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MYSPACE
Metastation, a label dedicated to world, spiritual and eclectic music was created by Janet Rienstra in 1996. On the eve of her 30th birthday she found herself doing research in Cuba for a record. After a particularly heated debate over the content of an album recorded in West Africa between the artist who held his finger on the erase button and the unbending executives from the babel, Janet decided that the only way she was going to manifest the kind fo records she envisioned with the kind of creative control she believed artists deserved, was to form her own record label.
So when she returned home to New York, she did just that, and founded Metastation along with legendary musician / producer Bill Laswell. In addition to Laswell, the label features such music heavyweights as Pharoah Sanders, Buckethead, Sussan Deyhim, Jah Wobble, as well as Mike D of the Beastie Boys and Zakir Hussain.
Prior to forming Metastation, Janet worked as an independent music producer, recording in such far-flung places as Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Egypt, Africa, Indonesia and cuba. She started Gang of Seven, a spoken word lable, with Will Ackerman of Windham Hill. She has worked with renowned authors, poets and musicians including Paull Bowles, Patti Smith, Peter Matthiessen, William Burroughs, Willem Dafoe, The Last Poets and Philip Glass.
In addition to running her own label, Janet has produced several musical charity events including Rock for Choice at the Kitchen and various events at Jivamukti Yoga Center in New York. Her events have included performances by Sting, Christy Turlington, Ravi Coltrane, John Zorn, and Donna Karan among others. Her commitment to the environment extends to her current project, producing an event with ethnologist Jane Goodall (
www.janegoodall.org
) and actively supporting the Natural Resources Defense Council (
www.nrdc.org
).
She travels to India once a year to do field recordings, practice yoga and raise funds for an orphanage. Her recordings, which are incorporated in the Asana series, include the charnting of Brahmin Priests at the dedication of the Krishnamacharya Temple in Cowshika, INdia; chantings in Gokul, the birthplace of Krishna; and chanting in the Indus Valley, the cradle of civilization. Janet studies with Pattabhi Jois the living master ashtanga yoga teacher at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (
www.ayri.org
). She is currently seeking funding for the Bapuji Children's Home, an orphanage in Mysore.
Janet was born in St. Louis, Missouri and moved eleven times (including stints in Belgium, France, Holland, and Canada) before the age of nine. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University fo Sourthern California. She currently lives in Santa Barbara, California.