MaYaN was conceived in early 2010 by versatile musician and EPICA mastermind Mark Jansen and ex-AFTER FOREVER keyboardist Jack Driessen with the aim to write an album in the style they always wanted. Mark asked guitarist Frank Schiphorst (Symmetry, Christmas Metal Symphony) to join in. Frank has a broad range of experience and skills aboard. When put together with Mark and Jack, an undeniable chemistry took place, producing songs in no time. Evolving from a project to a real band, MaYaN needed the perfect musicians to help achieve this and, to name just a few, EPICA drummer Ariën van Weesenbeek and guitarist Isaac Delahaye joined. Having mostly touring musicians in the band, they had to rotate their line up to be able to continue doing live shows and deliver the highest quality on stage. Among the MaYaN guest vocalists are Henning Basse, Simone Simons and Floor Jansen. Because MaYaN has always had a profound love for epic movie scores, the next step was to record an album with a live symphonic orchestra. To make this happen, a crowdfunding was started in early 2018, and after a successful campaign, MaYaN partnered with The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. This symphonic orchestra is one of the most respected and recorded orchestras globally and is known for its work in cinematic features such as the Star Wars saga and Hannibal. »Dhyana« reflects on conceptual themes such as remaining aware of our thoughts, removing egoist tendencies and finding out who we truly are.
