VARIOUS: World Festival of Sacred Music - The Americas

Various

World Festival of Sacred Music - The Americas

© 2000 Interdependent Productions

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A musical and artistic vessel, created in kindness, to honor diversity and inspire an appreciation of the interdependence of the Planet and all her many beings. The festival was the idea of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

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(No longer CD, now DVD audio. Will play only on a DVD player)

The World Festival of Sacred Music (WFSM) - The Americas was a series of 80 events over a nine-day period in October 1999. The Festival idea was initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who sought to enter the new Millennium in a worldwide celebration of peace.

As a result of an outpouring of interest and enthusiasm from the public, the artists and the community partners alike, the organizers - UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance, Earthways Foundation and the Foundation for World Arts - committed to the creation of a Festival in 2002 and every three years thereafter. In September 2002, 2,000 artists performed in 42 sites across the city to an estimated audience of 30,000 people over a 16-day period.

This double CD set features a wide range of artists, from Balinese Gamelan to Native American Flute, and illustrates the heart of the festival as expressed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama: "There is something in music that transcends and unites. This is evident in the sacred music of every community - music that expresses the universal yearning that is shared by people all over the globe."


Sanguay Bum - Sing A Happy Song

Written by Sanguay Bum (Sanguay Bum Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 9th, 1999 at Senshin Temple

Sanguay Bum has performed on both the East and West Coast of the United States and in India while in exile from his homeland in Amdo, Tibet. You can see the faces of the people in his village, hear the majesty of the mountains and open spaces, and feel the beauty of Tibet in his voice. He sings of the simple everyday things in life that we sometimes take for granted and rejoices in the happiness they bring.

Suzanne Teng - China Lily

Written by Suzanne Teng (Weishiu Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 13, 1999 at First Presbyterian Church of Encino
Suzanne Teng - Dizi (Chinese bamboo flute)
Gilbert Levy - percussion

Suzanne Teng is a flautist, dancer, percussionist, composer, teacher and recording artist from Berkeley, California. Her world music ensemble, Mystic Journey, creates and performs original music blending the east with the west, the ancient and the new, and the ethereal with the ecstatic. With a background in Ethnomusicology from Boston University and UCLA she focuses on the healing power of music.

Pasha Ninateen - M'bira Song

Written by Sharon Berman, Anna Homler, and Stephanie Payne
Recorded on October 14, 1999 at the University Catholic Center, UCLA
Anna Homler (voice, toys, found objects)
Stephanie Payne (mbira, keyboard, samples, melodica)
Sharon Berman (accordion, hurdy gurdy, tromba marina)

Pasha Ninateen have been performing in North America and Europe since the 1970's. The trio is composed of Anna Homler, internationally renowned artist (music, spoken word, installation and intermedia artist); Stephanie Payne, most notably recognized in LA for her performance and recording work as "Dark Arts"; and Sharon Berman, visual anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, focusing on religious folk arts and artists. They sing in melodic invented languages that transcend words and cultures using 'nonsense' syllables believed to hold magic and spiritual powers. Their eclectic array of instruments includes both ancient and modern.

Robert Een - Buddha Boat

Written by Robert Een (Robert Een Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 13, 1999 at Kol Tikvah Temple

Robert Een, acclaimed composer, singer, and cellist, is a recipient of a 1998 Bessie Award for music composition. Een has performed his music throughout the world, including the Buddhist Caves of Ellora, India, a Shinto shrine in Tsurugi, Japan, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. "Buddha Boat" is inspired by a story of the discovery of a Viking ship. The ship carried among its possessions a small statue of the Buddha. Robert humorously comments that perhaps the Vikings had become Buddhist.

