Sep 22, 2013

Sundaze 1338 Inside Out 15

Hello,  at Sundaze this month of September will be all under the Inside Out banner. It maybe a bit much to take it all in as there will be diverse propositions to enhance your insights and wellbeing. Audiocourses on Meditation , Lucid Dreaming will be accompanied with some regular sundaze music

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Awakening of the Kundalini energy is not an easy undertaking, nor something which should be taken lightly. This is something we at Brainwave-Sync understand well. This Chakra Meditation gives you the power to gently and effectively unlock your own Kundalini. This Kundalini meditation audio has been encoded with multiple levels of brainwave entrainment technology, each of which have been specifically designed to focus upon the necessary chakras and body points to help induce Kundalini Awakening.

Brainwave-Sync’s “Kundalini Awakening” is the crowning achievement in the Chakra Meditation series, and is your gateway to this profound and ultimate experience.



Brainwave Sync - Kundalini Awakening (flac 354mb)

01 Kundalini Awakening 60:00

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When it comes to meditation, Pema Chodron is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost teachers. Yet she's never offered an introductory course on audio - until now. On How to Meditate with Pema Chodron, the American-born Tibetan Buddhist nun and bestselling author presents her first complete spoken-word course for those new to meditation.

This is a recording of a 5 week retreat led by Pema Chodron based on the concepts in her book. She explains the ideas so much more clearly than I've read in the past and is intended for Western audiences who might not understand some of the language one finds in Eastern philosophy. For example, the concept of ego has always confused me in Buddhist teaching and she makes it far easier for me to apply to my own life. The recordings contain a talk by Pema Chodron, about a particular concept, then meditation exercises and an assignment to work on. I've found them very helpful.

Overall, Pema's voice & presentation are extremely peaceful & meditative--quite conducive to these practices, though she aims at you becoming "your own meditation instructor." To have a more complete appreciation of Pema, see her Good Medicine video. This set is valuable for newbies (though some of the terminology may be unfamiliar) as well as those who have practiced meditation before. It is also a nice refresher.

How to Meditate 4 (102mb)

1 How to Meditate 4 74:53

previously

How to Meditate 1, 2 (166mb)
How to Meditate 3 (95mb)

As this is a 5 part series which takes too much to take it all in, I start with a double bill and expect weekly instalments the next 3 weeks.

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The music created over the years by today's artist speaks both 'of' and 'to' all of humanity (ourcollective human soul). He does so with such an obvious love and respect of all cultures that his music truly tanscends boundaries. ...N'Joy

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Born in 1953 in Germany, Stephan Micus made his first journey to the Orient at the age of sixteen. Fascinated by the variety of musical cultures around the world Micus has travelled in virtually every Asian and European country as well as in Africa and the Americas. Studying with local master musicians he learned to play numerous traditional instruments, many of them unknown in the Western world. However, Micus‘s intention is not to play these instruments in a traditional manner, but rather to develop the fresh musical possibilities which he feels are inherent in them. In many of his compositions, which he performs himself, he combines instruments that have never before been played together. The resulting dialogues further reflect his vision of a transcultural music. Many of Europe’s leading dance companies have chosen his work for their productions. He has performed hundreds of solo concerts over the last 30 years throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas

In search of musical culture and context Micus has travelled extensively, in particular in India, Japan, Indonesia, Korea, Afghanistan, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Thailand, Egypt, Burma, Sri Lanka, Turkey, USA, Canada, Israel, China, Gambia, Senegal, Nepal, Ladakh, Sinkiang, Venezuela, Tanzania, Argentina, Peru, Ghana, Mali, Jordan, Georgia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Yemen, Cuba, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Cabo Verde, Mauretania, Armenia, Karabagh.
Micus used his travels to study a variety of instruments including guitar, concert-flute, sitar in Benares (India), flamenco guitar in Granada (Spain), shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and sho (Japanese mouth organ) in Kyoto (Japan), suling (Balinese flute) in Ubud (Bali), Uillean pipes in Carna (Ireland), sinding (African harp) in Gambia, dondon (talking drum) in Accra (Ghana), doussn’ gouni (African harp) in Bamako (Mali), duduki (Georgian oboe) and Georgian polyphonic choral singing in Tbilisi (Georgia), hné (Burmese oboe) in Yangon and Mandalay (Myanmar), duduk (Armenian oboe) in Yerevan (Armenia), bagana (Ethiopian lyre) in Addis Abeba, nohkan (flute of the noh theatre) in kyoto (japan). Bulgarian polyphonic choral singing in Plovdiv (Bulgaria). In addition to his exclusively acoustic instruments Micus also uses his voice, at times – with multitrack recording techniques – creating whole choral pieces by himself.

His recordings for the ECM label are essentially solo efforts in which the illusion of an ensemble is created by the composer's extensive overdubs. Micus' intention is not to play these instruments according to tradition, but to combine modes of expression from around the world in exciting new ways. Though he sometimes creates sounds you'd swear were the result of electronic keyboards, Micus is an acoustic purist who often develops unconventional performance techniques on ethnic instruments. He released Garden of Mirrors in mid-2000, with Desert Poems and Koan both following a year later.

Micus continued to stay busy, releasing Towards the Wind in 2002, Life in 2004, and On the Wing in 2006, all of which kept his multicultural and multi-instrumental style intact. Micus offered the concept recording Snow in 2008. On 2010's Bold as Light, he employed customized versions of the raj nplaim, a free-reed bamboo pipe from Laos, and the Japanese nohkan flute, also made of bamboo. As always, he not only studied the music of the instrument's native regions, but expanded the tonal reaches with his customization. For his 20th album, Micus collaborated with Greek historian and scholar Vassilis Chatzivassiliou, who selected Byzantine-era (seventh century) texts that were ancient prayers to "Holy Mary" (the Panagia of the title). The artists gave modern voice to these texts by utilizing bells from several traditions, gongs, stringed instruments, and up to 20 voices. Panagia was issued in March of 2013.

