Customer Reviews

Celtic Zen

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I first encountered Levi Chen performing as a street musician in Hollywood...I can see that with this release, the easygoing Chen is still a master at filtering the Zen sounds into a melodic,powerful experience. I highly recommend this CD.

There is a wonderful musical synergy at play between the nominal leader of the session Levi Chen, who plays guitar and gu zheng, a Chinese harp (often simultaneously,) Michael Masley, who is predominantly a hammer dulcimer player and who has adopted some novel techniques for "bowing" the strings, and Lisa Lynne Franco, a/k/a/ Lisa Lynne, who contributes her masterful Celtic harp along with some percussion.

As you may have discerned, the emphasis is on plucked and bowed instruments, not unlike a Renaissance consort, but the music sprawls over a landscape that is neither predominantly Celtic nor
Eastern. As accomplished as each player is, the finished product
is greater than the sum of the parts.

Don't let the title put you off; this is neither one of those "by the numbers" Hearts O' Space ripoffs, nor is it "easy listening" New Age. It all goes down quite nicely, but check out the instrumental repetory on the back cover, and realize all that you have been digging. The CD is audiophile quality and benefits from the use of headphones. Highly recommended!

of Celtic heart and Zen mantra. If you are a fan of Celtic music and want something simple and meditative to listen to while you work, study, sleep or even meditate, this is ideal. It's not a mellow as other meditation music, but I only say that as a Zen philosopher, not a Celtophile.