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World
& New Age Music Reviews
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By
Kathryn Sargent
The
Voices of Bronze: Bronze Tams of the Eastern Opera Orchestra
by Terence Dolph (Pythagoras Press) are voices of
power and mystery from bronze Chinese tam-tams, gongs, cymbols and
woodblocks. This incredible, atmospheric album invokes images of
dark temples full of billowing clouds of incense smoke, or the stillness
before a storm, with that hair-raising feeling that something powerful
approaches. Wind and dark, roiling clouds descending on a mountain
top, the fiery blaze of the setting sun, the mysterious depths of
the ocean - all are here in this soundscape. There are no names
on the six tracks of this review copy, no hype with the CD, no 'tunes'
you can hum all day, but if you want to hear what mystery and majesty
sound like, listen to The Voices of Bronze.
 German
musician Buedi Siebert's third album, Wave
Hands Like Clouds (Real Music), makes its debut this
spring. All of the music was composed, performed, and produced by
Siebert. This blend of piano, Chinese instruments, percussion, and
guitars is intended by Siebert to induce the 'warm energy feeling'
he gets from doing moving meditations. With the bird calls and sweet,
pensive flute, it gives the impression of a peaceful morning spent
lingering over chrysanthemum tea in a sunlit window. Maybe that's
what he means by 'warm energy feeling.' The gentle energy
of this album will soothe those in need of healing and peace. It
would be a great musical environment for Tai Chi or yoga classes.
 Blue
Serenity (AquaHorse Records), by Craig Linder,
is aptly named. This collection of peaceful piano melodies creates
a soothing ambience for healing, yoga, meditation, or body work.
There is a decidedly mental quality to the music, and it's been
described as a 'mental massage,' though it is emotional,
too. Linder is a storyteller without words, his songs conjuring
images of conversations between lovers, the tender touch of a mother,
a walk by a lakeshore in the fall. Linder has been featured on Seattle's
KWJZ radio smooth jazz morning show, Jazz Café. His music
was included on the compilation CD, Pure Touch Vol. 1.
His previous albums, December Snow and Memories
of Love, have aired on over 150 radio stations nationwide
in 2003.
 Music
as an illusion seems to be a theme in Neuronium:
Hydro (Valley Entertainment) by Michel Huygen.
Huygen creates a watery world of sounds with synthesizer and samplers.
He creates a solo female vocal that is not a true human voice, nor
even a sampled one. Some of the water sounds are not sampled, nor
real, but products of Huygen's synthesizer. Water in all its
forms and what it means to our planet is Huygen's theme, and
he conveys its fluid motion and emotion magically. It's like
a musical equivalent to The Place Between The Worlds: neither natural,
nor completely sampled or synthesized, but a musical place 'between.'
It's an intriguing electronic album, and worth a listen.
 From
the first notes of Vas: Feast of
Silence (Narada), I was in love. The deep, hypnotic
middle-Eastern drumming and the sensuous voice of goth-world singer
Azam Ali had me from the beginning! The delicious multi-ethnic
percussion is by Greg Ellis and other instrumentation includes
bansuri flute, cello, Indonesian cymbals, guitar, and a powerful
bass. Ali, born in Iran and spending her childhood in India, has
absorbed a rich musical heritage, and draws on vocal influences
from Middle Eastern, Bulgarian, Persian folk songs, Indian ghazals
and bhajans' traditional music. Ellis grew up in Los Gatos,
California, and was influenced by the Monteray jazz festival, the
San Francisco music scene, and his increasing interest in ethnic
drums. He composes his own music and also composes for film and
tv. He and Ali began performing together as Vas in 1995 and they
have released three critically- acclaimed albums. Feast of
Silence is one of the best albums I've heard this year.
Treat yourself to this one!
 Garikayi
Tirikoti is known as a dreamer of music, a man whose music is
guided by the Ancestors. A master craftsman of the Mbira (African
Shona thumb piano), he not only composes and plays his music, he
actually builds his own instruments. In his new album, Maidei
(Limitless Sky), he plays mbira, hosho (gourd shaker) and ngoma
(talking drum). Among the Shona people, a mbira musician is the
local wise man, and it is easy to see from the lyrics that Garikayi
knows much about human nature and the spirits of his Ancestors.
He sings of hope in spite of poverty, lost love, and calling in
spiritual help when necessary. If you've ever played around
with a mbira, you won't believe the complexity of sound a true
master can coax from the instrument! This is a lovely album. Highly
recommended!
Look for an exciting new review section by Carl
McColman in the June issue! He'll be reviewing books and music for
your pleasure. To submit CDs and books for consideration, contact Kathryn
Sargent at aquarius-editor@mindspring.com.
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