Tantric Songs / Hosianna Mantra

Popol Vuh | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 3, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Celestial Harmonies
• ASIN: B0000007VS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #55,584 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Single best value CD for Popol Vuh fans, September 16, 1998

By 

Susan R. Matthews (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tantric Songs / Hosianna Mantra (Audio CD)

At 76:31, this is the single best value for Popol Vuh fans you will find anywhere. It reproduces, apparently in entirety, two Popol Vuh albums, Tantric Songs (also Die Nacht der seele) and Hosianna Mantra.

The tantric songs are fairly short pieces that present a variety of meditative environments. I can't speak to any technical details that they may embody, not being a practitioner of tantric yoga. Called songs, the vocals are by and large wordless tones or chants with the punctuation of electronic keyboard music and effects.

Having just listened to Die nacht der seele and this CD back-to-back I am fairly sure that the same material is on both CDs, and would therefore advise against purchasing the former separately (unless like me you gotta have it all).

There are several "musical references" to music contained on other albums, most notably the Nosferatu soundtrack albums (the title track of the Bruder des schattens is quoted in its entirety). If you like this stuff as much as I do the quoting won't bother you. If you don't you won't find so much of it that you may not be as satisfied..

To date, as far as I know, Hosianna Mantra has not been separately released on CD, and so this is the only place you can get that material. Hosianna Mantra contains a higher content of female vocals and actual sung words than other Popol Vuh albums -- more like their Seligpreisung, Sei Stille, Hohenlied Salamos, and Einsjager albums than the soundtrack albums and related material.

It's good stuff. It's rather light, for Popol Vuh, in a sense that a room in a house in the mountains with east-facing windows might be bright on a winter's morning. The Hosianna Mantra material may lack the deep grounding sound of the Tantric Songs and other material but certainly represents an interesting aspect of the group's music.

Details: Tracks are Mantra of the touching of the heart; Mantra of the touching of the earth; Angel of the Air part 1; Angel of the Air part 2; In the realm of shadow; Wanderer through the night; Listen he who ventures; Brothers of darkness -- sons of light; Ah!; Kyrie; Hosianna-Mantra; Departure; Blessing; Devotion 1; Not High in Heaven; and Devotion II, for a total time of 76:31.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True Ambience, August 15, 2004

By 

bruce watson (Belgrave, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tantric Songs / Hosianna Mantra (Audio CD)

Those of you expecting some pencil-necked macrobiotic New Ager doodling on a casio next to a cage full of exotic birds and a couple of running taps - be warned. This monumental work from the Teutonic genius of Florian Fricke is true ambient music - as distinct from most of the ubiquitous aural valium that poses under the dreaded department store moniker of 'New Age/ Ambient / Relaxation. Not that this music isn't relaxing (it can be profoundly so ), but there is a vast textural range here that somehow addresses the more obscure and refined emotions within.
Popol Vuh have been composing haunting soundtrack music for many years - through their fruitful artistic alliance with that iconoclastic German director Werner Herzog - in films such as Aguirre, Nosferatu and Heart of Glass. Tracks 'Kyrie' and 'Hosianna Mantra' are reminiscient of Some of Jerry Garcia's extraordinary electric guitar on the 'Zabriskie Point' soundtrack, while others evoke the timeless, universal longings of the great spiritual traditions - through an impeccable marriage of Eastern and Western instrumentation. I know it's been said ad nauseum in respect of many other albums, but this gorgeous soundscape is truly 'timeless'.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tantric songs/Hosianna Mantra, October 19, 2007

By 

Stavroula Avgousti (Athens Greece) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tantric Songs / Hosianna Mantra (Audio CD)

I particularly liked this compilation because of the beautiful melodies and instruments used. There are many tracks with an exotic sound, due to the sitar which can be vaguely heard,and the ethereal vocals of Djong Yun.
"Departure" is a very beautiful and atmospheric melody which is characterised by the lyrical sound of Robert Eliscu's oboe. In all, this compilation of these two albums "Tantric songs" and "Hosianna Mantra" is very relaxing and soothing. Even long tracks like "Brothers of darkness-sons of light" and "Hosianna Mantra" do not lose their melodic quality despite their long duration.