World Music Reviews

World and New Age Music Reviews

By Kathryn Sargent, Editor

Graceful Passages: A Companion for Living and Dying is a tender, intimate collection of spoken word and music in two CDS and a small book that offers comfort to those who have lost loved ones or are going through difficult times. These words of comfort and caring are offered from many cultures and traditions, bringing solace and kindness and understanding. Buddhist Master Thich Nhat Hahn invites us to relax into peacefulness. Jyoti calls us to witness the life of one who lives close to the earth. Ram Dass speaks of experiences beyond this world. Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi brings us an intimate conversation between the rabbi and his God. The music reflects all of the cultures represented with everything from Irish whistles and Native American flutes to Buddhist gongs and chanting, all backed by orchestral arrangements composed and arranged by Gary Remal Malkin. Producers Michael Stillwater and Gary Remal Malkin are to be commended for this great gift that brings us all together in our humanity. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Inspired by her own sacred place-a field behind her home-singer and pianist Ellen Edwards brings us a collection of inspiring, heart-felt songs on Through The Fields of Home. The magic of this place of peace comes through in her selection of music, including the beautiful “Where My Heart's Never Been,” “How Loved You Are,” and “In The Moment.” This album is a celebration of the heart and of love. Share it with someone you cherish.

Gerald Jay Markoe, who brought us Music From The Angels and Music From the Pleiades, now introduces Zen Meditations, an album “consciously composed for and completely dedicated to the sacred meditative experience.” All of Markoe's music is suitable for meditation, but this delicious CD is a pearl. Featuring Asian harps and flutes, Temple bells and gongs, sacred Tibetan crystal bowls, flute, synthesizers and nature sounds, this music creates inviting soundscapes for mental journeys and deep peace.

They've done it again! Takashi Hirayasu and Bob Brozman wow'd us with their first release, JinJin (Firefly), which was recorded just after they met for the first time at Hirayasu's island home. Since then, they have traveled to music festivals at Winnipeg and Quebec, where Hirayasu had the opportunity to play with musicians from all over the world. Bob Brozman has described the process of getting to know another musician, and playing with him, as being “like falling in love, except it's music.” Their new album, Nankuru Naisa, is also a lot like “falling in love”; it's light-hearted, whimsical, and inventive. The lyrics, sung in Okinawan, are translated in the liner notes, and they are beautiful poetry in themselves. Hirayasu's compositions, now flavored with ska, funk, and the Gypsy swing jazz he absorbed in his travels, are joyful, sad, playful, and always from the heart. This is one of the most original guitar albums you'll hear all year.