Ulali - My People, My Land

Written by Pura Fe (Corn, Beans and Squash Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 16, 1999 at the Warner Grand Theater

Ulali, the Tuscarora word for "the song of the wood thrush" is the name these three Native American women have chosen for their a cappella ensemble, founded in 1987. Pura Fe (Tuscarora), Soni Moreno Ciballero (Mayan, Apache, Yaqui), and Jennifer Elizabeth Griesberg (Tuscarora) often perform using traditional drums and rattles. In this song they use only their voices to create music that captures the spirit of Native America while evoking the hallowed harmonies of blues and gospel.

Lila Downs - Semilla de Piedra Ntikin nuyuu

Written by Lila Downs (Nara Music, Inc. / Cloud People Music BMI)
Courtesy of Narada World Records
Recorded on October 18, 1999 at the Harold M. Williams Auditorium, The Getty Center
Lila Downs - voice
Celso Duarte - harp and violin
Armando Montiel - percussionist
Angel Chacon - guitar
Jose de Jesus Mendoza - bass
Paul Cohen - piano and saxophone

According to the tradition of the Mixtec "cloud people", Lila Downs' umbilical cord was buried under a maguey plant in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, ensuring that she would always return there. Lila grew up in Minneapolis and in Tlaxiaco in the Oaxacan mountains. Her interpretations of traditional Mixtec and Zapotec songs, boleros, rancheras, and her own compositions exhibit a vocal range and color inspired by her ancestry.

Meredith Monk - Gotham Lullabye

Written by Meredith Monk (Meredith Monk Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 12, 1999 at the Harold M. Williams Auditorium, The Getty Center
Meredith Monk - voice and piano

Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, and creator of opera, musical theater works, and films. She is a pioneer in what is now called "extended vocal technique" and "interdisciplinary performance". This song is inspired from lullabies her mother sang. She has created more than one hundred works during a career that spans some thirty years. She has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force in the performing arts.

ADAAWE - Aye Buur Yalla

Traditional song from Senegal (Adaptation by ADAAWE for Calabash Music)
Recorded on October 14, 1999 at University Catholic Center, UCLA

Adaawe is six dynamic, and diverse women percussionists / vocalists. They create music in the tradition of Ghana, West Africa, where women gather in the moonlight to sing about life's joys and sorrows. Adaawe's music unites the sounds of the African Diaspora by weaving together original and traditional music from America, Cuba, Ghana, Jamaica, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa.

Jai Uttal with Sheva - Om Namah Shivaya

Written by Jai Uttal (Pavana Suta Music BMI)
Recorded on October 16, 1999 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater

Jai Uttal is a pioneer in the world music community whose east-meets-west sound has put his music at the forefront of the world beat movement. His musical roots embrace a rich variety of cultures and traditions that span the globe and the centuries. From the hillbilly music of the Appalachian mountains to the passionate strains of Bengali street singers, from the haunting rhythms and melodies of ancient India to contemporary electric rock sounds, Jai's music distills the essence of diverse musical forms.

Sheva is an Israeli group of seven individuals who create and perform transformative world music from the ancient cultures of the Middle East. The band is representative of the new wave in Israel, in which Middle Eastern and Eastern musical traditions are often combined with spiritual quests, meditation, chanting, and an activist attitude toward peaceful resolution to conflicts.

The Zurich Boys Choir - Herr, nun lasset Due Deiner in Frieden farina

Written by Felix Mendelssohn
Recorded on October 16, 1999 at the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church

The Zurich Boys' Choir, under the tutelage of founder and conductor Alphons von Aarburg, is a non-professional 70-member choir of boys aged six thru fourteen. They perform classical and traditional Swiss music in the four languages of Switzerland (German, French, Italian, Romanch). The choir has been performing for more than 38 years.

Pacific Winds (Bill Shozan Shultz, Nawang Khechog & Qi-Chao Liu) - Song for Judy

Written by Bill Shozan Shultz, Nawang Khechog and Qi-Chao Liu
Recorded on October 14, 1999 in the Main Sanctuary, Sinai Temple
Qi-Chao Liu - Sheng (mouth organ), Bawu (bamboo flute)
Bill Shozan Schultz - Shakuhachi
Nawang Kechog - Tibetan flutes

Bill Shozan Schultz moved to Japan in the spring of 1985 to study Shakuhachi under the renowned Grandmaster Koyama Seizan sensei. In February 1993, he received his Shihan certificate (Master) from the Tozan School of Shakuhachi and was awarded the name "Shozan".

