New Age vocal music is one of those subgenres that can be tricky to navigate in separating worthwhile recordings from those that are either substandard in music quality or that suffer from lyrical over-earnestness.

Ashana’s Beloved easily handles the first condition with its blend of Western (keyboards, bass, cello and guitars) and ethnic/New Age (tabla, percussion, and crystal singing bowls) instruments. The lyrics are also in good hands.

Ashana and co-composer Thomas Barquee (who also co-produced, sings, and plays keyboards and bass) exercise restraint and don’t go “over the top.” Depending on the song, lyrics may be sung in English, Aramaic, or Sikh, although English predominates.

Ashana has a wonderful, crystalline voice and makes even the more sparsely arranged songs appealing, including the folk-music sounding “Only You in My Heart.”

PlayList: Beloved
As reviewed in: New Age Retailer

September/October 2009

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Beloved by Ashana
When Ashana friended me on Twitter and I listened to “Opening to Love” on her MySpace page, I couldn’t stop listening and had an instant recognition. Within the first few chords my chest changed and love was present immediately. It’s from Ashana’s latest album, Beloved.

These songs are musical experiences of the Divine, harmonies to the Divine, and an undeniable example of artist as vessel.

Ashana breathes and gives life to alchemy and classic frosted crystal singing bowls. She also sings and composes. On Beloved, Thomas Barquee is co-writer on all but one track; producer, arranger, and on keyboards, bass and vocals. The other instrumentation includes cello, guitars, tablas and percussion.

Let’s be clear though, this is ethereal music and the arrangements make use of these instruments in unique ways.

Barquee’s arrangements and production values are richly sensitive and provide a container for this music that wouldn’t be readily available in other hands.

Before going into any other details, and fully acknowledging her special touch with crystal bowls, let me mention that Ashana’s voice is…purity personified. It has a singular clarity and a layered presence.

The Tracks

One of my favorite aspects of Beloved is that it honors world traditions. For instance the first track You are My Breath includes the Sufi invocation, La’illaha il’Allah, meaning “There is nothing other than You, O God. You alone are God!” This is really the title track of the album as it’s a serenade to the Beloved.

I’ve been a fan of The Aramaic Lord’s Prayer for some time now, in various translations that are so radically powerful, compared to the version in the regular translations of the Bible. Here, Ashana actually sings a version by Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz in Aramaic. Listen once and you’ll understand why I’m so moved by this music. Clocking at 10:10 minutes, it can easily be put on prepetual repeat.

O Birther! Father- Mother of the Cosmos
Focus your light within us – make it useful.
Create your reign of unity now-
through our fiery hearts and willing hands
Help us love beyond our ideals
and sprout acts of compassion for all creatures.
Animate the earth within us: we then
feel the Wisdom underneath supporting all.
Untangle the knots within
so that we can mend our hearts’ simple ties to each other.
Don’t let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back from our true purpose.
Out of you, the astonishing fire,
Returning light and sound to the cosmos.
Amen.

Dona Nobis Pacem means “Give us peace” from the Roman Catholic mass. This track highlights Ashana’s voice. It’s also impressive in how the guitar is played to sound like an instrument from the Renaissance. In fact, throughout the whole album the juxtaposition of all the instruments is surprising. It really makes me smile for instance to hear tablas accentuating this very Latin chant.

Opening to Love comes from a depth of heart the world needs so much. Ashana actually wrote it for a deceased friend, but as is the universal theme of this album, and as she says on her website: “I dedicate this piece to his spirit, which is of course, the spirit of everlasting, unconditional love that is the essence of who we are.”

Only You in My Heart has no notes about it. It doesn’t need explanation. You refers to…you know by now.

Deep Peace is a traditional Gaelic blessing that I happen to email to my students as my wish for them after completing Level I Reiki. This version has 10 and 12 inch Aqua Gold crystal singing bowls as drones in an arrangement which gently rocks you side to side in peace, literally.

Deep peace to you.
Deep peace to you.
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace to you.

Here’s what Ashana says about Alleluia – Wahe Guru: “Alleluia” is a word used in both Jewish and Christian traditions to express praise, joy and thanks to the Divine. Wahe Guru! is the primary mantra of the Sikh religion, and means “Wonderful Lord!” Yogi Bhajan, who brought Kundalini Yoga and Sikhism to the West, translated it even more deliciously as “Indescribable Ecstasy!”

Beloved is a complete work and substantial achievement. I’m very enamored of way the cello is a constant presence and highlighted beautifully in several parts. There are rich, sustained basses and other drones, eloquent guitar, embellishing keyboards, and bemusing tablas.

Then it’s all tied together by the presence of the Divine that fills you from the speakers or headphones.

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Pamir Kiciman provides Reiki Training and Healing services to those seeking to make their spirituality and healing power a conscious part of their life. His approach to Reiki is that it’s a path to enlightenment, with healing being a natural function.  Please take a moment to visit Pamir’s blog to help you help yourself and the world

The first song you’ll hear is the title track from the CD – “You Are My Breath”. The song actually has two choruses; the second one being the Sufi chant “La illaha il”Allah,” which roughly translated means “There is but one God”. Being a yogini for the last 20 years, I have wanted to write a song about the breath for the longest time. Scott Kalechstein, a very wonderful writer of inspirational English chants, has a beautiful piece called “Closer and Closer,” which I have sung for many, many years. His piece really was the initial inspiration behind “You Are My Breath.” Daniel Ladinsky’s poem, “The Christ’s Breath” was the second. Shortly after reading this poem the lyrics to “You Are My Breath” galloped onto the page.

I sang “You Are My Breath” publicly for the first time at Unity of Tustin, CA where I was honored to be the guest artist when Andrew Harvey was speaking. He was on fire talking about Rumi and the Beloved, and the passion of serving the world at this time in history. He implored everyone to connect deeply with their passion and to offer it in service. His love for Rumi is so palpable it is intoxicating. Listening to Andrew speak and singing both before and after his talk was deeply moving for me.

More than a year later, when Thomas Barquee and I got together to record “Beloved” I sang it for him and we both instantly knew it had to be on the CD. Thomas helped me find the joy, and I was high as a kite on love when I was recording the vocals.

This is a joyful song to open the heart and offer the love of the Beloved to others while bringing it into your own heart. As always, I offer this to you from mine, heart to heart.

Ashana