Sura by Chloe Goodchild

"

An album radiating with the color and intensity of that most magnificent of all instruments, the human voice, unfettered and transcendent.

A passionate recording, is a release that could only come from someone devoted to and inspired by the world's greatest sacred and soulful singers. It's a deeply moving album by an extraordinary vocalist, best-selling author, and internationally acclaimed workshop leader ... a true feast of sounds that will quicken the heart, inspire the soul to dance, and initiate the listener into the pleasures of trance meditation.

SURA is Sanskrit for musical note or vibration, and like Chloe's last Raven Recording album, DEVI, this work employs a devotional vibration to unveil the beauty of the human soul. Improvising from within and without chants, mantras and mystical songs drawn from the spiritual traditions of the world, Chloe's style has developed a much stronger, enthusiastically rhythmic impulse. The Hindu mantra "Gayatri" is accompanied by a pulsating Egyptian beat; Hildegard Von Bingen's "Ave Generosa" is punctuated by staccato Stravinky strings, and an ecstatic love poem by Lalleshwari -- a 13th century Kashmiri mystic -- is both sensual and emotionally riveting. "Self Inside Self" and "Everywhere Longing" are inspired by the lyrics of America's mystic poet, Coleman Barks. Other highlights include an ancient Jewish chant, a medieval antiphon from the Rhineland, and evocative Eastern European improvisation, and a innovative take on Purcell's lament from the opera DIDO AND AENEAS. Courtesy of guest artists David Lord and Will Gregory, many traditional ethnic and Western acoustic instruments are arranged behind these splendid vocals, making for a consistently pleasant and uplifting listening experience.

Chloe Goodchild's singing voice expresses the spiritual longing of our time through and beyond the boundaries of culture or creed.

Chloe has collaborated with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, film composer Angelo Badalmenti, film director Jane Campion and playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues).

Average Customer Review: