Gino Foti
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Review of "Bhavachakra"
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By: Gerald Van Waes
his release is a successful, moody and inspired conceptual, almost cinematic,
musical exploration, digging into associations and ideas from 'The Wheel Of Life',
presented musically like a world with an essence of exotic and magical mystery. Just
listen to the successful craft of electric guitar on "Akusala-Mula" with bass, moody
keyboards, played with an underlying power, followed by a moody piano ambient track,
"Intermediate State". This is followed by 6 parts/tracks representing the 6 worlds
of experience according to the Vedas (the world of Devas or Gods, Titans, Hungry
Ghosts, Hell creatures, Animals and Humans). The 'Deva world' is presented by
eastern folk music played with Chinese instruments and dulcimer. The 'titans' are
present in a new World Fusion style, with its own magic of sounds and rhythms, with
a frightening underlying power, still presented with a relaxing calmness of
unattachedness. Also the 'hungry ghosts' are colourfully presented with the right
instruments and effects. The 'hell world' is presented with dark ambient drones, not
sounding too different from the 'animal world', which sound except with a similar
frightening magical tension, also sad with additional flute playing. The 'human
world' continues with the flute, and has some beautiful solo singing from Vietnam, a
Buddhist prayer, with three guitar notes repeating and spinning around the sphere.
Most of the tracks hereafter continue the musical theme and sphere described in the
human condition, and also shows these human conditions in which you can be born; if
one incarnates into that last realm, a choice which is hopeful, but still is built
by restrictions that must show the condition of being incomplete, before a person
understands and decides to take an outwards evolution, after realising all the
elements of incompleteness. First we can hear sad drones with Chinese flute
(ignorance), a complex continuum drone with melody (karmic formations), something
which isn't changing to something more hopeful, but only gets more description and
flavours through the following tracks (presenting the elements of consciousness,
naming and taking form, six senses, contact, feelings, craving, grasping/desire,
becoming, birth, decay and death), presenting the underlying growth of one's
consciousness within the wheel of life, and from birth into rebirth. All the
realisations of its consisting elements, all with its specific formal results, have
all the same practical result which can make a purpose for a person when realizing
how everything has an inevitable nature, in its whole presented, to end one day or
another (Lord of Death), or to see its true nature of what things really are, and
some time are not, as the essence of being or not-being (Buddha of Infinite Light).
"The six senses" were of course presented with more aesthetic brightness (sitar,
guitar, tabla, keyboards, and improvised vocals). The other tracks enfold, with
various different elements (piano, flute and keyboards, electric guitar, Indian
voice,..), of how attractive it can become in becoming someone in this world, which
can form a reason, according to the Buddhist beliefs, of how people finally are
reborn into the human state. The result in life itself will become once more of how
all attractive elements will show their limited states. The 'decay and death' part
has almost industrial rhythms and keyboards, with a magical, dark tension. But also
the closing sections, after 'death', presenting the Buddhic realms have a different,
melodic attractiveness. When considering an artist and his vision to look at the
different realms, one can realize how much all creative forces can come from the
same source of inspiration.
The CD is truly successful, and is a musical spiritual journey with a powerful
expression. It should also interest people interested in Buddhist, Jain or Hindu
ideas, looking for an honest creative exploration of their ideas into a musical
form. The music works as a deeper interconnected meditation into the subject, and is
the opposite of most vaguely self-fulfilling New Age products.
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©
Gerald Van Waes / Psyche van het Folk
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