Album Notes

Somna M. Bulist explores the notions of symbol and archetype with the strangely phosphorescent "Valentine Stigmata". The three-part, dark-wave opera melds electro-acoustic harp, ethereal soprano vocals and electronic sound into a haunting journey fueled by music inspired by ceremonial Qabalist chant.

"Valentine Stigmata" is a musical meditation that follows the rituals of the Qabalistic Cross, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and the exercise of the Middle Pillar. The exercises are rooted in the spiritual practices of the 19th century society of western mysticism, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The music is inspired by Thom Parrott's "The Musical Qabalah" where he assigned tone values to the Divine Names spoken in the rituals.

Aspects of similar banishing intentions found in ancient Chinese mythology of the creatrix goddess Nu Kwa were influencial in the writing of the "Archangelic Invocations". (tracks 3-6)

Music by Somna M. Bulist
Based on Thom Parrott's "The Musical Qabalah"
Soprano, Lillian deNile
Harp and Organ, Somna M. Bulist
Mastered into ~suite form by Soy SOS.

"Valentine Stigmata" was presented at the 2001 Philadelphia Fringe Festival featuring Lillian deNile as the soprano.

Also featured on this disc are two remixes, by Soy SOS and Schone Maschine and a cover of Bauhaus' "Stigmata Martyr".


About the Artist/Composer:

Somna M. Bulist is a harpist and composer/perfomer living in New York. She is a 2006 ASCAPLUS award recipient for performances of her original compositions all over NYC in such unlikely places as Webster Hall (Zenwarp's The Lord of The Rings Two Tower Ball), CBGBs, and a New York Vampyre Society.

Somna is a veteran of three Fringe Festivals, her first public appearance at the 1998 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, where she performed her original work for solo harp, The FAERYE Invocations, and, in the same year, a selection of the pieces were released on her debut CD, Invocations FAERYE. She premiered her situational work in tribute to the millennium, 44 minutes on the flatline_A Cry for the Millennium, at the 1999 New York International Fringe Festival, a production of The Present Company. In 2001, her third Philadelphia Fringe Festival presentation, Bulist performed her dark wave opera Valentine Stigmata, which was also released on CD.

Somna studied harp study with the legendary, Lucile Lawrence, and completed coursework at the Mannes School of Music and the Delcroze School of Music, in New York City, where she received the theoretical foundation for her ongoing studies in the metaphysics of sound.