Customer Reviews

Dancing With the Lion

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is such wonderful and beautiful album as "Down to the moon", which I believe is #1 album of all the Vollenweider's. To my knowledge, he used piano for the first time for this unique album giving it freshness and variety. I also think he added sound effect very skillfully and efficiently. I am just amazed how he could do another great job in a row after the grammy awarded "Down to the moon".

So... why don't you let this album be in your precious collection. You won't be sorry at all!!

I don't know who or what could inspire a human being to write music like this. I sure hope that someday I'll find what he found.

Use this CD wisely, and you'll create memories that will stay with you forever.

Book of Roses comes next. =)

A lion's roar sets the tone for this continuation of Andreas Vollenweider's ever-evolving creative vision. This music for electroacoustic pedal harp, cheng, synthesizer, solo voice, chorus, percussion and a variety of other instruments is so unique and multi-textured that it tends to defy description. If pressed, I'd term the offerings on this album a fusion of the best of jazz and New Age elements with flavorings from Africa, the Orient, and somewhere far off-planet. Energizing and calming, ethereal and grounding, tantalizing and satisfying, it is an unexpected blending of extremes into a truly artful soundscape that transports you to a world free of woes and full of magic. Beginning with "The Trilogy" and "Down to the Moon", Vollenweider continues his musical journeys here, and then enhances his signature sound in ever new and intriguing ways in "Eolian Minstrel", "Book of Roses", "Kryptos" and "Cosmopoly".

I was recently inroduced to the music of Andreas Vollenweider during a romantic weekend break in Rome. My partner and I attented his concert which was set in the beautiful grounds of Villa Cellimontana. As the darkness fell and the stars came out the music of "Stella" (Cosmopoly) began to fill the air. It was a very moving experience that I shall never forget. "Cosmopoly" and "Dancing with the Lion" now provide a backdrop to all our intimate dinners together.

In one expression, I love this album. New efforts were made for this recording, I feel. In particular, piano was effectively employed for the first time, as long as I know. Andreas is ingenious in expressing his emotion and feeling with mixing-up of various instruments. With Grammy awarded "Down to the moon", this is my favorite. Don't say anything about Andreas before trying this CD!

I have always been fan of Andreas' music. The very first piece I heard was in South America and it was from the album "Down to the moon". I started buying almost all of his albums and "Dancing with the Lion" is one of his best.

This is one of my favourites of Andreas Vollenweider's. I think one of the reasons why his style appeals so strongly to my heartstrings is that he paints with his music. If you ever go camping or spend the night outdoors in the bushland under a starry night sky, you must bring along 'Dancing with the Lion'. It brings to my mind, the noble Bedouin chieftain and his Arab steed, the nomadic tribesmen and their camel trains, the Muslim desert people on the Tienshan Plateau in China, the Aborigines and the Jackaroos out in the bush, the native American by his fire with coyote by his side... It's something that I'll not tire of listening to.

Dancing With the Lion is quintessential Andreas Vollenweider. The title cut is representative of Vollenweider's work in total. If there is one song that could give the new listener the general flavor of Vollenweider's work then Dancing With the Lion is it. You won't be disappointed, happy listening.

I thought I was the only one, but after reading some of the other reviews on here I am convinced there is something special about this album that possibly taps into a collective memory or some deep Carl Jung - like principle here!
I first heard the music of Vollenweider when I was probably 10. My uncle had bought me a walkman in 1993 for Christmas and as was the tradition back then, the whole family would go camping for 3 weeks over the summer (Christmas is during summer in New Zealand) at a place called "Kai Iwi Lakes" (Deep blue fresh water lakes with white sandy beaches surrounded by a pine forest). It was always blue skies and starry nights. Needless to say the only tape I had access to on that particular trip (amongst a few others) was a tape of my father's with `Down to the Moon' on one side and `Dancing with the Lion' on the other. I remember looking out the tent window at a vibrant milky way at night and having some pretty awesome moments with that music as the soundtrack. Every time I listen to it I am taken back to that place and time, and make an effort to fire it up whenever I am camping.
You might say I grew up on his music (although my mates could never understand it!). It is truly inspiring and I can fully endorse and relate to the other positive comments here on Amazon. This music will take you places I sware. You will not find a more rich and vibrant musical tapestry of sounds, colours and textures. And the harp....what a sound!

Dancing with the Lion is IMHO the best of Andreas' many wonderful albums. Each album is lovely but "Dancing" tops them all. Music is sacred to me and this album is one of a handful of "sacrament albums" I own. I only listen to it when the time is right for an uninteruppted session of introspection. I was motivated to try to write a review because of a previous review by juliall who mentions that it is a must if you ever go camping or spend an evening out. She is correct and I cannot echo her sentiments enough. "Dancing" was and is played on every camping trip I go on. After the sun sets and the fire is lit, Andreas' haunting CD is started up and I disappear into the special combination of the real environment and the special place that Vollenweider creates. The music is beyond words. I will not even try to review it in a normal sense...see the other reviews for that. It IS truly sublime. My first listening took place on a mountaintop in Southern Arizona. I was blown away. Each listening has been in other beautiful places such as the bottom of the Grand Canyon. If you understand what I mean about music's inherent potential, buy it and listen with a calm mind. If you don't understand but can open your mind, find a quiet, dark place, light a fire, start up the CD player and put on the headphones. You'll find something very useful and timeless.