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TONING & TUNING THE HUMAN INSTRUMENT
The Musical Mantra Minstrels
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Ambient Alchemies
MANTRAS FOR LIFE
AMBIENT ALCHEMY
by Deva Premal & Miten with Manose
by Steven Halpern & Michael Diamond
$16.95, CD. White Swan. 66 minutes
$15.95, CD. Inner Peace. 65 minutes
Mantras for Life by Deva Premal and Miten with Manose offers Nepalese flute, Sanskrit mantras and yoga music tuned for everyday meditation practice. Mantras for Life was conceptually focused on supporting the listener on his or her journey into a committed meditation practice, and in its original intent had a minimalist approach to music. But, as the recording sessions unfolded, so did the musical expression. Miten comments,
Ambient Alchemy is an extraordinary collaboration sure to delight Hearts of Space music fans. Two “old heads,” musicians who got activated in the 1960s and have been playing ever since, here collaborate their considerable muses and seasoned aesthetics. Grammy nominee pianist Steven Halpern (his many recordings include Chakra Suite and Deep Theta 2.0) (and guitar synth /keyboardist Michael Diamond (his musical mentors are Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix) team up with Windham Hill fretless bass virtuoso Michael Manring… to soar into the Empyrean… The atmospheric soundscapes, lush multi-layered keyboards, soaring guitar, melodic bass lines, and intricate production values come even more alive with headphones. Track titles include Molecules in Motion, Deep Diver, Rain Dream, Lunar Orbit, Stellar Drifting, and more. This music will remind you of the joy and aural pleasures of pure listening without multi-tasking. Let the enchanting dreamscapes take you on a magical journey. Prepare for lift-off! “Ambient Alchemy transmutes sound into gold and conjures a spellbinding listening experience.” —Awareness magazine
Every album has its own spirit… just like children, music is a living phenomenon, and it has ideas of its own, which we did our best to honour. We found ourselves at the feet of the Great Musical Spirit, and we threw ourselves into its sublime mystery. Deva’s voice became more transcendent, more ‘there,’ more ethereal… As a result, this album developed into a musical statement that we had not originally anticipated.
When Deva Premal and Miten recorded Mantras for Precarious Times in 2010, they saw it as the first in a series of albums offering thoughtfully curated selections of mantras chosen for particular applications in everyday life. It was followed in 2011 by Tibetan Mantras for Turbulent Times, recorded with the Gyuto Monks— with whom a western woman had never before been afforded the privilege of chanting and recording. Like its predecessors, Mantras for Life includes chants to invoke very specific intentions, among them: for animal welfare; for the blessing of children; for poetry, music and learning; for perfect timing; for physical strength, and for the earth itself. Based upon the tradition of Japa, a spiritual discipline centered upon the meditative repetition of mantra (in cycles of 108 recitations), Deva Premal and Miten invite the listener to join them in chant—and to utilize humanity’s most powerful healing tool: the voice.
SERENITY by Michael Hoppé & Harold Moses $17.95, CD. Spring Hill. 45 minutes
Michael Hoppé is one of the best classical music composers of our time. Among his works are the classics Solace, The Dreamer, and The Poet: Romances for Cello. His new collaboration with the violist Harold Moses, Serenity, combines harmonious and intense melodies performed by Harold with gentle arrangements and improvised chords by Michael on keyboards. The viola is the real gem on this album. Serenity is divided into thirteen sections all, astonishingly, completely improvised. And each is accompanied by its own haiku by Brett Brady.
