New Age Vibe » Ethnic

I lost myself when I see them in Hang

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:03:46 +0000

Music has the magic of turning sadness into happiness, reality into dreamy, death to life (I have heard death-to-life Indian tales!). Often it happens… I found myself missed somewhere amidst New Age music, World, Celtic, Ambient, and Carnatic. I guess the title “I lost myself when I see them in Hang” may mean something dramatic if you are unaware of a relatively new musical Instrument “Hang”.

To my Enya and Yanni friendly ears, this very strange instrument become too close to heart as I do with Jim Brickman’s piano and Kitaro’s bells. Hang was created in Jan 2000 at Switzerland by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer of the PANArt Company. Hang is generally placed in the lap and played using fingers to produce different sounds with each and every stroke.

I would call it a hybrid variety of steel drum, gamelan, and gong. But the note can resemble like a Harp, Bells, harmonically tuned Steelpans, Ghatam, Tabala and Veena. I can’t imagine how ‘two hemispherical steel shells’ can make such a beautiful, soft, and soothing music. I was completely lost in the way the instrument is played and by the music out of it (Youtube has plenty of videos). Though there are 5000 Hang players worldwide, we have only 2 hang makers so orders are taken in limited basis. With the growing popularity, Hang would probably set out a new musical experience and harmony around us.

Love to listen Hang? yeah…here is a video for you.

Post from: New Age Vibe

Listen to Under the Bodhi Tree by Jonathan Still

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 05:33:20 +0000

Jonathan Still, classical guitarist and composer, makes me no wonder in producing so relaxing and peaceful album “Under the Bodhi Tree” for he came from a musical family. If he missed mom teaching him piano sure he would hear his sister play them on. That’s how Jonathan gets himself into music. Jonathan has composed and produced music for television and radio advertisements, music libraries, and independent movies and documentaries.

It was a fun experience which pushed him to record a second album which would eventually be known to the world as ‘Under the Bodhi Tree.’ The album picked up where the previous had left off, and Jonathan began to incorporate subtle vocals, thematic passages, intricate percussion, and signature complex meters to the music. The album was picked up by the UK’s New World Music label in 2005 and released world wide in 2006. Since then, ‘Under the Bodhi Tree’ has won the 2007 Independent Music Award for Best New Age Album and the 2007 New Age Album of the Year from the Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR).

I would recommend “Under the Bodhi Tree” by Jonathan Still to all who loves meditation, soft calming music, and easy to listen music. This album would be great feel if “You Close your eyes and imagine you are sitting under the wonderful Bodhi tree with its heart shaped leaves and legendary divinity. The soft warm breeze of fluid instrumentation and exquisite delicacy soothes the worn and weary psyche. Jonathan Still invokes this scenario through the symbiosis of traditional instrumentation to reflect nature at its most expansive. The rise and fall of the arrangements will take you through nature to the metaphysical, from the tribal rouse to the sublime exotic, from the most traditional to the funkiest groove.”

The tracks would gradually take you to the world of calmness and simplicity so that you loose your daily stress and tension. Each and every tracks grips you to the next with stillness and momentum.

Tracking Listing goes here:
1. See the Light
2. The Realization
3. Then the Rains Came
4. Oddtimes
5. Reflections
6. Oceans
7. The Chain’s Beginning
8. The Chain’s End
9. I’m Free

Post from: New Age Vibe

Best 5 New Age Music Albums

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:20:48 +0000

Inner Voices

by David Friesen

Genre: Global

Label: Pacific / Digital Music Works

Celtic Spirit

by The Ceol Band And Singers

Genre:World

Label: Carinco AG / Digital Music Works

Villa Lobos: The Sounds of Brazil

by Villalobos

Genre: New Age Ambient

Label: KCO Records / TuneCore

Jimmy Keane & Pat Broaders

by Bohola

Genre: World

Label: Bohola Music / TuneCore

Peace Time

by Jack DeJohnette

Genre: Relaxation

Label: Golden Beams / Kindred Rhythms

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Atlantis | the haunting nostalgia | Henri Seroka

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 23:15:06 +0000

Atlantis has an aura of nostalgia and it serves as the source of inspiration for many creative workers down the ages. It is a highly debated myth-or-real kingdom of Greeks. As a Utopian, highly developed society (lost anyway!), it has inspired me to some extent. Now into the musicality of Henri Seroka’s Atlantis, Myths and Legends. Henri Seroka is a Belgium born composer whose fame spans in many fields in music and as many might know he is the composer of famous International films like Alice, The Art of Love and Ataturk.

