The Whole Music Experience

Antonio Zambujo Quinto World Village The waves of the Atlantic ocean, lost loves, and family nostalgia color the poetry of Portuguese fadisto Antonio Zambujo’s second World Village release, Quinto .   Certainly, you can hear the trembling, aching fado voice here, but you can also hear strains of Brazilian bossa nova.   I watched a few of Zambujo’s live performances on YouTube where the artist collaborated with a Bulgarian women’s choir, a duet with Raquel Tavares and a performance with a Portuguese traditional men’s choir, Rancho de cantadores da Aldeia de S. Bento (who also appear on What has become of her? on Quinto) . Clarinet, Portuguese guitar, ukulele (which finds its origins in Portugal), classical guitar and double bass accompany Zambujo’s sexy vocals.   Flagrante sounds like it came out of Brazil’s Bahia region with its lilting rhythms and spritely melody.   José Miguel Conde’s clarinet takes a Brazilian flavor too and only the shimme...

Riley Lee Shakuhachi Water Meditations Tranquil Sounds of the Zen Bamboo Flute Sounds True It’s not often that a title of an album succinctly describe its musical content. Zen bamboo flute player Riley Lee’s album Shakuhachi Water Meditations actually conjures images of a flute player sitting next to a body of water with perhaps a bamboo forest responding in the background. Lee hails from the West and I’ve heard at least one of his other recordings released on Narada many years ago. I don’t fully recall his journey into Zen Buddhism or his original attraction to the Japanese bamboo flute (with origins in China), except that anyone wishing to learn this instrument must take on the role of a disciple with a Zen master and it is a years-long process. And at the beginning you perform chores for your master teacher, the flute playing comes later in the journey. According to the liner notes, “Every shakuhachi begins as a stalk of yellow-green bamboo swaying in the wind…Although...

Stevin McNamara Om Guitar Sounds True Long-time veteran of the music business, guitarist and producer Stevin McNamara provides us with east-west fusion meditative music on his latest disc, "Om Guitar". He invited an array of guest musicians who brought sitar, tamboura and percussion to McNamara's Indian-sounding guitar. The music provides a wonderful background for meditation, contemplation or for doing work that involves little focus. It is ideal for reading, knitting, and sewing type activities, but would not work well for driving a car. "May Fortune Smile" might interests a few listeners. According to the liner notes, this track "derived from an early evening raga, "Yaman Kalyan," often used as an invocation for good fortune and abundance." And who does not want good fortune and abundance? All four long-playing tracks derive from ragas, which represent a certain part of the day. And all of the ragas have been translated into...