#4059: Music Rooted in Buddhist Chants

New Sounds | Dec 15, 2017

Listen to music rooted in the spiritual chanting of Buddhist monks - from Japan, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. Hear music by Cambodian composer Him Sophy & his music-theatre work, “Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia.” It’s a meeting of music, film, movement, and visual art but also Cambodian court instruments with a western chamber music ensemble. Hear opening of the work, “Bangsokol,” which refers to traditional Cambodian Buddhist funeral rite.

Then listen to chant from the Gyuto Monks of Tibet accompanied by both short and long trumpets and percussion. Also, hear a piece by Philip Glass which incorporates the voices of the Gyuto Monks from the score to the film, “Kundun.” Hear a world of overtones and rumbling subharmonics generated by throats alone, as many as three pitches at once. There’s also Shomyo, Buddhist sutra chant from Japan, sampled, in a work by Christine Southworth for Evan Ziporyn, along with a work by Somei Satoh, & more.

PROGRAM #4059 Music Rooted in Buddhist Chants (First Aired: 12/15/2017)

ARTIST: Evan Ziporyn
WORK: Christine Southworth: Monks, Not Thelonius
RECORDING: InMyMindandInMyCar
SOURCE: Kotekan
INFO: christinesouthworth.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Taipei Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Andrew Cyr cond.
WORK: Him Sophy: Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, excerpt [6:20]
RECORDING: Performance recording
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available
INFO: bangsokol.cambodianlivingarts.org

ARTIST: Herbie Mann/Minoru Muraoka
WORK: Shomyo [10:31]
RECORDING: Gagaku & Beyond
SOURCE: Finnadar #9014. 1976 LP, reissued in 2001.
INFO: Available at Amazon.com

ARTIST: Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir
WORK: Praising Chakrasamvara [7:50]
RECORDING: Tibetan Chants for World Peace
SOURCE: White Swan Records
INFO: whiteswanrecords.com

ARTIST: Philip Glass
WORK: Escape to India [10:09]
RECORDING:Kundun Soundtrack
SOURCE: Nonesuch 79460
INFO: www.nonesuch.com

ARTIST: Somei Satoh
WORK: Mantra, excerpt [1:36]
RECORDING: Somei Satoh
SOURCE: New Albion NA-016
INFO: newalbion.com

ARTIST: Evan Ziporyn
WORK: Christine Southworth: Monks, Not Thelonius [6:32]
RECORDING: InMyMindandInMyCar
SOURCE: Kotekan
INFO: christinesouthworth.bandcamp.com

ARTIST: Somei Satoh
WORK: Mantra, excerpt [1:52]
RECORDING: Somei Satoh
SOURCE: New Albion NA-016
INFO: newalbion.com

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