Shabda : शब्द

Max Corbacho’s first CD drifts over the listener like soft sand and silk, weightless wafts and gossamer veils of synthetic tone rising and falling in delicate harmony. The tone is light and dreamy, floatational and airy – atmospheric rather than oceanic, skybound rather than subterranean.

Singers and musicians from Nepal, Algeria, Tibet, Poland, Morocco and Portugal have contributed their cultural background to Margot Reisinger’s own style of spiritual world music. Margot has composed nine unique songs on the base of traditional as well as newly arranged mantra texts, interpreted by beautiful vocals and accompanied by choirs, violin, ney, flutes, guitars, piano, sitar, Tibetan horns and cymbals, keyboards, singing bowls, percussion, monochord, drums and more..

Kiyoshi Yoshida’s Asian Drums II features more of his unique wadaiko drums, shamisen, shakuhachi, koto, and synthesizer compositions. From the gently mysterious “The Lucky Spirit” to the more direct, percussive approach of pieces like “Duel” to lilting, reflective pieces like “Summer Grass,” Yoshida balances ancient and modern and melody and percussion ably in his music. The driving “Mad Spider’s Web” and “Midare Uchi,” which celebrates the pure beauty of the wadaiko, are two other highlights from this relaxing yet invigorating album.

Deva’s enchanting new CD, Password, was created with Miten and Manose at the end of their 2010 world tour, and marks an exciting new direction in their unique blending of East and West, embedding the extraordinary energy carried by ancient mantras into a rich fusion of sound and silence. Deva’s golden voice, guided by Miten and The Essence producer Rishi, glides through shining soundscapes created by some of the best young jazz musicians in Europe, offering haunting, seductive invitations to return home to our hearts. As Deva notes, “Mantras are passwords that transform the mundane into the sacred.”

Given the CD bears the name of a Buddhist monastery, one would naturally conclude that the tracks are dominated by chanting, but this isn’t the case. The mantras themselves are almost incidental, merely adding an exotic touch to what is otherwise very Western music dominated by English lyrics. The disc has definitely been engineered for the Western ear. Although we tend to associate Tibetan chanting with resonating throat singing, the mantras are, with one or two exceptions, performed in normal voice. In fact, the producers point out on the CD sleeve that the music and melodies are not used in daily rituals as the monastery observes tradition strictly.

Immortal Egypt is a deeper exploration of the Egyptian dance/Western contemporary theme running through the albums ‘Pharaoh’ and ‘Eternal Egypt’ by Phil Thornton and on which Hossam has collaborated as a percussionist. During the recording of ‘Eternal Egypt’ Hossam was able to take samples of work in progress to Cairo and overdub ‘Kawala’ flute and quarter tone Accordion.

Davide Swarup has attempted to show the beauty of this beautiful music instrument, the Hang. Supported by Samekh Records with BigMouth Studio they have tried to give you the same feeling of the live sound of the instrument.