The Single Best Entry Point: Jila Ji (2024)
Start with Jila Ji, his 2024 album. It's ten tracks, his most recent full-length release, and the clearest picture of where he is as an artist now. Play it front to back, once, without multitasking. It's an album built around slowing down, and it rewards being heard in order and at a reasonable volume rather than as background filler.
De Kadt is a musician, poet, and storyteller, and an album captures only one of those three. That's worth knowing going in. Jila Ji gives you the musician. The rest comes later.
The Next Two or Three Places to Go
**1. Let Go Into Love (2013).** His earlier album, nine tracks. Listening to it after Jila Ji lets you hear the span of more than a decade. It sits in the devotional, kirtan-influenced world his work draws from, and it's a good test of whether the sound is for you.
**2. Lumina (2026).** His newest single, released April 2026. It's one track, so it costs you almost nothing, and it shows where he's heading now.
**3. Lila (Dersy Remix) (2022).** A remix single, and the most different entry here. If you only know him through acoustic, devotional material, this shows another angle. Treat it as a side door, not a foundation. Radhe Shyam Vibrations (2018) is another short single worth a listen if you want more of the bhakti thread.
You can skip the 2015 compilation, Yoga Music Mantras & Chants, Vol. 2, at first. It's twenty tracks of Sanskrit chants for yoga class, a mix that's useful in context but a diffuse way to meet someone.
What to Expect on a First Encounter
Expect a slow tempo and a lot of space. His stated devotion is to slowing the world down, even briefly, and returning to the tempo of nature. The music draws on kirtan, mantra, and bhajan, so you'll hear repetition, call-and-response energy, and acoustic and percussive instruments from across the globe. Nothing here is built to impress you with speed or complexity. It's built to settle you.
Know also that the recordings are one part of the practice. His main live work is DrumStory, which he has developed over more than 25 years: ancient myths from indigenous cultures and mystical traditions, told while he plays an array of percussive and melodic instruments. He treats story as ritual and ceremony. He also performs as a founding member of The Rememberers, a trio that weaves ancient myths with original songs, and he produces BlessFest, a music, healing, and sacred arts festival held annually on the East Coast of the U.S. and on the Big Island of Hawai'i.
Common Beginner Misunderstandings
Treating it as wellness wallpaper. The yoga-class compilation and the sound-healing associations make it tempting to use his music as ambient filler. It's intended as ritual and remembrance, and it lands very differently when you give it attention.
Expecting a kirtan artist only. Kirtan is a major thread, but he is also a poet and a mythtelling performer. Reducing him to a chant leader misses DrumStory, which is arguably the center of his work.
Judging by the single. One-track releases like Lumina or the remix are fine entry points to a mood, but they're not the best picture of him. The album is.
Expecting a conventional concert. His live shows can be closer to ceremony than performance. Go with openness, not a setlist expectation.
When This Work Lands Hardest
It tends to land in transitions: after a loss, in a stretch of burnout, during a move or career change, or any time life has been running faster than you can absorb. People who feel overstimulated often respond strongest, because the work gives you permission to stop. It also lands for people drawn to myth and ritual who are looking for a way into older stories without needing to be scholars. If you're in a season of high momentum and want energy, this is probably not the right moment.
A One-Week Starter Plan
Day 1: Play Jila Ji start to finish in the evening, no phone, no tasks.
Day 2: Listen to it again in the morning, and note which two or three tracks pull you most.
Day 3: Play Let Go Into Love and compare it to Jila Ji.
Day 4: Listen to Lumina, then Radhe Shyam Vibrations, short and focused.
Day 5: Try Lila (Dersy Remix) and see how the same artist sounds in a different setting.
Day 6: Return to your favorite tracks from Jila Ji and sit with them for twenty minutes, doing nothing else.
Day 7: Look up his live work: DrumStory, The Rememberers, and the next BlessFest. Decide whether you want to experience it in person. For many people, that's where the work finally makes sense.
