Customer Reviews

Atlantis Angelis

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This is a most beautiful CD. I can't believe I am the first to review it for Amazon...
My family and I have been listening to it for 10 years and now our 15 yr old son has re-membered it from childhood and is playing it at many bedtimes. I think it is very subtly transformative!!! Solaris Universalis is as beautiful - maybe a little more uplifting wheras this one takes you very deep.
Very very beautiful. So Im here at Amazon to hunt up a newy from Patrick. Two CD's are just not enough!!!...

Fans of Mike Oldfield and Popol Vuh will find much to like on this debut CD by Patrick Bernhardt (now known as Patrick Bernard). All of these artists share a spiritual proclivity and an enthusiasm for blending a variety of world music.

In Bernard's case, he likes to combine eastern chants and mantras with mostly western instrumentation. He's fond of using synthesizer, piano, acoustic guitar, and multi-layered backing vocals to create a celestial atmosphere. The result is very beautiful and soothing.

Patrick was born and raised for the first 10 years of his life in the (at the time) French colony of Algeria in North Africa, but spent his teen and adult years in Canada. He currently resides in California. I mention this because he speaks French, and his languid and charming accent imbues his vocals with the romantic intimacy long associated with that language. These are, however, love songs in praise of God. Also, they are sung in neither French or English - but Sanskrit and other sacred languages.

Though the first half of the CD is given various song titles, it is actually an extended suite of the Hindu mantra "Jaya Radha Madhava". On the cassette version that I bought when this was first released, this suite comprised all of side one. To this day I regard it as the most gorgeous and perfect side one of this kind of music I've ever heard. Side two was almost as good. Again, though given different song titles, it was really an extended suite of "Om Mani Padme Hum" from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, with a dash of the Hindu "Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya". For good measure he throws in phrases taken from the Vedas that were designed to strengthen various parts of the body, unblock energy, and open the soul to your mind. It's all interwoven with the nonsense phrase "atlantis angelis", just to make it all - oh, I don't know - more mysterious!

Patrick Bernard deserves better than to be lumped in with the "new age" crowd. These suites ebb and flow like classical music compositions. They contain "movements" and connecting passages. The synth often sounds like an orchestra. Occasionally you'll hear chiming church bells or the sound of ocean waves, but he keeps these embellishments to a bare minimum. It's not jazzy like the ECM label output, nor is it as wispy as Windham Hill's recordings. It bears more resemblance to Oldfield's "Ommadawn" or Popol Vuh's "For You And Me". He's a charter member of this select group of musicians that popularized cultural cross-pollination, which we see in wide practice today.

Bernard followed up with "Solaris Universalis", which was another best-seller. He's continued along this path, even incorporating Hebrew, Christian, and Sufi chants into his repertoire. He's like a honeybee, collecting nectar from wherever he can find it.

These titles are out of print. Bernard only recently came into ownership of his back-catalogue, and has started his own label Devi Communications Inc. to issue his recordings. They have been retitled, and are currently available as follows: Atlantis and Solaris' Sanskrit chants comprise the new CD "Bhakti Yoga Mantra". Atlantis and Solaris' angelic and Incan incantations comprise the new CD "Angelic Presence". He remixed, remastered, and re-ordered their tracks - and both are beautifully reinvented sonic tapestries woven together from these beloved classics.

2011 update: "Atlantis Angelis" and "Solaris Universalis" are once again available as they were (in their original form) - and have been reissued intact on the Devi label. Both CD's have been enhanced with improved packaging and a much more informative booklet. Currently they can also be purchased as MP3 downloads at Amazon.

On a personal note: When this came out, I lent it to a friend who had allowed drugs to ruin his life. His wife and young children left him, and he was alone in their neglected apartment. He told me he played this day and night with headphones on, with tears streaming down his face. During those days he kicked his habit, and never looked back. After a time he won back his wife and kids, they moved to the country, and have been well ever since.

So - thank you Patrick Bernard. Such is the power of your transformative, transcendental music.

I purchased the cassette around 1990 from a New Age store located next to my sign shop. During the years of owning and operating a sign shop, I found the music contained on this cassette to be very soothing and calming, particularly when working on the right side of the brain. Over the years, I have treasured this cassette and am replacing it with a CD. Patrick Bernhardt's vocals have the most wonderful quality for creating a place of peace and tranquility.

I'm not too sure how to describe this CD. I first heard it at a friend's. As I was listening to the first track it was like a soothing calmness came over me. I own many New Age and Spiritual CDs from a variety of gifted artist ........... and I enjoy them very much, but something about this haunting music is so incredible that I went out and bought the CD after hearing only that first track - and I was not disappointed in the rest of it! I'd never heard of Patrick Bernhardt before and was pleased to discover that he was a fellow Canadian. Some of his other work holds no appeal to me but there is just "something" about this CD that I can find no words to describe. I bought Atlantis Angelis several years ago and it remains my all-time favourite CD.

This is an amazing work! Rare in the world! Unique. Gorgeous!
I just have no word to say, because you have to listening.
I heard in Brazil almost 20 years ago in K7 and I kept all in my
memory and cells, never forgot my first new age song...
Now living in the USA, I found you again and this CD still the same deep meditation! Amazing CD from
the years... What a divine inspiration, Patrick! What a gift-Mantra to blow up. You will find a peace
inside and outside for sure!

The CD I ordered arrived quickly and in perfect condition.
One could not ask for better service.
I think this is Patrick's most magical composition ever.
The music is truly Angelic!!!!

like the previous two reviewers , I have to agree. This along with Deep peace by bIll douglas , and the river by Nigel shaw are part of my soul survival kit , essential for all the vagaries of life on planet earth.

This is my first cd of this type - I am new to actually liking music without "lyrics" (that I can understand and take meaning from). I heard this cd at a friend's house and have listened to it every night to go to sleep since. I also listen to it every morning while stretching and reading my daily inspirations. This cd brings tears to my eyes b/c it is so moving, and I don't even know the words he is saying, as it is in sanskrit. I love this cd and recommend it highly!

The music is so soothing. It is like a lullaby for me. The CD was sent in a very timely manner.

Sharon Rose

Patrick Bernard (formerly 'Berhardt') has created a lush and soothing aural landscape with 'Atlantis Angelis' that transcends the 'new age' genre - providing something of perennial value. With a seamless combination of instrumental pieces and gentle chants with musical accompaniment (including guitar, flutes and keyboard) from India's timeless Bhakti devotional tradition, Bernard invites the listener on a journey of greater depth and meaning than just 'relaxation' - although relaxing it certainly is. Bernard is one of those rare musicians like Chinmaya Dunster who create masterful fusions of Eastern and Western influences that effectively conjure up a whole new genre that defies categorization. This release is one of Bernard's best, and a perfect shelf companion to Dunster's 'Yoga On Sacred Ground'. Now if only these guys could get together!