This 1995 CD is just one of the many the American musician Michael Hammer has released for the Council of Light label, and it is a very good example of what we could call "channelled music". He claims to translate into musical forms the vibrations many ascended masters and guides transmit to him while he plays in a trancelike state. In fact, the music seems to possess an ecstatic quality that takes the listener in another, subtler dimension. The chord shifts, the changes of pace in the music, the balance between sounds and silences, they all seem to happen in response to a necessity of the moment rather than to a previously structured pattern. This music can help you enter a deep state of relaxation or meditation, but it can also be used as ambient music, to create a special atmosphere for private rituals, for example. Whatever the case, it makes up a meaningful listening experience.

Michael Hammer/ Yahoel

Healing Your Body

Council of Light

The German artist Bruno Reuter, aka Karunesh (a name given to him by his spiritual master Osho), is really one the most representative New Age musicians in Europe. And this is one of his best albums. Compared to others of his masterpieces like Heart Symphony ('91) or Heart Chakra Meditation ('92), this 1995 CD is a little atypical. Its musical atmospheres are lighter and more melodic, probably influenced by the wonderful climate of the Hawaiian isle of Maui where it has been recorded (and where Karunesh lives), but extremely catchy. Tracks like "Call of the Tribes", "Morning Glory" and "Down Under" emanate joy from every note, but the real jewel of the album is "Hidden Places", whose melodic and harmonic structure is so compelling it could have become a huge hit like Art of Noise's "Moments in Love" (which it also resembles a little). An album to listen to again and again.

Karunesh

Secrets of Life

Nightingale

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This remarkable CD by the Brazilian New Age musician Corciolli is an inspired tribute to the ancient art of the alchemists. In fact, the CD title and cover refer to the mystical union between the male and female elements the alchemist treatises talk about. Of course, the references continue in the song titles and in the Latin lyrics, and all the tracks are essentially modern Gregorian chants accompanied by accordion, electronic keyboards and traditional percussion instruments. But there is also a tribute to the Arabian culture (from which alchemy derives) in this magically harmonic fusion of musical styles.

Corciolli

Unio Mistica

Oreade

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Be warned: this CD is not a New Age music-style interpretation of a shamanic ritual. Actually, it is the recording of the music the Hungarian shaman Joska Soos improvises, while in trance, in his healing rituals (although he prefers to define them otherwise, since he says of himself "I do not heal, I restore harmony"). And we certainly wouldn't define this music as relaxing in the conventional sense of the word. It is made of magic, hypnotic and sometimes strident sounds that really seem to come from other dimensions. The ritual begins with an invocation of the four basic elements (all have their own instrument), then continues with a journey to the "Seven Realms of Consciousness". If you have a private shamanic ritual in mind, this music could be just what you need.

Joska Soos

Shamanic Ritual (JS1)

Oreade