TIBETAN
SINGING BOWLS VOLUME 7:
HIMALAYAN
STUDIES #1
(2004) 79:23
BEL
CD 017
(CD
only) £10
(post
& packing extra in the UK - £2.75 First Class Recorded Delivery)
For Review click
HERE
#1
Rose
Clouds above Temple.
(30-7-2004)
(8:27)
for Rose C. F. Perry
A
drone played upon two singing bowls underpin an improvisation upon a set of Yin
bowls (mostly
Manipura bowls) punctuated by cyclic strikes upon a Sky Gazing bowl. The
punctuation of the Sky Gazing bowl is to signify the ritual activities of the
monks within the temple whilst the Yin bowls represent the Rose clouds and the
Heart chakra bowls suggest the spirit of unity between these several elements.
#2
Basgo
– Stronghold of Tibet. (NKR)
(31-7-2004)
(6:27)
Played
upon a wide range of Tibetan & Himalayan Singing Bowls this piece utlises
silence plus some exotic-sounding bowls to reflect the face carved in the
mountainside alongside the Monastery that is part of the painting that inspired this track.
#3
Temple
of Rainbow Mist.
(25-6-2004)
(8:25)
for Gabriel. N. S. Perry
The
main part of this improvisation was recorded in 1993 and was originally intended
as a bridge between the two tracks on Saturn and Mercury on Belovodye: Volume 1
Land of White Waters. It was not used simply because
there
was no time left on the CD! -
and
so, regrettably, it had to be edited.
Exotic
advanced techniques are used - some invented by myself. Water Gongs, Water
Ting-shag, Chinese Buddha bowls, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Water Spirit bowls,
home-made Boo Flute (a piece of bamboo 4.5 feet long with a Shakuhachi-style
notch for playing but with no finger holes - for exploiting harmonics). This is
then succeeded by a closing section using aleatoric techniques featuring Spirit
bowls, Rain Gongs (another technique invented by myself), South American Indian
Rainsticks, Water Spirit choir and home-made tiny brass windchimes.
#4
My
Heart a Flame within the Eternal Fire. (10-2-2002)
(6:35)
for Frank E. Perry 11
An
improvisation upon a specially selected small set of singing bowls exploring
reinforced harmonics by using overtone bowls.
#5
Thang-La.
(NKR)
(31-7-2004)
(5:15)
Here
we have stroked Tibetan & Himalayan Singing bowls alongside bowed PAISTE
Tuned Sound Discs (Planicerv) plus, beneath these spatial resonant sounds, a
sequence of beautiful, heartfelt, warm and gentle bowls weaving their way
through this floating ethereal sound-scape from within the very centre helping to
keep us centred and make sure that we don't lose our basic humanity whilst
coming into contact with these finer vibrations and spiritual impulses.
#6
Maitreya
on the Road. (NKR)
(11-4-2004)
(10:51)
for Janet Christine. Perry (my EX-wife)
Wind,
Tibetan & Himalayan Singing Bowls, Chinese Cloud Gongs, Spirit bowls, Air
Spirit bowls, strings of Indian bells (crotals), and various Camel
bells.
#7
Mount
M.
(10-9-2003)
(20:56) for
Raphael J. C. Perry
Opening
with large deep Gongs and then employing a set of Yang bowls leading to a
special set of bowls and then exploiting a set of 42 Yin bowls and then
reversing - thus creating something of an 'M' shape. There is a painting by
Nicholas Roerich with this title but this music is not directly related to that
painting.
#8
Magic
of Divine Fire.
(18-9-2004)
(5:08)
Ululation
bowls open this piece joined by a choir of Air Spirit bowls with very
high-pitched Singing bowls added at times over large Gongs leading to the final
section founded upon English Bell-ringing procedures - here played upon a set of
8 Yang bowls.
#9
News
of Maitreya from the Rooftop of the World.
