TLDR: Ide Were Were (Revisited) is a devotional chant that honors Ochun, the Yoruba goddess of fresh water, fertility, beauty, and sacred feminine power. Originally introduced by Deva Premal and Miten in 1999 on the album LOVE IS SPACE, this updated version appears on Deva Premal's 2025 album The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart—a collection of meditative, heart-opening mantras. Producer Joby Baker has reimagined the piece with the arbutar, a unique hand-crafted stringed instrument, giving the chant a fresh sonic dimension while maintaining its spiritual essence and devotional power.
What is the Ide Were Were chant and its origins?
Ide Were Were is a chant that invokes Ochun, one of the most significant figures in Yoruba spirituality and Afro-Caribbean traditions like Santería and Candomblé. The name itself—Ide Were Were—carries resonance in Yoruba language and spiritual practice, pointing to themes of water, flow, and the qualities associated with Ochun. Deva Premal and Miten first brought this chant to a global audience in 1999 on their album LOVE IS SPACE, introducing Western audiences to an African-rooted spiritual practice through their signature meditative approach.
For more than two decades, this chant remained "close to their hearts"—a phrase that suggests both personal devotion and repeated practice. The decision to revisit and rerecord the piece indicates a deepening relationship with the material and a desire to refresh it for contemporary listeners. Rather than simply reissue the original recording, Deva Premal and Miten chose to reimagine it, working with producer Joby Baker to craft a new sonic landscape.
Who is Ochun in Yoruba spirituality?
Ochun (also spelled Oshun) is a central orishas—a divine force or deity—in Yoruba religion and its diaspora traditions. She is traditionally associated with fresh water (rivers and streams, not the ocean), fertility, beauty, sweetness, sensuality, and the sacred feminine. In Yoruba cosmology, each orisha embodies particular qualities and powers; Ochun represents not only creative potential and abundance but also the flowing, adaptive, and life-giving properties of water itself.
In contemporary spiritual practice across the African diaspora, Ochun is honored by devotees seeking blessings of abundance, artistic inspiration, love, and feminine power. Chants and songs devoted to Ochun serve as both prayer and invocation—a way of aligning consciousness with her qualities and asking for her guidance or blessing. By choosing to record this chant, Deva Premal and Miten align themselves with a long lineage of spiritual practitioners who have honored the orisha through sound and voice.
What is the arbutar and how does it shape the 2025 version?
The arbutar is a hand-crafted stringed instrument created by producer Joby Baker. Rather than relying on synthesized or conventional orchestral sounds, Baker's choice to feature this artisanal instrument signals a commitment to organic, intentional musicality. The arbutar's tonal qualities—likely warm, resonant, and textured—complement the human voice in a way that synthetic instruments often cannot, grounding the chant in tactile, physical reality.
Producer Joby Baker's involvement marks a significant evolution in the piece. His "hand-crafted" approach suggests meticulous attention to detail and a philosophy of music-making that values the human touch. By integrating the arbutar into the arrangement, the 2025 version of Ide Were Were becomes what Deva Premal and Miten describe as "upgraded"—not in the sense of abandoning the original, but in deepening the sonic and emotional resonance. The arbutar provides a foundation that honors both the African-rooted spiritual tradition and contemporary musical sensibility.
How does this chant fit within The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart album?
The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart is Deva Premal's latest full album, released in 2025. The collection is described as "deeply meditative and heart-opening"—language that points to the album's function as a tool for inner practice and spiritual development. By including Ide Were Were (Revisited) within this context, Deva Premal positions the Ochun chant not as an isolated devotional piece, but as part of a larger journey toward heart-centered awareness.
The pairing makes conceptual sense: a heart-centered album that includes honoring feminine power, flow, and the qualities of water and abundance. Ochun's association with sweetness, beauty, and creative potential aligns with the imagery of "blossoming"—a natural, organic unfolding. The album functions as a sonic container for contemplative practice, and the inclusion of this African-rooted tradition within that container reflects Deva Premal's commitment to spiritual eclecticism and cross-cultural wisdom.
What role does visual art play in the piece?
The music video for Ide Were Were (Revisited) features visual accompaniment created by @joeight, who has brought to life the "vivid and enchanting artwork of Luis Tamani." Tamani is a renowned Peruvian visionary artist known for his intricate, often psychedelic imagery rooted in Amazonian and shamanic traditions. His work frequently explores themes of nature, consciousness, spirituality, and the interplay between the human figure and the natural world.
By pairing Tamani's artwork with a Yoruba-rooted chant, the video creates a global spiritual conversation—bringing together Yoruba, Peruvian, and contemporary meditation traditions into a single visual-sonic experience. The "vivid and enchanting" quality of Tamani's work likely complements the flowing, water-associated imagery of Ochun, creating a multisensory experience that invites the viewer-listener into a state of contemplative openness.
What is the significance of revisiting a chant from 1999?
The decision to revisit material from 1999 rather than create entirely new compositions reflects several important principles in spiritual music practice. First, repetition and deepening with familiar material is a core feature of mantra and chant traditions—the idea being that singing the same sacred phrases over years and decades creates cumulative spiritual benefit and personal transformation. By returning to Ide Were Were, Deva Premal and Miten honor both their own spiritual journey and their listeners' potential for ongoing practice.
Second, the "revisited" frame acknowledges that spiritual understanding evolves. The artists are not claiming that the 1999 version was incomplete or inferior; rather, they recognize that their relationship to the material has deepened, and technological and musical tools (like the arbutar) now allow for fresh expression of the same essential devotion. This approach respects tradition while remaining responsive to the present moment—a key principle in many contemplative lineages.
Third, reintroduction to a wider or new audience allows those who may not have encountered the original recording to access this Ochun chant. As spiritual practices become more globalized and more people seek non-Western sources of wisdom, bringing forward an African-rooted practice with fresh production value makes that tradition more accessible without diluting its integrity.
Where to go from here
For those new to Deva Premal and Miten's work, Ide Were Were (Revisited) serves as an entry point into their approach: devotional chanting that honors world spiritual traditions, paired with high-quality sonic production and visual art. The full album The Inevitable Blossoming of the Heart is available through their music distribution channels and offers a broader exploration of mantras designed for meditation and heart-opening practice.
For those interested in Ochun and Yoruba spirituality more broadly, this chant can be a starting point for deeper study of orisha traditions, whether through academic texts, community-based learning, or personal spiritual practice. Listening to the chant repeatedly—as is the intention in mantra practice—allows for the development of a personal relationship with both the music and the spiritual force it invokes.
Deva Premal and Miten offer multiple ways to engage with their work beyond recordings: their annual Gayatri Gatherings and holiday retreats provide opportunities for in-person practice and community. Their Gayatri Sangha App offers ongoing access to their music and teaching, and their newsletter keeps followers informed of new releases and events. For those interested in experiencing these chants in a live setting, their European tour scheduled for September and October 2025 offers direct encounter with the artists and their spiritual practice.
