Music for Massage, Yoga, Working Out, Going Within, Living, Loving
by Dean Evenson
For many years now, I've enjoyed the ambient music of Dean and Dudley Evenson and Soundings of the Planet. This musically gifted duo (and a stellar gathering of musicians) has created more than 60 albums, all for the purpose of relaxation, healing, and bringing peace to the planet. "Peace through Music" is the byline of their record label.
At Buddha Chick Life, we are pleased to feature Dean's newest album, Relaxation Zone, sure to lift you out of tension and troubles into a stress-free zone. I'm personally enjoying this CD very much and just emailed Dudley to tell her I think it's one of Dean's finest. I nearly always do my daily writing with Soundings music playing in the background. This particular offering has become a ready favorite.
Gentle rolling rhythms, atmospheric grooves, soft percussion and a touch of didgeridoo invite you relax into the moment. Charting a new direction, Dean Evenson has put down his flute for this album to create these lovely keyboard compositions that are uplifting as well as comforting and supportive. The resulting ambience is perfect for healing arts practitioners and others who have been asking him for music with a little more rhythm but still with that signature ‘Evenson’ mood.
We all need to relax. Our modern lifestyles have caused a new kind of stress that our forebears didn’t know. While they may have had an adrenaline rush from being chased by a wild animal, our demons are often the ones we are chasing in our own minds. Stress comes in many forms. How we deal with it is up to us. The liner notes for Relaxation Zone include suggestions to help a person relax. Whether it is learning how to breathe, moving our bodies or taking time to rest in stillness, this music is an excellent tool to aid in the process of relaxation.
Dean shares: “As the moments of bliss increase in direct relationship to the amount of time I set aside for relaxation and meditation, a formula is developing in my life to allow, indeed to encourage, more time to seek the infinite source of creation within myself. As I open up to creation’s miracle of life, the time set aside for the restoration of my personal energy becomes the cathedral of keeping my connection with the infinite open, vibrant and joyful. The energy is coming from within to meld with universal energy, blending into a satiated state of calm activity. Taking action when necessary is most adroitly handled when one is coming from the place of stillness deep inside, with action in a wash of love of all that brings out the best in all moments. Find the time to relax and love this life we have been given and you will find your true self.”
Leave a comment here and you will be entered in the Giveaway Drawing for the new CD!
Learn more about "Relaxation Zone" and listen to sample from the album here:
Dean Evenson is one of the true visionaries of the Ambient/New Age musical genre–a prolific musician and composer, an entrepreneur, media pioneer and the co-founder of Billboard-charting independent music label, Soundings of the Planet. You can learn more about him, his music and record label, as well as listen to music samples at Soundings.com.
A holiday Giveaway: the gift of stillness for yourself or someone you love!
Considered the father of New Age music, Paul Horn has been recording music in sacred spaces around the world since 1968, offering us an invitation to go deeper into the sacred spaces within ourselves as well.
In the late sixties, Horn, a jazz musician who had studied with the best,slipped into the Taj Mahal with a flute and a tape recorder—and created an improvisational masterpiece that would signify the birth of a new genre in music. He has a rare ability to capture in music the essence of sacred space. Horn went on to record a landmark series of albums in noted spiritual sites across the globe. On "The Stillness Inside," this four-time Grammy® nominee shares for the first time his favorite compositions for the exploration of the sacred interior that each one of us holds within.
From Kashmir, to Brazil, to Egypt, China and Tibet, this gifted artist has traveled the world and found a unique way to create "space" within musical creations to allow the listener to access "inner space." "The challenge," says Horn, "is to play the right note, in the right place, in the right sequence of notes and leave space around it so it can breathe." He explains in this You Tube video that stillness, the silence, is the basis of everything; it's also the basis of music."
(This fascinating video demonstrates his passion for creating music that is "natural" in sacred spaces, including the Great Pyramid in Egypt and the Potala Palace in Tibet, opening us up in profound ways to the stillness within—and unity among all people—well worth the six minutes it takes to watch.)
Listen to some sample cuts off his newest album, "The Stillness Inside," to discover if you are able to access a new, potent place of stillness within you.
Leave a comment here and you'll be entered into a Giveaway of "The Stillness Inside" CD, another delightful gift you could wrap up and give as a gift to a loved one in need of stillness. Or keep it and gift it to yourself. Happy holidays!
Paul Horn has released dozens of recordings over a 50-year career, including the groundbreaking Inside the Taj Mahal, the album that defined new age music and sold more than 1 million copies. His recorded output covers classical, jazz, pop, new age, and world music. In 1966 he traveled to India to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He has continued to travel the world, recording in sacred spaces from Canyon de Chelly (with R. Carlos Nakai) to the cathedrals of Russia. You can learn more about him at paulhornmusic.com.
Kirtan Kids: The Elephant, The Monkey and the Little Butter Thief (CD)
by Jai Uttal
Join in our delightful CD giveaway just in time for holiday giving!
