Customer Reviews

Journey To The Sun

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

 

 

Having spent 3 years on and off in India during the early- to mid-1990s, I implicitly loved this CD since I first heard it on "Hearts of Space" radio. From temple bells and professional musicians, to spoken words and street sounds captured on tape, Adham Shaikh successfully weaves a tapestry of sound that can only be heard by the heart, once upon notime in magico-mysterical India. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like it; even his other works pale by comparison. As he put it, he captured a piece of an ancient civilization on the verge of a tremendous change wrought by globalization. The only thing remotely close to the sublime beauty of this piece was something I experenced in October of 1995, when I was staying with my friend Mi Hong at Ramakrishna Math in Calcutta. It was during Durga Puja. We'd been out in the crowded streets all night, following the endless run of images of Durga made by every neighborhood and paraded through the streets, shouting Jai Ma! and chanting and ecstatic drumming. Someone gave us a piece of cake as prasad. Young Hindopop women wondered at their own presence in that marvelous environment and looked at me not without interest as an emblem of their own burgeoning aspirations. It was a veritable cacaphony of sights and sounds and scents, the ancient and the new, the undercastes and the upper castes, whirled toghther in the lila of the streets. It was a marvel to behold. Afterwards, I leaned out side my window at RMIC and, as my dear angelic friend Dolores had once suggested, I made a recording of what was left of this remarkable night on a cassette tape, overdubbing Amit Chatterjee's "Songs of Kabir". I'm no professional so you can only imagine Adam Shaikh's layering and sheets of sound removed from my amateurish mix. This should give you a visceral idea of what Adamh Shaikh has accomplished here. "Journey to the Sun" is an inspired piece of singular beauty, a work of infinite emanation. Full moon on Ganges in zero G, indeed! Anyone who has been to India, or wanted to be, will be trasnported aurally into a soundscape of wonder and amazement.

Here's what I found out from http://www.interchill.com/bod.html :

"Adham Shaikh's classic ambient album is now available exclusively on iTunes and will be released in a limited cd run after the summer. This is the first time Interchill has ever re-released anything."

If you haven't heard it yet be prepared for a beautiful journey. This album is a must!

Wonderful ,especially "Emergence"...it would be much better without those human voices that somehow break the meditative mood.Still a great album.

This is a great album - It is beyond words of description - it takes you on a reflective journey of self and sub-conscience. A must listen.