The Whole Music Experience

  The Spirit of the Tibetan Flute I met Nawang Khechog for the first time on a hot August day while attending the Tibet Festival in Seattle. But this was not my first encounter with the Tibetan musician because I experienced his spiritual teachings through listening to several of his universal music recordings and a lot can be conveyed through heartfelt music. I had also been informed of Khechog's travels with the Dalai Lama, his 11 years spent as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, in which several of those years, he spent as a hermit in a cave on the foot of the Himalayas. Nor is the story of the plight of Tibet new to me. Since I am on a spiritual path myself, I often heard the wisdom of the 14th Dalai Lama. In the past, I saw a concert of Tibetan Buddhist monk choir and I had interviewed the Tibetan "Goddess of Song," Yungchen Lhamo as well as, listened to her compassionate music. Certainly my heart had already been opened to the Tibetan people, to the possibility of kin...

Louie Gonnie Elements Meditation Songs from the Dine Canyon Records Johnny Mike My Spirit Soars Harmonized Peyote Songs Canyon Records If you find that you need strong musical medicine, you might try slipping Canyon Records artists, Louie Gonnie's Elements or Johnny Mike's My Spirit Soars into your disc player. While both CDs hail from the Dineh peoples of the American Southwest, the recordings feature different vocal styles. Louie Gonnie performs original compositions a cappella, sometimes double tracking his baritone vocals. While Grammy winner Johnny Mike sings harmonized peyote songs of the Native American Church accompanied by a water drum and rattles. Gonnie, a prolific painter, song composer and vocalist, features the elements (water, fire, air and earth) on his meditative recording. Similar to his debut, Sacred Mountains , Gonnie's new set of songs connect his listeners to the beauty of the sacred earth. Gonnie describes Elements' themes, "These songs r...

Celtic Twilight 7: Sacred Spirit Compilation Hearts of Space Records As we emerge from our cocoons and leave our winter reflections behind, we might find that our nerves are frazzled from the stress caused by the flu & cold season or unusual weather caused by global warming. Spring promises renewal as leaves sprout on the branches of trees and daffodils act as grails that capture drops of seasonal rain (depending on where you are upon the earth). At least it is late winter/early spring in this neck of the woods. Many people use this time of year to cleanse their bodies, minds and spirits. They might seek new experiences, leave old careers behind, might relocate to another place on the planet or pursue a dormant dream with the attitude of better late than never. At least in the northern hemisphere, spring and its various spiritual and religious celebrations, promises resurrection, rebirth and a chance to begin again. And what better way to celebrate your rebirth than with sacred mu...

Lura (Portugal/Cape Verde) M'bem di Fora Time Square/Lusa Africa Last year I had the great pleasure of seeing Afro-Portuguese Lura in concert in Seattle. So I was pleased to receive her upcoming (March 27 in North America) CD, M'Bem di Fora . This time around, the dancer-singer-songwriter has ventured further into her ancestral homeland, while sharing various rhythms from the Cape Verdean archipelago. She pleasures our ears and our feet with funana, batuku and the European mazurka (with an African face-lift). African music invites us to explore various rhythms, rituals and healing traditions. Cape Verdean music with its effervescent sounds, soulful rhythms and heartfelt vocals reminds us how to connect as humans and community. Lura brings us many simple stories backed by her stunning vocal talent. And I imagine that the songs on this CD will get the blood flowing and lift moods. It's too bad this recording won't be released in the U.S. until March 27th, because it ...

I recently received Native American Flutist, Che ok 'ten's (Paul Wagner) Journey of Spirit recording. This CD is the first Native American flute recording that I have acquired that hails from the Pacific Northwest. The beautiful and healing tones that soar off of Che ok 'ten's flute are a God-send to me since I am dealing with a high level of stress at the moment. Certainly I can endorse the work of this wonderful sound healer and musician. I am including his biography which appears at his website, http://www.sacredbreath.cc Please visit his website and pass the word on to those folks in need of flute medicine. Che ok' ten (Paul Wagner), Native American flutist, drummer/singer and storyteller of the Saanich (Coast Salish) tribe, shares the beautiful songs and stories of his ancient northwest coast Sissiwiss ("sacred breath"/"sacred life") spirituality, in cultural presentations and ritual and public performances, in the United States and...

Japanese researcher and water guru, Masaru Emoto published Water Crystal Healing (Music & Images To Restore Your Well-Being) with Beyond Word and Atria Books last November. The multimedia project comes with 2 compact discs featuring stunning compositions by various classical composers, including Claude Debussy, Richard Wagner, Johann Strauss II, Jean Sibelius and others along with photographs of water crystals that derived from water exposed to the music on the CDs. So now we can actually see what Claude Debussy's Prelude to Afternoon of the Faun looks like. For more information about Masaru Emoto's book, go to Beyond Word Publishing

Father Peyote: Songs of the Native American Church Introduction to the Peyote Church Ceremony This is an archival article written in 2003.  It's not updated.  For more recent recordings, go to Canyon Records website, http://www.canyonrecords.com When some people speak of Native American ceremonies, the peyote ceremony or the ingestion of the hallucinogen peyote (contains mescaline) usually surfaces. However, there is too much false information being passed around in the non-native community surrounding peyote meetings. The first thing people need to know about the Native American connection to peyote is that the plant is sacred medicine ingested as a sacrament during healing ceremonies of the Native American Church. The second thing, people need to know is that the Native American Church is not a set structure like the Christian Church. The peyote meeting could take place in a Navajo hogan or a teepee. And finally, since the peyote meeting does in part derive fro...