"World music," explains composer and chant master, Jai Uttal, "is music from everywhere. Music that creates bridges. Music that unites hearts and cultures. Music that brings peace." This gifted musician indeed inclines the heart toward love and unity with his newest offering, this time created for our children. "Kirtan Kids" is pure delight. One quick listen and I'm sure you'll agree.
Not familiar with Kirtan? Kirtan is chant, singing the names of God, sourced in the Hindu (yogic) tradition, but prevalent in various forms in many spiritual traditions around the world. Considered a very simple spiritual practice in which anyone can engage, on the surface it appears that one is simply naming names. But kirtan was designed (who knows how long ago) to open the heart, stir the mind, and incline the spirit toward the Divine so inner movement can occur, opening, healing, ushering in a profound and "felt" experience of the Holy.
Artist Jai Uttal (a lifelong musician and student of yoga, including being a disciple of Neem Karoli Baba in India) is renown for his chant albums for adults, but this time around he's offering a unique and upbeat—and full of humor—approach to chant that kids and their parents will enjoy. "Kirtan Kids" begins with a wonderful personal invitation from Jai Uttal explaining in kid friendly language how this all works and what fun we will have listening to the songs and stories on this CD. Nine chants in both Sanskrit and English, backed up by five choirs of children of various ages, and three playful stories, really do make listening pure delight. The energy conveyed encourages little ones to get up dance, sing, clap and play, all in the spirit of unity. "Poppa Jai" invites us to sing along with our little ones, "and to keep our hearts and minds ever more open to the mysteries, the miracles, and the infinite love that always surrounds us."
We are extra delighted to have TWO copies of this CD to Giveaway, courtesy of its label, Sounds True, just in time for holiday giving.Leave your thoughts here, about this CD, Jai Uttal, or your experience with kirtan or chant, and you'll be entered into the drawing to be held Dec. 15—just in time for pre-holiday mailing so you can wrap it up and give it as a gift! Fun!
Upon opening, be prepared for the little ones in your house to chant and dance around the Christmas tree. Merriment abounds with Jai Uttal and "Kirtan Kids." As Poppa Jai says, "Whether or not we understand the meanings of these words, these chants become vessels to carry our deepest unspoken prayers to the infinite soul of God." We'd add—and from the mouths of babes are we so blessed.
Buddha Chick Life is an affiliate of Sounds True and is honored to feature their transformational products. We receive no renumeration for doing so. Our joy is to receive their products to review, then pass them along to you as gifts.
Jai Uttal is a pioneer in the world music community. His eclectic east-meets-west sound has put his music at the forefront of the world fusion movement. Jai Uttal's musical roots embrace a rich variety of cultures and traditions that span the globe and the centuries. From the hillbilly music of the Appalachian mountains to the passionate strains of Bengali street singers, from the haunting rhythms and melodies of ancient India to contemporary electric rock sounds, Jai's music distills the essence of diverse musical forms. Read more here and here.
If you are a fan of chant, kirtan, or Eastern devotional music, you will be familiar with Deva Premal. She may be best known for her soulful rendition of the "Gayatri Mantra"—a mantra she states was sung to her while still in her mother's womb.
You can listen to her sing the Gayatri Mantra here.
Deva was raised on chant and spiritual disciplines by a German mother, though trained as a classical musician. She was interested in healing modalities as a young woman and eventually wandered to India to study at the ashram of Osho. In 1990, she met Miten there. He was to become her spiritual and musical partner. Together, they have created numerous albums and concert tours, spreading their passion for chant all over the world.
Their new album, "Password," is a musical shift for them. Copenhagen’s jazz players have been brought into the mix. The album contains sublime arrangements of ancient mantras which complement Deva's soulful vocals. The album also features Manose, a bansuri maestro from Nepal.
A mantra can be a "holy word" or phrase, the name of a deity, quality, or simply a sound—like Aum or Om. As a spiritual practice, mantra practice is a rich way to focus and clear the mind, all the while connecting us with our heart center and the Divine as we understand it. “Mantras are passwords that transform the mundane into the sacred,” says Deva.
And, yet, according to Deva, the mantra is not the be and end all. She says, “Without the silence that follows the chants, you get only half the story. It's like the climax of a good story. The silence is there because it exists in the music. It just needs to be exposed and acknowledged. It's so easy to overlook the silence inside the music... and it's that which is healing us... if we allow it to be there. This is really one of the main reasons Miten and I sing - to bathe in Silence. It's our nourishment. It's what keeps us on the road. For me there is nothing more precious than having sung with an audience, ecstatic with bliss, and then entering the deep silence that the mantra brings... so deep, that with closed eyes you really feel there is 'nobody' there at all... all personalities dissolved for a tiny sacred moment.”
Courtesy of Sounds True, we are delighted to be giving away one copy of Deva and Miten's new CD, "Password."
Leave a comment here—about Deva if you are a fan—or about a mantra you may use in your own spiritual practice. You could be the lucky winner!
RSS Feed
