Joy of Life
by Karunesh
www.realmusic.com
Karunesh has released 17 albums since 1987 all which touch upon ancient spiritual and religious traditions. Joy of Life is his most recent release. Most of the music has a medium speed raga rhythm accompanied on some tracks by tabla, oud, sitar, bansuri, sarod, indian violin, vocals on a couple of tracks, and keyboards by Karunesh . He composed and arranged all the music. You hear beautiful indian folk melodies, heartfelt layering of the instruments and trance-chant expression that can touch you deeply upon close listening, movement, meditation. The music inspires me to keep my communication simple, clear, and without haste, or maybe with delay.
Unlike some of the Indian-eastern based music that I'm familiar with (see Nataraja, Music For Aligators, Niyaz), which mixes more instruments and electronics with emotionally charged, cathartic rhythms, Karunesh stays closer to the mellower sounds of great new age artists like Kitaro and Deuter. The feel of Karunesh's music reminded me of Deuter, who created much of the meditation music for Bagwan Rajneesh, now known as Osho. Rajneesh, his behavior aside, was a master of many meditation forms, many which involved dancing (picture a room with thousands of followers). Osho Chakra Sounds is one of Karunesh's albums designed for practicing one of Osho's meditations. Joy of Life falls between highly cathartic and ambient meditation music. Even so, tracks “Return of the Rains”, “Joy of Life”, and “Sahara Sunset” with its middle-eastern melody, provide plenty of energy for releasing through movement. The final track, “Shruti's Song” brings the album to an very relaxed, yet ecstatic ahhhhhhhh!
Karunesh lived in an ashram in Germany for five years. Here Karunesh (sanskrit for “compassion”) played together with musicians from cultures around the world. Deuter was likely one of them. He developed the symbiosis of different styles and feelings in which could express his mystical experience.
I recommend Joy of Life for movement practice, massage, yoga, tai-chi, hiking in woods, photo presentation....Oh you get the idea! Let me hear from you.
~ Review by Ron Rudin top
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Clearly
by Michael Mucklow
www.michaelmucklow.com
Michael Mucklow plays guitar, bass and piano. He is joined by Jon Gosen, piano, syth, percussion, and eric banas on piano on some of the tracks. The guitar-focused Clearly, is one of those albums that is so good that it almost defies description. I could take the easy way out and say “go to www.michaelmucklow.com, and hear the entire CD by clicking on 'listen'”. But, I must write on. It is Clearly obvious (to me) that the music is soothing, vibrant, musically and spiritually inspiring, brilliant, emotionally rich, healing, and joyful. Hopefully these “words” won't distract you from the here and now. Tune in, you'll know whether it's worth a listen.
The songs don't repeat themselves; the style varies; this makes it easy to listen to the entire album again and again. The clear melodic squeaking sound of the fingers moving on the guitar strings brings you into the room with the artist. You hear elements of jazz, folk, classical, and new age music. The more I listen, the more I like it.
On his web site Michael Mucklow shares his inspiration for each song. About the song “Loves Way”, he says: "There are times when God expresses His love for us in a more gentle way...He is comforting and wooing us. When I began writing the lead melody line for this song it began to feel like I myself was being reminded of how gentle God's love has been toward me. I'm very thankful for those times."
And Mucklow's thoughts about track six, “Cloud Shadows”: "Clouds are very distinct entities in the desert because of the clear blue sky. When they are moving slowly and gently above the earth their shadows are cast upon the ground, hills and mountains. It can be mezmerizing to watch those shadows slowly make their way along."
Playing while doing yoga, meditative movement, massage, eating breakfast, or talking with friends, may inspire you to cast your shadows gently upon the earth.
~ Review by Ron Rudin; Your feedback may contribute to upcoming reviews.
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