Last modified March 23, 2008
Painting: Voyage by Sukhdev Jean Lacroix
Dear friends, in this feature of Radio Sri Chinmoy we present you with a “collage” of musical arrangements by six different students of Sri Chinmoy: Premik Russell Tubbs, Suballabha Torfason, Sukhdev Jean Lacroix, Parichayaka Hammerl, Andrés Ramon and Kamalakanta Nieves.
Sri Chinmoy always encouraged his students to be creative, dynamic, happy and self-giving. It is my great joy to share with you this selection of music from musicians who practice meditation under the guidance of Sri Chinmoy.
Premik Russell Tubbs is an extraordinary musician. His resumé includes playing with The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Whitney Houston and many others. He is also an excellent arranger and producer. Here he shares with us a piece titled “For Him Who Loved Always” in loving memory of Sri Chinmoy, who left the body on October 11, 2007.
Suballabha Torfason regales us with three of his own compositions exploring world music. His productions are dynamic, tight and musically satisfying. When I listen to his music, I feel that either I am in some other country, such as Ireland, or I am in a nice concert hall, listening to a professional band playing folk music from different parts of the world. Such is the quality of his music. “My aim was to blend different World or Folk music styles. Therefore I call this project World Tour”, explains Suballabha.
Sukhdev Jean Lacroix is an extraordinary talent, being self-taught in music. I have long admired his capacity for orchestration, his unique flavor in his musical expression, and the variety of his sonic palette. Here are Sukhdev’s notes regarding his three arrangements that we are publishing today:
01) Everything of mine will end
“Everything of mine will end, I know, but not my songs.
Inside my songs sleeplessly blossoms my Lord Supreme.”
—Sri Chinmoy
02) I shall leave my dream-boat
“I shall leave my dream-boat here on earth on the last day.” —Sri Chinmoy
03) Sudurer Simanar Simanai
“The farthest boundary surrenders
To the ever-transcending Beyond.
My Lord Supreme and I
Together all-where roam.”
—Sri Chinmoy
Note: This last piece wishes to evoke some of the many cultures and people that Sri Chinmoy with his students encountered during trips to different parts of the world, especially to the East. The last one minute of the piece is in Mongolia.
—Sukhdev Jean lacroix
Parichayaka Hammerl is also a great talent in the art of orchestration. His musical scores sound like a a professional soundtrack for a movie. The depth and scope of his musical ideas is wide and vast, whether he is doing something in Classical, Pop or New Age style, or in a combination of these styles. We include two of his own musical compositions.
Andrés Ramon is also an excellent artist. He plays the piano and the cello, as well as the South American “Charango”, a small stringed instrument from South America. Andrés combines the worlds of Classical, Jazz and South American music in a lively and dynamic style which reminds me of two composers: Héctor Villa-Lobos and Keith Jarrett. These are Andrés’ notes to the 7 musical pieces he is offering us today:
Andrés’ musical explorations reflect an aspiration to reconcile melodic and poetic material of spiritual character and intention with the garb of an eclectic musical language that derives its inspiration from classical, jazz and folk/ethnic music. His creative output is directly related to the endeavours implied in his spiritual search as a sadhak.
Regarding the pieces:
The first three pieces (I am referring to Solo el Sol, Ray of Effulgence, and How Delightful…) belong to a song-cycle entitled “Polaroids of Spiritual Landscapes” (2006-07). This song-cycle consists of eleven songs with lyrics in four different languages: English, Icelandic, Spanish and Bengali. The Bengali songs are original compositions by Sri Chinmoy, arranged by Andr
We have 7 other pages containing uploaded tracks by Parichayaka Hammerl. View all pages »
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