Customer Reviews

Second Chants

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The first cd Chants:Ritual Music of the Reclaiming, the coven of Starhawk, includes basic wicca chants.
This follow-up, with the 'orginal' title: Second Chants, has all kind of chanting. Solo, a capella, gospel with cello, guitar, djembe a.o.
The booklet includes all 15 lyrics to the chants. From the playlist: Rhiannon, Sparks, Powerful song, Harvest Chant, Inanna, Return to the Goddess,a.o.
Personally I like the song "when we are gone" Reclaiming brings warm chants, nice to listen en learn. You don't have to be afraid to sing along.

Fifteen songs and chants for the Goddess and the Earth. Not the sort of music you find at Tower Records. They're not all winners, but there are enough to make this a very good CD. "When We Are Gone" is transcendent. "Harvest Chant" gets sung in Fall Equinox rituals.

One special note: "Barge of Heaven" - a modern call-response arrangement of an ancient Sumerian text - is incredibly catchy. That someone could make an ancient Sumerian poem into a hummable pop song is by itself a good reason to listen to this unusual CD.

Reclaiming, which produced this CD, has another Chant CD -- "Chants" -- which has more chants for rituals and classes. But I'm betting that you'll listen to "Second Chants" more in the long run.

'Second Chants' is a sequel to Reclaiming's original collection, simply titled 'Chants'. Where the first provided some great and inspiring pieces meant to be learned and used in circle, 'Second Chants' feels flat and uninspired. While one or two tracks are enjoyable, overall I felt let-down by this piece preferring instead to return to the original album for inspiration. I say buy 'Chants' instead and wait to see if they release a better third installment in the series.

These chants are, for the most part, easy to memorize and sing.
I often find myself singing "The Fool" when bored, and I use the same chant for trance work.
This CD is not for "easy listening". But, for those who need new chants for group work, or who want inspiration for writing their own chants, I highly recommend it.