
The project’s ambitions extend beyond streaming platforms. Cafe De Anatolia and its collaborators planned a series of intimate listening and experience events connected with EKTĀ, with dates scheduled in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and London.
That approach fits the album’s concept. If EKTĀ is intended to create a particular atmosphere, experiencing the music in a dedicated physical environment offers another way to engage with its themes.
The project is also being presented for consideration in the Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album category for the 2027 GRAMMY® Awards. A consideration campaign, however, should not be confused with an official nomination or award. The outcome remains separate from the campaign itself.
Cafe De Anatolia’s Ambient Chapter
EKTĀ is most interesting when viewed not simply as Cafe De Anatolia making an ambient album, but as an exploration of what happens when electronic production becomes a meeting point for different musical traditions.
Its nine tracks move through cinematic ambience, mantra, meditation, acoustic instrumentation, choir, vocals, and downtempo electronics. The record is deliberately spacious, but it is not empty. Its atmosphere comes from the interaction between instruments, voices, production, and silence.
That makes EKTĀ a notable addition to the group’s catalogue and a distinctive entry in the contemporary New Age & Ambient landscape.
At its core, the album is built around a simple idea: different sounds, cultures, and creative perspectives can occupy the same space without losing their individual identities. In that sense, EKTĀ turns its central concept of oneness into more than a title. It becomes the organizing principle of the music itself.
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