Nawang Kechog was born into a nomadic family in Eastern Tibet, on a high mountain plateau, where trees cannot grow and wind whispers through the grasslands. As an adult, having spent more than thirty years in India as a Tibetan refugee, Nawang now seeks strength and tranquillity in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and thru the expression of his music.

Qi-Chao Liu is a composer, performer, scholar, teacher, and a founding member of the Pacific Zheng Ensemble and of Chi Music. Born in China, trained at the prestigious Shanghai Music Conservatory, Mr. Liu has performed around the world in both traditional and non-traditional settings.

Together for the first time, these three musicians from different traditions share the stage to create a tapestry of music dedicated to Festival Chairwoman Judy Mitoma.

Perla Batalla - Iberia

Written by: Perla Batalla and David Batteau (Music Pieces BMI & David Batteau Music)
Recorded on October 12, 1999 at the Performing Arts Center, Cal State Northridge
Perla Batalla - voice
David Batteau - guitar and vocals
Debra Dobkin - drums and vocals
Simeon Pillich - bass

Perla's seemingly effortless ability to make her music live and breath is no accident of birth. Born in Los Angeles, Perla's music education began in her father's record store and continued while touring and singing backup vocals with the legendary Leonard Cohen. Cohen encouraged her to compose, arrange and write lyrics. Perla's music is a continuation of her pilgrimage retracing the composite of myths, colors and cultures known as Mexico.

Elk Whistle - Prayer for the Great Family

Written by Bill Neal (White Path Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 13, 1999 Kol Tikvah Temple

Bill Neal, also known as Elk Whistle, is a Native American flautist, recording artist, storyteller, and teacher. Neal, of Cherokee ancestry, plays the plain style cedar flutes of the Lakota, Kiowa, and Comanche Nations, as well as the river cane flutes of the Choctaw and Cherokee. He plays only the songs he hears from within, drawing upon the sounds of nature.

Nawang Khechog - Prayer for My Teacher

Written by Nawang Khechog
Recorded on October 14, 1999 at the Main Sanctuary, Sinai Temple
Nawang Kechog - Tibetan Long Horn & Voice

Nawang dedicates this prayer and song, which came to him in a dream, to the memory of his deceased teacher.

"For as long as space endures
For as long as living beings are there
May I remain until then and solve
the suffering of other beings
For as long as there is one sentient being
unliberated from (this) suffering world
Even if I may attain (a) pre-enlightened state
Still may I remain in this world to serve them."

Ahmad El-Asmer - Call to Prayer

Traditional Islamic
Recorded on October 12, 1999 at Immanuel Presbyterian Church

Ahmad El-Asmer, a much-admired Arab singer and percussionist, studied from childhood with an established drummer in Jerusalem. He continued his studies while working with musicians in Amman, Jordan. El-Asmer then spent many years in Europe where he performed at festivals, and with ensembles from the Near East and North Africa. He is highly respected for his vocal talent and mastery of the Arab song tradition.

June Kuramoto - Rokudan

Written by: Kengyo Yatsuhashi in the 16th Century (adaptation by June Kuramoto)
Courtesy of Windham Hill Records
Recorded on October 9, 1999 at Senshin Buddhist Temple

Born in Japan and raised in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, June epitomizes America's evolving art and music culture. Under the tutelage of Madame Kazue Kudo, June is authorized by the Miyagi School of Koto in Japan and has received all of the classical degrees. She is one of the founding members of the band Hiroshima and has continued to merge her classical Koto roots with world music. She is recognized as one of the foremost Koto players in the world.

