Sacred Hoop Magazine - Review of the Shamans of Peru: Sacred Chants, Icaros, and Ceremonial Music CD. Reviewed in Issue 36, Spring 2002

1. reviews,
ICAROS : MAQICAL MELODIES everything, but if I could have all three I w o u l d - and if I
El Mundo Magico c o u l d have a f u l l length CD o f the first track o n the
CD: (Full price) Fiesta CD I ' d go for that instantly.
Length: 54.00 mins.
Icaros is from El Mundo Magico. Tel (020) 7352
2873- Shamans of Peru and Fiesta Music are
SHAMANS OF PERU from Eagles Wing (01435) 810 233
Eagles Wing EW-CD 002
cferemlSTiwf-
CD: (Full price) TRIBAL INSTINCT
Length: 70.57 mins. Mysteria
T /STMusit
Town Music DTM 02 010
CD: (Full Price)
FIESTA MUSIC FROM PERU Length: 51.22 mins.
Peter Cloudsley
CD: (Full price) W i t h 50% of the profits o f this album going to tribal
Length: 73.02 mins. p e o p l e i t has t o be w o r t h b u y i n g . Fast dance beat
techno music and ambient soundscapes mixed w i t h the
music of tribal people such as the Baka people of Africa,
T h e s e t h r e e CD's are so r e l a t e d t h a t i t seems
Aborigines of Australia, the Arapaho of North America
appropriate to review t h e m together. Tcaros', as the
and the Kaluli people of Papua New Guinea. It is very
name suggests, is a CD o f Icaros (Ayahuasca Spirit
much dance music and if you like that you w i l l enjoy
calling songs), 'Shamans of Peru' is a mixture of Icaros
this album greatly.
and music of the high Andes, while Fiesta Music is just
r e c o r d i n g s f r o m the Andes. They are a l l e x c e l l e n t Available from High Street Record Shops
albums, recorded o n location w i t h good equipment and
are a joy to listen to.
Icaros was recorded i n the Rainforest and the songs
are soft and b e a u t i f u l . The shamans sing t h e m like CELTIC RAQAS
lullabies to the spirits and they wrap around you w i t h Chinmaya Dunster & Vidroha Jamie
New Earth Records NE 9802 - 2
the background sounds of the jungle and have a most
CD: (Full price)
wonderful atmosphere. Accompanied by soft swishing Length: 43.19 mins.
rattles o n many of the tracks this is an excellent album
of these shamanic songs. Ambient fusion w o r l d music w i t h an Irish Indian feel
Shamans of Peru includes Icaros, but starts with ritual like the title w o u l d suggest. Sounds like they had a lot
music performed at a San Pedro (a psychoactive cactus o f f u n recording it and it works very w e l l w i t h some
not dissimilar i n its effects to peyote) ceremony. This really nice tracks o n it. It's a tad bit new-age for me to
music is much more what you would perhaps expect of want to play it too often, but i f you like melodic and
Peruvian music, coming from the mountains, deep drums skillfully played restful music that is actually 'music'
and flutes. Other tracks are similar to the previous album, rather than mass p r o d u c e d sugar-coated w a l l paper
being recorded i n the Jungle, including songs from the sew-age this is a very good album to go for.
shaman Javier Arevalo w h o we feature i n this issue of Available from High Street Record Shops
sacred Hoop. As a general introduction album to the
sacred music of the Andes, this CD works very well.
Fiesta Music is an album which only contains music
f r o m the Andes. It starts w i t h the most amazing song THE HUMOURS OF PIPINQ
w i t h the singers e m b o d y i n g bear spirits i f I am n o t Various
mistaken. Its raw, w i l d peasant music and is so alive it's Lochshore CDLDL 1299
untrue - accordion, flutes, fiddles voices, drums - you CD: (Full Price)
c o u l d n o t r e p r o d u c e this i n a s t u d i o i t w o u l d just Length: 52.55
b e c o m e an a l b u m o f m u s i c . T h e a l b u m ( a l l f i e l d
recordings o f course) does capture the experience This is a marvellous collection of Irish Uilleann pipe music
beautifully. My only criticism is the length of the tracks - played by four very skilled pipers. With some guitar for
the 73 minutes of the CD is divided u p into 61 tracks. accompaniment it is a lovely album of traditional Irish
Personally I c o u l d have listened to the first track for music played o n this beautiful instrument
ages - a whole CD of it even. If you want to explore the
Available from High Street Record Shops
music of this culture this is an excellent way to start.
None of the CD's have words or translations, 'Icaros'
has very few cover notes, b u t 'Shamans of Peru' and
1 - Forget it. 4 - Miss it and miss out.
'Fiesta Music' have good notes as to what is going on.
2 - Probably best avoided. 5 - A classic
It's hard to choose between them. If I had to buy just
3 - Worth getting.
one it w o u l d be 'Shamans o f Peru' as it has a b i t of
SACRED HOOP ISSUE 36 2002 PAGE 37