The Album features 10 tracks and the names of these tracks are worth mentioning:

1. Atlantis
2. Lost Souls
3. Alpha
4. Throb
5. Forgotten Dreams
6. Hermaphrodite
7. Rebirth
8. Eternal Roads
9. Troubled waters
10. Lost Temples

Atlantis is a dream lost, a very beautiful dream that you love to remember but as every dream it disappears leaving some reminiscent for nostalgic pleasure. The music album represents this reminiscent. Starting with the track Atlantic which sets the mood for this album, the album ends with a haunting vocal in Lost Temples. Track Atlantic borders over the ambient genre and when listened with leisure, it takes you to the lost dream. Except very few tracks: Alpha and Hermaphrodite, I found the album inspiring and makes up to the name it is titled. Forgotten Dreams and Lost Temple are the two tracks that I wish to discuss at some length.

Forgotten Dreams is a medium tempo music that mingles native rhythm, flute, a couple of clapping sounds and other electronica which gives the beauty of a pleasant dream. But, it’s not the dream that you remember, it is a “forgotten” dream and comes with a natural mood of “longing for something.” And this ’something’ is very subjective, and Mido, you can easily identify your longings in this ’something’.

Lost Temple, as I said in the beginning, is a haunting vocal melody. It reminds me of an Opera performance that I listened to in Mongolia. It was some 7 years ago and the voice followed me everywhere and echoed in my ear. I wished I could hear the same kind of performance back in my country but couldn’t. Lost Temple satisfies me in my search for that haunting voice all these years. And the music perfectly blends with the theme of a lost temple.

I recommend this album for my Midos who are in a musical quest.

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Eternal Egypt | Phil Thornton & Hossam Ramzy

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:26:43 +0000

Phil Thornton & Hossam Ramzy are doing a good job in making available the rich tradition of Egypt through music. I’ve listened to their Immortal Egypt album and found myself transported to Egypt. I marvel at their music sense. But I’m not going to write about Immortal Egypt here nor appreciate their music sense, rather, write about Eternal Egypt, another album by the same pair.

Normally, when I make a purchase at Amazon, I tend to ignore the customer reviews at the time of purchase and after I listen to the music album, I’ d come back to same page and read what others got to say. (You call me crazy? you can. But I don’t want my opinion about any music album based upon on others review at any cost! Naturally, sometimes, I end up buying somethings worthless.) Eternal Egypt is one of this “somethings” that naturally happened out of my habit. After listening to this album which has 6 tracks in all, I felt I share a review of an Amazon customer:

My personal thought is that any connection between the music on this album and anything that might be considered anciently or eternally Egyptian is in the imagination of the creators….

I found the music boring and monotonously predictable and, after nearly 51 minutes, was immensely relieved to hear its last dying throb diminish into blessed silence.

Could anyone comment more pungently? “dying throb diminish into blessed silence.” I feel this album deserves such a comment. The album hardly convinced my music taste and I found the rhythm used in the album to be highly repetitive in almost all tracks. Paradoxically the track Desert Rhythm has no rhythm at all! Isis, as i told in my previous post, is a magnetic name that attracts my attention. But Isis Unveiled seems the least interesting music track of the album. The only track that meets up some expectation is the Land of Pharaohs (not without minuses, though).

Mido, while I’m so critical about this album, one thing that made me wonder is the another review of a buyer:

If you’ve ever wondered what it must’ve been like to visit a pharaoh living in ancient Egypt, this recording will help you get there!!!

!!! three exclamations? Wow! opinions differ so much. But still I cannot take back my comments. I believe them correct: this album is a utter failure!!!! (dont count the exclamation. I at least need one ‘!’ more than the other!)

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