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CD Review
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Illinois Entertainer, CD Review >>
Popularized in the West during the '90s, Tibetan Buddhist chants are all about the sacred. Minnesotan guitarist Steve Tibbetts joined with Tibetan Buddhist nun Choying Drolma to produce the ground-breaking Cho (Hannibal) in 1997, introducing the luminous lyrical beauty of Buddhist prayer accented with a carefully produced sonic background. Their second collaboration, Selwa (Six Deg rees) ups the ante with a resounding and lovely 11-track CD that reflects the visualization and meditative practice of Buddhism.
"Selwa" means "awake" or "clear" and the songs on the album exhibit a clear, unified theme of spiritual growth. Drolma practices a form of Vajrayana Buddhism that requires overcoming various physical and spiritual obstacles through vigorous meditation. The tunes echo this vigor, with Tibbetts' moody acoustic guitar strains, tribal hand drumming, and Drolma's resilient, reedy vocals. On "Song Of Realization," an array of voices, acoustic and electric guitars, and percussion float around Drolma's chanting, "I do not recognize this earth as Earth/it is an assembly hall adorned by flowers/I do not recognize me to be me/I am the supreme victor, the wish-fulfilling jewel." 06/01/05
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