Many of Europe’s leading dance companies have chosen his work for their productions. He has performed hundreds of solo concerts over the last 30 years throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas

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Wings Over Water is a set of acoustic ambient creativity from Stephan Micus, a master sound designer. He uses a ney flute, Spanish guitars, Bavarian zithers, acoustic guitars, a sarangi, voice, and 22 flowerpots. This is very exotic and esoteric music. Micus takes advantage of the natural timbres and textures of these devices and creates a different kind of ambience. It is definitely not mainstream, decidedly avant-garde, and highly essential for the adventurous music lover. It is in a class by itself.



Stephan Micus - Wings Over Water (232mb)

01 Part 1 - 5 acoustic Guitars, Ney 07:28
02 Part 2 - Sarangi, Voice, 6 Flowerpots 06:11
03 Part 3 - 2 Spanish Guitars, 9 Flowerpots 12:56
04 Part 4 - Nay Solo 01:52
05 Part 5 - 22 Flowerpots, Nay 10:44
06 Part 6 - 3 Spanish Guitars, 4 Bavarian Zithers, Suling 14:11

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On this recording, from 1985, multi-instrumentalist Stephan Micus takes his listeners on a journey guided mainly by his incredible playing on a guitar that he disgned, custom-built by master luthier Manuel Diaz of Granada, Spain. It is a unique instrument that allows the player to customize the string array to suit his mood and the piece to be performed.

 On this outing, Micus fits it with 10 single-course strings for the first half of the album, the title track 'East of the night'. He accompanies his guitar on this piece with two groups of shakuhaci (the Japanese bamboo flute used by Zen monks in meditation), a pair and a group of four. The effect is simply beautiful -- the guitar is used as a base for the gentle, soaring melodies carried by the shakuhachi, making the piece a transporting tribute to the dawn (as another reviewer astutely related the title).

 The second piece, 'For Nobuko' (Stephan's wife), is a solo work for the guitar, this time utilizing fourteen strings -- 6 double-courses and two individual bass strings. He takes the piece -- and the listener -- through several meditative sections, expertly laying both a rhythmical and melodic foundation on which he builds the main voice of the piece. The unique guitar design allows his artistic vision to flow into his execution with a freedom that six strings would not allow. Listening to this piece, it's sometimes hard to imagine that he's playing it alone -- but he never resorts to pyrotechnics, allowing the deceptively simple beauty of the music to present itself uncluttered.

 Micus may employ fewer instruments on this album than on his other recordings, but the effect is equally stunning. It's a shame most outlets file his music away in the 'new age' bin -- it's an injustice that, unfortunately, might keep many potential listeners from discovering his work.



Stephan Micus - East Of The Night (135mb)

01 East Of The Night 25:26
02 For Nobuko 22:06

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Continuing his musical quest across countries and cultures, Stephan Micus visits the Cathedral of Ulm, where Elmar Daucher has been sculpting and carving rocks of granite, marble, and basalt specifically for their acoustic potential. Such a curiosity, where Micus is involved, usually results in an album. The Music of Stones is indeed a curious and deep meditation -- a spotlight on the instruments as much as the music. It follows a formula similar to his album Twilight Fields, where tuned clay pots were the centerpiece. "Part 1" ebbs to life with a duet between one of these mythical stones that lays a rich harmonic drone for Micus to solo over with his staple instrument, the shakuhachi. "Part 2" shows off more percussive qualities by having two players with mallets on a single stone, though the novelty of it wears thin and becomes the one passage that breaks the spell. A tin whistle flutters around three stone chimes for "Part 3," and the harmonics attained in this and in "Part 4" sound like a Gamelan of gongs, bowls, kalimbas, mbiras...anything but the Swedish black granite actually responsible. There were no overdubs on the album, so the occasional church bells are heard far off in the background to provide an additional element of unscripted ambience. "Part 6" is enchanting in this regard, along with being the only track to feature vocals (from fellow "rocker" Gunther Federer). It makes a fitting lullaby of prayer to close out the album. Like most Stephan Micus albums, this is not world music, but certainly music from some foreign place within this world. You still can't get blood from a stone, but Daucher and Micus can certainly get life out of one.



Stephan Micus - The Music Of Stones (183mb)

01 Part 1: Resonating Stone, Shakuhachi 13:27
02 Part 2: 1 Resonating Stone, Two Players 05:24
03 Part 3: Tin Whistle, 3 Stone Chimes 05:20
04 Part 4: Solo For 3 Resonating Stones 11:45
05 Part 5: Shakuhachi Solo 06:22
06 Part 6: 4 Resonating Stones, Voice 08:46

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previously, Rhotation 25

Stephan Micus - Koan (ogg 100mb)

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rho, Would it be possible for you to restore the link for Brainwave-Sync’s “Kundalini Awakening”. Thanks and regards.

Cass said...

My thanks to you, Rho & to the person who requested “Kundalini Awakening” as I'd (probably) never have discovered these works by Stephan Micus, otherwise...

Emblem said...

Another artist I got to know on your previous reup. Can you update the expired links? Nice music to my ears! Thank you.

Emblem said...

By the way, right after posting the previous comment Youtube just played an add titled "Embrace Your Energy Body With Jeffrey Allen". No privacy at all!

Emblem said...

I think you forgot to reup this request last week. Can you reup it next time? Thank you.

Emblem said...

Thanks for reuploading the links. I admire you for all your hard work and dedication to music over the years.