AGEHA

Sacred Healing Music

Fønix Music (1999)

review by Bill Binkelman

From Fønix, a very underrated label based in Norway, comes Sacred Healing Music, an album designed almost solely for meditation. But, before you cynics or realists dismiss this out of hand, this CD has a lot going for it musically, as well. This is not new age music as much as it's transcendental ambient music, as least as I see it. The presence of didgeridoo, soprano saxophone and bansuri flute (from Bodhi Nishant, Prem Joshua and Milland Date, respectively) add musical elements to this recording that elevate it into something fuller. Not that Ageha's overtone and swarmandal (a small East Indian) harp, piano, and tamboura don't hold my interest alone. However, the textures of the recording are so much deeper with the added elements brought about by the other instruments. For instance, on "Jericho" the sax and didge bring a soulfulness (albeit a very subdued one) to the song that takes it into a whole other melodic realm. There is an earthiness to it that "ordinary (if there is such a thing) meditative music simply does not have.

However, even when the music is more minimal, there is an innate serenity and mystical quality to it that, for me, makes it ideal for meditation or conscious dreaming. This isn't background music. Not because it's intrusive - just the opposite. The nature of the "overtones" in the recording necesitate a more active role for the listener. If one played this in the background, it may sound "pretty;" but if you enveloped yourself in it instead, you might be surprised at the results. In particular, the overtone harp takes some getting used to. At times, I thought I was hearing a hammered dulcimer, heavily reverbed. During "Indigo Sparks" and "Purple Crown" (the second and third parts of the "The Diamond In The Lotus") I flashed on Constance Demby's pre-Novus Magnificat recording, Sacred Space Music. Like the more drifting parts of that release, the melodic sensibility of Ageha's playing, at least from a Western standpoint, is almost non-existent. But, I'd be lying if I didn't tell you I think this music has a very spiritual beauty to it. Just don't come looking for Vollenweider-like melodicism.

Stripping away the new age/meditation aspect of it, Sacred Healing Music might appeal to very open-minded ambient music fans, especially the first cut, "Mother Goddess" with harp and minimalistic-style piano only (the piano is sometimes played as a plucked string instrument, something that sounds quite fascinating to me). Also, and this should be fairly obvious, with the presence of tamboura and bansuri, there is here for East Indian music fans as well. The cuts are all long ones, (eighteen, sixteen, and twenty-six minutes) so this music evolves with patience in almost Zen-like fashion.

If you do practice some sort of meditation and even deep breathing exercises, Sacred Healing Music is almost a must-have recording. Lovers of sparse minimalism or world-flavored ambient music might also enjoy this recording. I'd burn some frankincense or other fragnant incense while playing this, just to add to the effect. But, hey, I'm just that kind of guy.