Marlui Miranda - Hedigo/Tchori Medley

Traditional Tupari Indian piece adapted and arranged by Marlui Miranda
Recorded on October 12, 1999 at the Performing Arts Center, Cal State Northridge
Marlui Miranda - voice
Rodolfo Stroeter - acoustic bass
Caito Marcondes - percussion
Ruria Duprat - piano & keyboards

Singer, composer, and researcher, Marlui Miranda has studied the musical traditions of the Brazilian Amazon Indians for two decades and is widely recognized as the consummate performer of Amazon indigenous music. She has interpreted and adapted traditional chants and songs from many Brazilian Indian nations. In 1986 Marlui received funding from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation for her project "The Recreation and Preservation of the Brazilian Amazon Indigenous Music". She has helped to author legislation in Brazil dedicated to protecting Indigenous Intellectual rights.

Gwen Wyatt Chorale - Ain't Got Time to Die

Written by Hall Johnson (G. Schirmer, Inc. ASCAP)
Recorded on October 15, 1999 at Wilshire United Methodist Church
Gwen Wyatt Chorale with the Wilshire Cathedral Choir
John Black - soloist

The Gwendolyn Wyatt Chorale sings African-American spirituals in the time-honored traditional way as coached by conductor and musicologist Dr. Jester Hairston. This a cappella style is enhanced with choreographed movement to complete the music's storytelling. Gwendolyn Wyatt, DMA has sung in environments as diverse as the Projects of South Central Los Angeles and on the Sea of Galilee.

Agape International Choir featuring Niki Haris - Someone Needs a Prayer

Written by Rickie Byars & Reverend Dr. Michael Beckwith (Eternal Dance Music BMI)
Recorded on October 15, 1999 at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater

The Agape Choir Ministry "comes together for the sole purpose of revealing the Kingdom of God through the medium of music." With the combined writing and composing talents of music director, Rickie Byars, and founder/minister, Reverend Dr. Michael Beckwith, the choir has evolved and grown in artistry and membership. Over the past ten years, the Agape Choir has become known for its signature sectional harmonies and devotional creative expression.

Cantor Eva Robbins - Rozzo d'Shabbos

Music by Cantor Pierre Pinchik (19th century)
Lyrics from the mystical text "Zohar"
Recorded on October 13, 1999 at Westwood United Methodist Church

Cantor Eva Robbins, the voice of Congregation N'Vay Shalom (Oasis of Peace), is devoted to inspiring the love of Judaism and spiritual growth through music. She believes that music not only opens paths to wholeness but is a constructive course for creating a stronger sense of community between all people.

Gamelan Sekar Jaya - excerpt from "Penyambutan Selat Segara"

Traditional Balinese Arranged by I Wayan Rai S.
Recorded on October 9, 1999 at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA
Performers: (* guest artists)
Luh Estiti Andarawati, Scott Barnes, *I Dewa Putu Berata, Avi Black,Kathy Bouvier, Marianne Cherry, Phil Cox, Kompiang Metri Davies, *I Wayan Dibia, Sonja Downing, Carla Fabrizio, Al Finn, Mary Francis, Sasah Friedlander, Lisa Gold, Barbara Golden, Todd Greenspan, James Harding, Reiko Hasegawa, Jim Hogan, Maddie Hogan, Lars Jensen, Andreas Johns, Steve Johnson, Colum Keelaghan, Nick Lenzmeier, Debbie Lloyd, Edmundo Cruz Luna, Paul Miller, Susanna Miller, Mudita Nisker, Rose Nisker, Jeff Pumont, Made Putrayasa, *I Wayan Rai S., Mark Salvatore, *I Gusti Ayu Srinatih, Emiko Saraswati Susilo, Ken Jaya Susilo, *I Wayan Suweca, Wayne Vitale, Richard Wallis, Samuel Wantman, Zac Weiner, *I Nyoman Wenten, Sarah Willner, *I Nyomar Windha, *Ni Made Wiratini, Ken Worthy, Rotrease Yates, Caren Zilber

Gamelan Sekar Jaya is a nonprofit performing arts organization composed of San Francisco Bay Area artists dedicated to the study and performance of Balinese music and dance. Since the group's inception in 1979, Sekar Jaya has invited many of Bali's finest performing artists to join the group for residencies as Guest Artistic Directors. The ensemble has toured extensively around the world, and sponsored the creation of more than fifty new music and dance works by Balinese and American artists.

