TIBETAN SINGING BOWLS VOLUME 9:

HIMALAYAN STUDIES #3 (2004)  78:33

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#1    Himalayas – Sissu in the Mist.   (NKR)   (5-11-2004)   (5:21)

Bowed Tibetan Singing Bowls feature prominently in this piece and beneath these floating spatial sounds a set of struck bowls gradually becoming louder depicting the Monastery becoming slowly visible amongst the mists.

To listen please click HERE            To view the Roerich painting with this music click HERE

#2    Land of Sacred Fire.   (5-10-2004)   (8:05)

This piece explores the unique sound-world of a set of 42 Yin bowls. These are mostly Manipura bowls and have been carefully selected by myself over many years in order to exploit the wonderful realm of microtonal intervals.

#3    The Guest in Our Midst.   (8-11-2004)   (9:38)

Above a sustained stroked bowl unfolds a sequence of deeper bowls played in the style of Russian bell-ringing, or Zvon, only far slower than it is performed in Russia.

#4    The Way.   (30-7-2004)   (10:06)

Central in this piece is a section exploiting the qualities of Tibetan invocation cymbals - Ting-shag. There is a painting by Nicholas Roerich of the same name, but this piece is not related to that painting but rather concerns itself with the Spiritual Path - here portrayed via the spiritual qualities of the instruments used.

#5    Into Stellar Regions.   (8-10-2004)   (6:52)

Beginning with deep Gongs, the piece unfolds featuring several Gong crescendos alongside Water spirit and Air spirit bowls until we enter the final phase with swung Gongs and Overtone solo.

#6    Eye of the Storm.   (9-12-2004)   (9:37)

Beginning with an intense whirling sound-world of Gongs and Cymbals, and bowed Sun Ray (invented by myself in 1979) plus extended techniques invented by myself in the early 70s upon large authentic Chinese Cymbals, further gongs are added with a section following played upon Tibetan Singing Bowls with Water Gongs (again featuring a technique invented by myself) leading to a Water Spirit bowl choir section with home-made Bamboo chimes. The bowed Sun Ray presents a demanding sound taking us to the edge of displeasure although the sounds presented with the Sun Ray place it within different contexts sometimes contributing towards either balancing or resolving the conflict. Sounds for personal Transformation!

To listen please click HERE

#7    Born of Sacred Fire.   (1-11-2004)   (15:16)

This piece opens with 5 series of Yin bowls each ending upon a Yang bowl and each subsequent group of Yin bowls decreasing in pitch and then we enter into the world of the Gong. This piece contrasts the spiritual energies of the Bells and the Gongs with the Bells preparing the way for the cosmic realm of the Gongs.

#8    Fiery Sacrifice.   (25-11-2004)   (13:35)

This piece begins with a series of Yin bowls ending with a Yang bowl this is followed by three Ululation bowls recorded separately and with no reference to each other. This is followed by Chimes of various sorts then Ting-shag and then a section featuring Petalumines (invented by myself in 1979 - here played somewhat like a Gamelan and recorded in 1983) then a Water Spirit bowl choir and then Camel bells.

To view the Nicholas Roerich painting on this CD click HERE

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. For a link to this information click HERE

This is the third 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. 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. The idea then occurred to myself that I could include some early pieces that were unavailable and then the thought further developed into including pieces from each decade.

The pieces on this CD were recorded during 2004 when many new pieces came through me. I found that many of these pieces indicated a new direction in my work. Originally, during 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. Later in 2004 I began to actualise this motivation. As I focussed my creativity upon short pieces 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 not enforcing the restrictions regarding their length too ruthlessly. As the number of the collection of such pieces rose, I also realised that I had been making music for 40 years. This led to the idea of releasing a set of 4 CDs and then the idea of a fifth suggested itself as being retrospective in nature and something of a quintessential overview of my work throughout this period.

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), and 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. 

I chose to title the series 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 this page fulfilling such a need, there is more information regarding the series as-a-whole accessed by clicking HERE

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