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CD Review
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The Flagpole, CD Review >>
CHÖYING DROLMA & STEVE TIBBETTS
Selwa
Six Degrees
On their 1997 collaboration Chö, Tibetan Buddhist nun Chöying Drolma and Minnesota guitarist Steve Tibbetts found a most unexpected common ground in combining ancient chants with subtle electric adornment. The result was a searing meditation equally dark and revealing. It was a departure from the new age recordings of the day; the project damn near bled integrity, and holds up years later as a watershed event in music culture exchange.
So it was a pleasant surprise when follow-up Selwa came across my desk. It features the two in collaboration again with a small supporting cast. Returning is the gorgeous bed of reverberating clouds of sound and particularly languid guitar. New this time is a prevalent song format highlighting Drolma's exceptional melodic abilities within tight structures. Standout "Vakritunda" is a dreamy hybrid of Indian-pop crooning and tumbling drums, brilliantly formulated to expose the vocals at auspicious intervals. "Mandala Offering" integrates a harmonic complexity seldom-heard in meditative styles, and achieves a weightless time of its own design.
In fact, all the music is stunning, though the rushed pace at the beginning works against the album, setting an unrepresentative tone that is soon replaced by elongated form and room to breathe. I could have used an even slower unraveling of ideas throughout? some consolation: it's a rare music that leaves us wanting more. There's very little else like this, and even in a brief window, peering in reveals great rewards.
Erik Hinds
12/01/04 >> go there
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