The Whole Music Experience

Baka Beyond Baka Live March Hare Music Call of the Forest Favorites Of The Baka Beyond White Swan What is not to love about the international Afro-Celtic fusion group Baka Beyond? In this day and age of doom & gloom, these musicians get people on their feet dancing to acoustic African groove married to shimmering Celtic fare. Not only that, founders of the BB, Su Hart and Martin Cradick should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for all of the work they have done with the Baka Pygmies of the Cameroon forest. Well, maybe another year... In the meantime, Baka Beyond & Baka Gbine's Baka Live gives listeners a chance to hear electrifying performances. The gaps between indigenous and non-indigenous people, Celtic and African music have all been bridged. We end up with a rich celebration of cultures and a friendly vibe that can only leave smiles on people's faces. I know that I smile a lot when I listen to these recordings. You can almost hear the dancing going on an...

Photo from rockpaperscissors.biz Photography by Ashley Coombes Julie Fowlis (Scotland) Cuilidh Shoeshine Records and Cadiz Music Hailing from one of the westernmost points of Europe, on the island North Uist, vocalist Julie Fowlis shares ancient and contemporary Scotch Gaelic songs with an international audience on her recording, Cuilidh . This crossover artist and music-preserver prefers to sing the songs in Scotch Gaelic, a language spoken only by 60,000 people and on the remote island where Fowlis resides. The Scotch Gaelic dialect bodes well for these lilting melodies reflecting on scandals, shipwrecks and defiant women who either walk out on their own wedding or marry someone against their parents' wishes. According to the press notes, the songs on this album range from 10 years ago to several 100 years ago. The songs are sung in a clear lyrical voice backed by traditional Celtic/Gaelic instruments and the songs range from rousing to melancholic ballads. And al...

Tibetan Chants for World Peace The Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir White Swan Records The first time I heard, more or less, experienced a Tibetan monk choir was back in the 90s when I attended an event at the University of Washington's Kane Hall. Tibetan consciousness had surfaced among the Buddhists and New Agers. At the time, I did not equate the choir with a musical experience, but a religious experience and a cultural exchange. My friends and I attended the concert out of curiosity, but did not know what to expect. And even though some of us had been exposed to Tuvan throat-singing, the guttural vocals of the monks came off as startling. Fast forward to several years of having been exposed to the music of Yungchen Lhamo, Nawang Khechog, various types of throat singing and various types of spiritual chants, I still find the Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir startling. Here I am at a loss to describe the sound and the experience. Even the producer of Tibetan Chants for World Peace , fo...