(4-12-2004) (7:16)
Conch-shell
trumpets, Gongs, and Singing Bowls create a backdrop for swung Drilbu (Tibetan
hand bells). Underpinning this exotic sound-world is a series of Singing bowls
playing the Fibonacci sequence. The Fibonacci Series represents the laws of
nature. Fibonacci discovered this sequence of: 1 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - 13 etc
wherein the succeeding
number
is obtained by adding the two preceding numbers together e.g. 5 + 3 = 8. This is
realised in this piece by the addition of new bowls to the series as directed by
this Fibonacci sequence. This brings in the Law of nature whereby the future can
be predicted once the formula is known and the current
place within that formula.
Track
titles with (NKR)
beside them indicate that the inspiration was from a painting, by the Russian
artist Professor Nicholas Roerich (1874 - 1947), of the same name.
To
view the Nicholas Roerich paintings on this CD click HERE
This
is the first in a Series of 5 CDs entitled HIMALAYAN STUDIES. They were
not intended to be a Series but as time passed by more and more pieces unfolded
within the context of this project until a Series evolved seemingly by itself. I
had just over enough for 4 CDs - which nicely celebrated my 4 decades of
music-making - so I turned my attention to the possibility of a fifth CD. And so
it is that we have a five CD series.
I
have a great love of the beautiful paintings of the Russian artist Nicholas
Roerich (1874 - 1947). His painting output of around 7,000 pictures, falls into
three main periods: Stone Age, Theatrical & Himalayan. Amongst the many
Himalayan paintings there are many simply titled Himalaya whilst others may be
titled Himalayan Landscape, Himalayan Sketches and Himalayan Studies. I thought
of these pieces much as his Himalayan Studies. Not major works executed over a
long period of time but perhaps more in the nature of a sketch. Many of my works
are very long and so I chose to title this series of shorter pieces as HIMALAYAN
STUDIES. This series also features a
departure from my previous habit of including fairly extensive liner notes with
the CD booklet. This series will feature a minimum of details inside the liner
notes with more of my customary extensive notes provided on this website for
those seeking more information. Apart from the information contained on this
page, you can read a little more concerning the series as a whole by clicking HERE
During
2004 many new pieces came through me. I found that many of these pieces
indicated a new direction in my work. Originally, in 2002, I had it in the
back of my mind to release a CD of Singing Bowl music featuring short tracks
that were mostly improvised - without any over-dubs (multi-tracking).
My
Heart a Flame within the Eternal Fire was one of the first
attempts. This improvisation was recorded in the Whitefeather room of my home upon a
group of specially selected singing bowls. During 2004 I began to
actualise this intention even more by dedicating more time to it. As I focussed my creativity
upon short pieces (4 to 6 minutes in length) they simply continued to unfold. I just went with the flow
working on the pieces as they arose in my creative consciousness regardless of
whether they featured over-dubs or not and despite whether their length
conformed to my predetermined parameters or not. This is not unusual within my
form of improvising where flexibility is valued. As the number of the collection of such
pieces rose, I also realised that I had been making music for 40 years. So
it was that a set of 4 CDs suggested itself.
By
and large the music is focussed upon Tibetan Singing Bowls and sometimes there
are also Tibetan Bells (Drilbu), Tibetan Cymbals (Ting-Shag), Himalayan Bowls,
Gongs, Noah Bells, Chinese Qing (Resting Bells), Chinese Cymbals, Kyeezees
(Burmese meditation gongs), Japanese Densho (Zen Buddhist temple bells), plus instruments invented by
myself (Petalumines, Pyrahermeezees, Ufoms, and Sun Rays) and other instruments
hand-made by myself: Conch Shell Trumpets, Bamboo Flutes, strings of bells,
various Windchimes and upon some tracks my Overtone and/or Undertone Chanting is
featured.
TO
ORDER (please make all cheques payable to FRANK PERRY): -
Frank Perry,
3 Drake Close,
Ringwood,
Hants, BH24 1UG
United Kingdom.
Telephone: 01425-470168
©
Copyright by Frank Perry 2005. All rights reserved.
©
Frank Perry, 2005. All of these articles are copyright. They may individually be
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