Stock: 
Format: 
Release Date: 25-03-1999
Label: Celestial Harmonies
Catalog Number: 13171-2
Barcode: 13711317121
Musical Style: World
Track Listing:
| Disc 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urartu to Ubud [07:06] | 4 | Ararat Legong [10:06] |
| 2 | Tjampuhan [11:16] | 5 | Jalan jalan [10:50] |
| 3 | Laplapan [12:34] | 6 | Sarang saron [10:12] |
Description:
Longtime fans of David Parsons' sampling and synthesizer originals of the 1980s will be pleased with the musician's return to the studio. After a long hiatus as a composer/performer, Parsons' Ngaio Gamelan is unmistakably his magnum opus. To date that is, we are optimistic Parsons has more to come. From 1992 until 1997, David Parsons traveled the world as a producer for Celestial Harmonies. After The Music of Cambodia , The Music of Armenia , The Music of Bali and the award–winning The Music of Islam in addition to several recordings from India and Indonesia, this is the transfigured music of a reborn composer/performer - the result of an exemplary multi–cultural existence on four continents drawing from the inspiration of hundreds of fellow musicians and music traditions from around the globe, recorded in Wellington, New Zealand. Tracks one, two and four use sampled phrases from the Armenia project. Track six uses sampled sarangi phrases from a recording made in Pakistan. Tracks three and five are new compositions by Parsons, without any sampling. Most tracks use Indian percussion instruments played by Parsons. The phrase samples have dictated musical scales resulting in the gamelan accompaniment being based on scales otherwise unheard of in Indonesian music. Although Parsons did not strictly follow any musical traditions, as that was not his intention, this is rather an experiment attempting to produce a hybrid - a kind of east-west fusion
Biography:
From his home in New Zealand, Parsons travels frequently to Asia for spiritual and musical inspiration. After collecting musical samples and studying different musical and cultural traditions, Parsons returns to his studio to integrate these influences with his own experiences. In the process, he bridges disparate elements with seamless grace and creates a unique musical affirmation of our common humanity and cultural endowment. Parsons has been a student of classical Indian music, studying with Krishna Chakravarty - Ananda and Circular Dance , who has studied with Ravi Shankar. David Parson's recordings make the Eastern sensibility comprehensible to the Western listener and formulate a unique and captivating new expression. Recent releases include the original synthesizer recordings, Himalaya. In 1990, Parsons produced the recording, Sacred Ceremonies: Ritual Music of Tibetan Buddhism. This is the first part of a landmark cultural preservation project undertaken at the request of the monks of the Dip Tse Chok Ling Monastery, an order in exile from Tibet, who have taken refuge in Dharmsala, India. Parsons' work is often featured in film, television and radio scores and it has been widely praised by reviewers.
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