LIFELINE by Jai Uttal & Ben Leinbach $18.50, CD. Sounds True. 76 minutes
One of the West’s foremost voices of kirtan, Jai Uttal gathers together his and his fans’ most-loved musical offerings that capture India’s devotional chant tradition. Created with multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Ben Leinbach, and selected and sequenced as an unfolding musical celebration— with a lovely, langorous, heart-rhythm—very musical!—here are favorites of both the artists and their fans. LifeLine spans a decade of collaboration that reflects the myriad faces of kirtan and beyond—ranging from unadorned, primordial chant to layered, sacred sound immersions. It’s a musical odyssey that inspires us to soar—upward, outward, and into the radiant heart of the Divine. Tracks include: Twameva (LifeLine Mix) Sita Ram (LifeLine Mix) Path to Govinda (LifeLine Mix) Ganga Ma (LifeLine Mix) Gopala (LifeLine Mix) Nataraj (LifeLine Mix) Shri Krishna (LifeLine Mix) Gopala Lullaby (LifeLine Mix) Parikrama (LifeLine Mix) Rama Bolo (LifeLine Mix)
her frantic search thru forest and meadow… the last firefly
The music? Utter bliss, calm and, yes, serenity. Harold Moses is a composer and partner in Harmonic Research and Design, an Arizona company that develops vibrational health and wellness devices. Most of the improvisations are ethereal and ambient, but most also have a bit of a melody line as well. The grace and elegance of the music make it wonderful for massage and healing—great for simply relaxing and getting lost in. Moses plays the viola with the poignance of a cello—sometimes warm and earthy, sometimes achingly sad. “Serenity V - May” features Moses playing his viola pizzicato (plucking the strings) as well as with the bow. Darkly mysterious and exotic, it’s quite different from the others. “Serenity VIII - August” is almost fragile yet touches very deeply. “Serenity XI - November” goes in a livelier direction with a folk/Celtic spirit that really wants to dance.
Also by Jai Uttal and Ben Leinbach are Music for Yoga and Other Joys and Loveland.
New Visions on Video SONG OF THE NEW EARTH Tom Kenyon and the Power of Sound directed by Ward Serrill
New on DVD
$34.95, DVD. Sophia Films. 88-minutes + 2 hours of bonus features
Song of the New Earth is a new documentary offering a distinctive and intimate portrait of sonic shaman Tom Kenyon’s quirky yet rare talent. As a self proclaimed neopagan-Taoist-Tibetan Buddhist-agnostic-quantum physicist-mystic, he transcends conventional musical forms by chanting or “toning,” using his nearly four octave range voice that takes audiences on sound journeys to deeper states of consciousness. As an aspiring country musician, Tom Kenyon was on way to fame and fortune when a series of mystical experiences
This Deluxe Edition includes the original feature film plus over 2 hours of Tom Kenyon’s teachings and tonings. For more info, and to view trailer, please visit: www.songofthenewearth.com.
rocked his world. Desperate to understand his experience, he fervently dove into the study of Neurophysiology to explore his unexplainable spiritual insights and became an expert in the world’s spiritual traditions including: Tibetan Buddhism, Yoga, Taoism, mystical Christianity, Shamanism, Egyptian alchemy and more. From his home in the San Juan Islands to Tibetan nunneries in the Himalayas, from cathedrals and caves in southern France to the golden-chandeliered symphony halls of Vienna, Song of the New Earth explores how sound shifts brain states and can promote dramatic healing not only for ourselves but for our precious planet earth. Often with his wife Judi by his side, Kenyon explains how sound vibration speaks to our souls and bodies by opening a door that bridges our cognitive thinking, catapulting us towards often discovering the miraculous. A celestial experience, this unique film transports viewers through Kenyon’s divine gift. The award winning production team features director Ward Serrill (The Heart of the Game), animator Drew Christie and producer Betsy Chasse (What the Bleep Do We Know!?)
BRANCHES OF LIGHT
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Art, Creativity & Music THE ARTIST’S WAY FOR PARENTS Raising Creative Children by Julia Cameron, with Emma Lively $18.95, paper. Putnam. 270 pages, 7x9
From the author of The Artist’s Way comes The Artists Way for Parents, which provides an ongoing spiritual toolkit that parents can enter—and re-enter—at any pace and at any point in their children’s early years. For decades, people have been asking me to write this book… The
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Artist’s Way for Parents focuses on creative cultivation, where we consciously—and playfully—put our children on a healthy creative path toward the future.
According to Cameron “Every child is creative—and every parent is creative. Your child requires joy, and exercising creativity, both independently and together, makes for a happy and fulfilling family life.” Focusing on parents and their children from birth to age twelve, The Artist’s Way for Parents builds on the foundation of The Artist’s Way and shares it with the next generation. Using spiritual concepts and practical tools, this book will assist parents as they guide their children to greater creativity. Parenting is a great adventure. Awakening your child’s sense of curiosity and wonder helps you reawaken your own. Reawakening your own sense of curiosity and wonder helps you awaken your child’s.
Each chapter focuses on cultivating a particular quality: Safety, Curiosity, Connection, Limits, SelfExpression, Inventiveness, Conscious Inflow, Focus, Discovery, Humility, Independence, and Faith. “Three Basic Tools” which Julia Cameron recommends are: