STEPHEN BACCHUS
Bardo
(p) (c) 1996 Oasis Productions
15tks/57mins

Everyone of us are so alone in this world! Everyone of us is born to this world, and we all will die. So often we are striving for illusions, which will turn to dust, when the time will come for us to leave this world. What will be left with us then, what will we take with us? What is in this life, that is eternal, not belonging to time or decaying?

These thoughts are inspired by the music by Stephen Bacchus. This music, beautiful as a magical dream, peaceful as a surface of a calm sea, taking us far away, to the other worlds, and at the same time carrying to us voices of distant ancestors...

All this is not occasional. According to the Tibetan philosophy "bardo" is a state of life between life. This is the state in which spirit of a person stays after before the next incarnation. In Tibet a person before death was specially prepared to "bardo", so that when his spirit would be in that place, he would not "lose his head" and would know what to do.

By his music Stephen Bacchus opens before the listeners the gates to the unknown world, at the place, where a blazing light is shining, where the higher states of consciousness are situated. It seems that you are entering theses gates and impressive panorama is opened before your eyes. You see all the past below, and above is the infinite sky, the immense Space full of sparkling lights. And your breath is gasped from this visions.

Stephen Bacchus has created the world music orchestra: in the record of the album took part many musicians, who played various living instruments. We can hear native flute, bamboo flute, shakuhachi, penny whistle, oboe, English horn, harp, kanun (Syrian zither), koto (Japanese zither), setar (Persian lute) kora (African harp) and many others rare, exotic instruments. All this is supported by electric keyboards by Bacchus and the samples are masterly added. Such a musical variety can not be heard often! And I need to say that all this is melted together, transformed into a one harmonic whole.

The album begins with almost symphonic introduction -- composition Lost Love. Then the music smoothly passes to a meditative new age, freshed by Oriental aromas -- composition Ocean Lotus. I was mostly impressed by Ancestral Call, where piercing music together with a throat singing have just turned over everything inside me. And I only wanted to stay longer in this state of surprise and delight.

You should for sure listen to Bardo -- to this healing and freshing music of the very Human Spirit.

Serge Kozlovsky