Album Notes

BARBARA has studied piano since she was a child. At the precocious age of ten she won a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music where she graduated from the college division as a composer and pianist. She has worked with some of the top names in the industry, ranging from Quincy Jones, Martin Scorcese, & Michael Jackson (in the production of the "Bad" video) to Eric Clapton, Carly Simon and George Duke, and doing musical arrangements for the Saturday Night Live Band. She has performed with Bruce Willis, singing back up with his blues band, The Accelerators. In 1996 she was honored by being chosen as the music director for the annual Christmas play in Puttaparthi, India for Sathya Sai Baba. Barbara is influenced by the likes of Angelique Kidjo, Peter Gabriel, Robert Johnson, Celia Cruz, Caetano Veloso, Irakere, and Reverend Milt Brunson and the Mississippi Mass Choir.

Barbara first started out on a college tour with her group in England. She came back to the U.S. and performed in her original musical comedy review called "Little Lulu" in Miami Beach for a season before returning to New York City. There, she opened her new show at the famous Half Note Club on 52nd Street. In the 80's she had a hit record called "It's Alright" put out by WEA International in Holland for the European , Asian and South American market. It became #17 on the Billboard pop charts. The next year she had another hit in France called " I Don't Wanna be a Zombie" put out by the Musicdisc France Label. It became #2 on the French dance charts.

"...Barbara Markay's music awakens us to the calling of the universal rhythmic pulse which she so expertly weaves into her musical creations bringing us an experience full of sensuality, beauty and an understanding of our spirit's longing for the sublime..." 2004 shamballa review


New Age Review, March 7, 2005, RJ Lannan
What News from the East?

"The concept of Shambhala takes on many forms; a place for enlightenment to dwell within us or the kingdom of an illuminated society or perhaps a notion of a third dimension where compassion and dignity resides. Barbara Markay taps into the pulse of the planet and her perception of Shambhala to bring you an album of upbeat dance grooves, sultry Spanish percussion and ethnic-tinged instrumentals called Shambhala Dance.

As Markay suggests, the music provides meditation though dance. The seven track album has enough rhythmic music to keep you entranced for some time, so perhaps you may achieve a higher state or you may just enjoy swaying to the beat.

Joining Barbara on her journey to spiritual/musical enlightenment are guitarists Tim May and Alberto de Almar, violin player Eric Gorfain and vocalist Joseph Lecuona. Although there are only seven tunes on Shambhala Dance the shortest one is well over seven minutes and the longest is over nine minutes. Thus, there is much to energize and enthrall you within the fifty-seven minutes of music.

Atlantis is an incredible introduction to the power of Markay's music. In the song she begins with a strong beat and the tinkle of glass as Gorfain's ghostly violin score dances about to Middle Eastern rhythms and odd little nature sounds. You become fully engaged with the sad singing of the guitars and after a time, you feel as if your own heart beats to the music.

Filled with flamenco guitar and Middle Eastern zither, the tune Metamorphosis is guaranteed to get your pulse going. It has an innate beauty that calls to you like a zephyr from the desert on a starry night. You will be the one changing. Your Fire is my favorite of the two vocals on the album. Common Ground is the other. On Your Fire Markay's warm organic voice balances well with the Middle Eastern rhythm and Mediterranean guitar. It is a love song about the fire of passion.
"Your fire is calling me
Your fire will set me free
Your fire can give me all I need."

Message from Morpheus starts out with a decidedly funky beat. A bit surprising for this kind of album, but it soon transforms itself into a strange, flowing tune with a moaning guitar lead and a dance groove rhythm. The missive from Morpheus, the god of dreams, is that you need not be asleep to realize your dreams. Allow the music to take to that state between wakefulness and slumber. There you may find an answer. It is my favorite on the CD.

The final cut and one of the most dramatic songs on the album is her version of the mantra The Gayatri or prayer to the sun. The hymn is usually sung as the sun rises and it is an entreaty to the gods for blessings. As in many Tantric mantras, it is the belief in the power of magic combined with the compelling of the gods through prayer that makes the ritual produce positive results. Markay's eerie rendition featuring Sathya Sai Baba. The additional voices of Stacy Rasfeld and Aaron Loo give sway to the powers of the mantra.

As a budding pianist Barbara Markay garnered a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music when she was ten (perhaps she saw Michael Dulin hanging around in the halls). She graduated from the college division as a composer and pianist. She has had her own one woman show, Little Lulu, composed music for India's revered Sathya Sai Baba Organization and performed with rock stars Carly Simon and Eric Clapton. She also has two previously released albums, Change to Come and Heart Like a Song.

On Shambhala Dance Markay creates music that will escort you to a mystical place of relaxation and "dreamthought". My advice is to get up, shake the cobwebs loose and go with the flow."
RJ Lannan, New Age Review, March 7, 2005


FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT MY THING MUSIC
310-575-9829 or Email: barbaramarkay@hotmail.com
Website: www.barbaramarkay.com