TIBETAN BUDDHIST RITES FROM THE MONASTERIES OF BHUTAN
(Sub Rosa)

"Entreaty to the Three Buddha-bodies"
"Lama Norbu Guamtsho"

This pile driver of a two-disc set stems from the work of Englishman John Levy, an ethnomusicologist par excellence and a fiery sort of character to boot. Well-regarded for his previous work throughout Southeast Asia, recording hundreds of different tribes and ethnic enclaves for both the Folkways and Lyrichord imprints, he received a personal invite from the King of Bhutan's court in the early-'70s to come and extensively record the Buddhist rituals performed within the country. Able to reach the interior of cloistered monasteries far from the general populace, Levy documented sounds never before heard by Western ears, let alone the citizens of Bhutan. The resulting four-LP set that Lyrichord released at the time remain some of the heaviest music set to tape.

Bhutans also call their country Drukyul, which translates as "The Land of the Thunder Dragon." So it should be no surprise that the music herein sounds somewhat like a "thunder dragon." While the Bhutan strain of Tibetan ritual music retains all the earmarks of the religious ceremony, with chants, chimes, gongs, drums, these recordings also prominently feature the dung chen, which are trumpets that range from five to 12 feet in length. These enormous horns, when they enter into the incantations and prayers, raise the tonic drone of the monks by a semitone, making for resonant harmonies both beautiful and discordant. The resulting tones and clangs that appear here should appeal not only to fans of world music but the more outr? free jazz and noise scene. If you dig esoteric drone and clamor from groups as diverse as SUNN O))) or No-Neck Blues Band, there's something in these ancient ceremonies for you, too. [RB]

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