Ali Jihad Racy Ensemble - Spirit of Festivities

Written by Ali Jihad Racy (Racy Notes ASCAP)
Recorded on October 12, 1999 at Immanuel Presbyterian Church
Ali Jihad Racy - nay, salamiyyah, buzuq, mijwiz
Khaled Khalifa - cello
Ahmad El-Asmer - voice
Souhail Kaspar - tar, tablah, darbukkah, riqq
Nasser Musa - 'ud

Ali Jihad Racy, virtuoso performer, composer, and scholar of Middle Eastern music is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. Dr. Racy has authored numerous publications on Middle Eastern music. In addition to his virtuosity on the nay and 'ud, he is a master of the buzuq, long-necked fretted lute, the mizmar double reed, the rabbab spiked fiddle, and the mijwij double pipe. He is joined in this performance with an equally distinguished ensemble of musicians.

Lakshmi Shankar - Song of Devotion to Krishna

16th Century Traditional by Meera Bai
Recorded on October 12, 1999 at Immanuel Presbyterian Church
Lakshmi Shankar - voice
Samar Das - tabla
Rajendra Vaishampayan - harmonium

Lakshmi Shankar is one of India's most renowned vocalists. Her unique background encompasses both Karnatak and Hindusthani traditions. After performing as a Bharata Natyam dance soloist under the tutelage of guru Kandappa, she received vocal training from Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan of the Patiala Gharana. She continued studies with musicologist and singer B.R. Deodhar and Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Danse Celeste - excerpt from "Buong Suong"

Traditional Cambodian classical dance piece (arranged by Danse Celeste)
Recorded on October 9, 1999 at Schoenberg Hall, UCLA

Under the artistic direction of Sophieline Cheam Shapiro, Danse Celeste preserves the exquisite Majesty and refinement of Classical Cambodian dance & music that was almost lost forever in 'the killing fields'. The Buong Suong melody is performed at the climax of an ancient Cambodian ritual. The musicians and dancers seek mystical unity through poetic songs, pin peat music, stylistic dance movement, and offerings. By uniting with the heavens, the musicians also unite with absolute beauty, bringing rain and fertility to the rice fields.

Nobuko - To All Relations

Written by: Nobuko Miyamoto (Ayyubi Music ASCAP)
Recorded on October 17, 1999 John Anson Ford Amphitheater

Nobuko Miyamoto, singer, songwriter, and dancer began writing music twenty-five years ago. She created the first album of Asian American music in collaboration with Chris Iijima and Charlie Chin. "A Grain of Sand" is now part of the Smithsonian Institution Collection. Since 1987, she has been the artistic director of Great Leap, Inc, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to using the arts to promote a deeper understanding between the diverse cultures of America.

Andrae Crouch & the Valley Gospel Choir - Total Praise

Written by: Richard Lee Smallwood
Published by: T Autumn Music (BMI), Zomba Songs Inc.(BMI)
Recorded on October 14, 1999 at Temple Israel of Hollywood

Andrae Crouch, Grammy-winning vocalist, songwriter, producer, and performer, is without question one of the most vital and influential artists in contemporary music today. His artistry has touched, and changed, millions of lives around the world. His songs transcend color, class and creed with a vibrant message of hope, faith, and joyous celebration. With his music Andrae Crouch testifies to the enduring power of faith through times of trial, tribulation, and life-changing choices.

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  • author: festival director

    a remarkable range of music- all recorded live in Los Angeles? fantastic!

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