"Afepakian" is a chant and mantra from Deva Premal's album The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart that functions as a love letter to Costa Rica and its indigenous Maleku people. The word itself means "thank you" in the Maleku language, and the track weaves together ancestral instruments (including a hand-carved cedar drum called a talí and a rare pre-Columbian ocarina), Miten's English and Spanish verses from his song "Ashes to Ashes," and the spontaneous howling of howler monkeys that live on the land where it was recorded. The composition emerged from collaboration with Dani Mora (who performs as Amore Luciente), a Costa Rican musician and scholar of indigenous culture who brought both the word and the instruments to the project, transforming what began as an instrumental passage into a cross-cultural offering rooted in gratitude to the earth.
What does "Afepakian" mean and why choose an indigenous word for the chant?
Afepakian is the Maleku word for "thank you"—one of the oldest languages still spoken in Costa Rica, belonging to one of the country's indigenous tribes. Deva Premal chose this word as the title and core intention of the chant because, as she explains, gratitude itself "feels like one of the most important words that we carry." By singing a word rooted in the land's oldest inhabitants, the track becomes not just a devotional practice but a direct acknowledgment of and return to the people and place itself. The Maleku have lived on this land for centuries, and their language carries the spiritual memory of that relationship. Using their word for "thank you" transforms the chant into what Deva describes as "a huge offering and a huge sign of gratitude…towards this beautiful land, this rich and abundant land of Costa Rica, the nature that is so powerful and sweet and strong and lush."
How did the collaboration with Dani Mora shape the composition?
Dani Mora, who performs under the stage name Amore Luciente (meaning "shimmering love"), is a Costa Rican musician and cultural scholar who brought both the word "Afepakian" and the indigenous instruments that define the track's sound. In his own words, Mora describes his work as "listening to this land as a children of this nature trying to find its message" and asking himself why he was born in Costa Rica specifically, of all the places he could have been born. This philosophical orientation shaped how the collaboration unfolded.
Mora contributed two essential instruments: the talí, a drum hand-carved from Pacific cedar by Rioto Layo, an elder of the Maleku people, and an ocarina called the Ocarina Moras—one of the oldest and most acoustically rich ocarinas known in Central America, excavated near Nosara, Costa Rica. The talí takes days to produce entirely by hand, involves carving the wood with hot coals, and is traditionally fitted with uwana skin and sealed with local tree rubber. This craftsmanship embeds ancestral knowledge directly into the physical object. Mora notes that many indigenous instruments of Costa Rica are "getting lost" and "not many people play" the talí anymore, making its presence on the recording an act of cultural preservation and celebration.
Mora also explained his vision for the track: "This song Afepakian feels like a reflection of that power for me of just voices, drums…it feels like uh some sort of rebirth of the culture that we want to create. And to start a culture based on gratefulness seems very appropriate in these times." The composition, in his view, harks back to the "simplicity" of the land's ancestral music tradition, "mostly drums and voices," while incorporating the moarina and other native string instruments that carry the energy "magnetized to this land."
What role do the lyrics from "Ashes to Ashes" play in the chant?
Miten's song "Ashes to Ashes" provided two pivotal verses that Deva Premal recites in Spanish over the instrumental passage. The composition began with an instrumental track that the team didn't initially know how to complete. Rather than invite various poets or speakers to contribute words, Deva made the decision to work with Miten's existing lyrics, translating and reciting them herself in Spanish—a choice that allowed her to "open her wings" and "dive into the Spanish language in a poetic way," as Miten describes it. Deva has been learning Spanish since arriving in Costa Rica, making this an organic part of her personal journey on the land.
The first verse Deva recites is:
"Spirit of the forest, I'll be with you. I traveled far to be among your kind. And you're teaching me how to live among your people. Well, I'm so far from the world I left behind."
The second verse is:
"Mother Earth, what can I give back to you? As you carry me, carry me to my rest. I bow to the turning of your seasons. And I lay my head down upon your breast. Ashes to ashes, etc."
These lyrics embody the central emotional and spiritual arc of the track: a traveler arriving in a foreign land, learning from its spirit and people, and then turning to offer gratitude and service back to the earth that sustains them. By setting them in Spanish and singing them over indigenous instruments on indigenous land, Deva and Miten enact the very surrender and reciprocity the lyrics describe. The "Ashes to Ashes" phrases—a meditation on mortality and return to earth—anchor the gratitude in a recognition of impermanence and interdependence.
Why is the ocarina musically significant?
The Ocarina Moras is exceptional because of its acoustic range and antiquity. According to Mora, it is "one of the oldest ocarinas with the biggest amount of sounds, at least in Costa Rica," and it has "a wider range musically than most of Central America." This broader sonic palette allows the instrument to carry more melodic complexity and emotional texture than typical pre-Columbian ocarinas.
The ocarina was excavated near Nosara, a region that Mora notes is "the biggest place…where the biggest amount of ocaros was found in the whole country in the one excavation site." In fact, that excavation site is located "literally in the next hill" from where Deva and Miten recorded the track—a geographic proximity that deepens the resonance of the instrument's presence. Using an ocarina that was created hundreds of years ago and found in the immediate vicinity means the land itself is literally singing through time, its ancient voice integrated into a contemporary mantra.
What is the significance of the howler monkeys on the recording?
During the recording session, howler monkeys—native to Costa Rica—began howling persistently in the background. Rather than treat them as unwanted noise, Deva and Miten welcomed them into the composition. As Deva says, "Enjoy the howler monkey that just would not stop howling during the track. So, we said, 'Okay, here is your microphone and welcome to the recording.'" This decision reflects a deeper principle: the land itself—its animal inhabitants, its ancient instruments, its languages, its rhythms—is part of the offering and the gratitude.
The howler monkeys' voices become a kind of call-and-response with the human chanting, a conversation between human spiritual practice and the non-human natural world. In inviting the monkeys into the recording rather than editing them out, Deva and Miten acknowledge that gratitude to the land must include honoring all of its inhabitants and voices, not just the human ones.
Where do these ideas fit within Deva Premal's larger body of work?
"Afepakian" appears on the album The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart, described as "a deeply meditative and heart-opening collection of mantras." The album continues Deva's decades-long practice of chanting mantras—sacred Sanskrit and other spiritual utterances designed to open the heart and quiet the mind. What distinguishes "Afepakian" within this body of work is its explicit rootedness in place and gratitude. Rather than generic universal spirituality, the track is a specific love letter to a specific land, its specific people, and its specific history.
This approach reflects a maturation in Deva's practice: the recognition that spirituality is not separate from ecology, culture, and reciprocal relationship to the earth. By learning Spanish, by collaborating with local indigenous musicians, by using indigenous words and instruments, and by recording on the land itself, Deva enacts a spirituality of *particular* engagement rather than transcendent detachment. The mantra tradition—which Deva has dedicated her life to—becomes a tool not for escaping the world but for deepening one's love and responsibility to it.
Where to go from here
To deepen your engagement with "Afepakian" and Deva Premal's work, listen to the full album The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart on the platforms linked in the description. If you're interested in understanding the personal and musical context behind the track, watch the full video where Dani Mora speaks about his own journey of listening to the land and the craftsmanship behind the talí and ocarina. For those drawn to the mantric and meditative dimensions of Deva's work, explore the Gayatri Sangha App and the Gayatri Gatherings and Holiday Retreats, which offer deeper teachings and community practice around mantra, gratitude, and heart-opening. Finally, consider how the principles embedded in "Afepakian"—gratitude, reciprocal relationship to place, honoring indigenous wisdom, and listening to the land—might inform your own spiritual practice and relationship to the earth you inhabit.
