Tantric Songs/Hosianna Mantra

Popol Vuh

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 3, 1992)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Celestial Harmonies
• ASIN: B0000007VS
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,763 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

About the Artist
Praised as one of Germany's premier progressive bands in the 70s and early 80s, Popol Vuh was founded in 1969 by keyboardist Florian Fricke. The band took its name from the title of the Quiche Mayan Indians' bible. Popol Vuh's first album, Affenstunde (The Time of the Monkey King) was a strong reflection of Fricke's interest in Mayan lore and his attraction to the devotional aspects of music. Popol Vuh successfully combined sacred musical traditions from around the world with classical, jazz and rock elements. Although the band employed acoustic instruments from a variety of Western and ethnic sources, it created quite a stir as one of the first ensembles to use the Moog synthesizer in the early 70s. As such, Popol Vuh influenced several generations of electronic and contemplative artists. Popol Vuh also gained considerable attention for its scores to films by the celebrated German director, Werner Herzog, including Nosferatu and Aguirre, The Wrath of God.

Product Description
Popol Vuh's Tantric Songs and Hosianna Mantra are recognized as classics in the field of contemplative music. Popol Vuh has long been praised for their ability to blur the boundaries of time and space through a unique hybrid of ceremonial styles from around the world. Tantric Songs and Hosianna Mantra complement each other perfectly in their creation of modern ritualistic soundscapes. From the evocative, bass chants of `Mantra of the Touching of the Earth' to the primal drumming of `In the Realm of Shadow', Tantric Songs merges traces of classical refinement with feelings conjured up by ancient religious rites. Hosianna Mantra encompasses a series of gracefully understated chants. With pastel piano textures, spacious melodies from guitar and violin, and the angelic vocals of Djong Yun, Popol Vuh distills the sublime nature of Christian liturgical music from the dogma normally associated with it. As critic Keith Armstrong wrote, Hosianna Mantra is "a hypnotic work that leaves its echo on the air...relentlessly drawing one away from one's surroundings and into the space in which thoughts become musical sounds and words are experienced as feelings and nuances."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal, January 10, 2004

By A Customer

This CD is a brilliant compilation of Popol Vuh's work. I love it! It takes you to a realm outside of space-time, to Tartaros, the shadowy Underworld ruled by Hades. Here you are privy to a preview of the shadowy existence that awaits. But just when despair seems to be too heavy, the light and love of Sons of Light comes through and redeems you. This is the music of transcendence. This is the music of the soul. Buy it now! Hades command you!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, July 9, 2004

By	Liam (House on the Rock, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

Hosianna Mantra has to be one of my favorite albums ever. It's a pity that it, along with the rest of Popol Vuh's catalog, is virtully unheard of in the United States. The songs on Hosianna Mantra are beautiful and among the most spiritual pieces I've ever heard. The 10-minute title track is a standout, combining angelic vocals with piano and watery guitar to great effect. And Departure is one of the more beautiful pieces of music ever, in my opinion. Along with this album comes the later Tantric Songs, a solid but not spectacular effort. The two Angel of the Air songs are very beautiful, however. If you hate New Age-ish music, then you probably wouldn't like this. Not to say that this is New Age, but it is more meditative than most (or all) "rock" music. It's worth checking out otherwise.