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CD Review
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Muzikifan, CD Review >>
There is some music that is satisfying but you only need to hear it once, or every decade or so. It stays in your mind so you can "hear" it without putting on the disc. The gravelly throaty sound of the Tibetan monks is one of those (& is akin to didjeridoo or Tuvan throat singing). In fact this disc sounds a lot like the Tibetan chant album that came out on Folkways (I think) in the 60s, but still I enjoyed it and have listened to it a few times. Let me explain. There is also music you put on to send people home when the party's over but they are too inebriated to get the hint. Or when the neighbours are making a din. The Duchess has obnoxious neighbours who listen to crappy music. I don't know what it is, maybe white rap music, but all you can hear is the rhythm track which sounds like the boom-chaka button on an Electrovox or Hohner organ from the 60s. So call in the monks & crank it up, dude. Indeed this is not relaxing music that your masseuse would put on to lull you, it's Looking into the pit of Hell stuff. Zen is mentally engaging, so I like Buddhism, though I think all religion is superstition, & as Emile Zola said "Civilization will not attain perfection until the last stone from the last church falls on the last priest." Tibetan Buddhism is the Catholicism of Eastern religion, full of ritual and ceremony, though the Dali Lama is a lot hipper than that stiff in the Vatican. And you have to sympathize with their situation. I don't know how this is going to effect world peace but anything is worth a shot. The monks on here were multi-tracked by Mickey Hart to fatten the sound. They play bells and there's a drum or two and some really dull cymbals which they seem to keep dropping and which roll about in a big empty hall. Every now and then the monks stop their chants and you hear the cymbal wallah picking up the dozens of scattered cymbals, dropping them as he does (because he is bowing and walking backwards), and leaving the room (that's what I picture). It's also cold up there in Dharamsala so I imagine you can see their breath. The music paints a great picture, so let it take you on a little trip.
-- by Alastair Johnston 09/01/08 >> go there
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