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1 |
Kishori
- Landing in the Mountains |
2 |
Overland |
3 |
Solitary
Thoughts |
4 |
Cavern
of the Dreamers |
5 |
The
Reflecting Pools |
6 |
Darkening Skies |
7 |
The Three Companions |
8 |
Airborn |
9 |
Ritual of the Sky People |
10 |
Kishori
- Home |
Chris
Conway - |
acoustic 9string guitar, keyboards, voice, bamboo flute, low
D whistle, zither, kalimba, percussion |
Carl
Peberdy - |
sitar,
tabla, voice, bass zither, lyrabec, bamboo whistles, percussion,
bells |
Dave
Everitt - |
double
bass, voice, zither, tin whistles, bells, percussion |
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A story in music.
Follow the adventures
of star child Kishori and her visit to Earth. Atmospheric Indo-world fusion music par excellence played
on a host of exotic instruments.
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background
The
Rain Garden, now a trio, convened and created this whole album
in one day. Music spontaneously flowed from midday til about
4 in the morning. The music on the album is in the order they
played it in the studio.
On listening back to the music, they felt it had a kind of
narrative quality to it. After listening to the music for
a while they wove a story around the music of Kishori the
star child and her visit to Earth.
There was a real creative freshness on this album. New ideas
were flowing back and forth and the improvisations were especially
stunning. The album feels at times like a sacred ritual.
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influences
Oregon,
Alan Stivell, Stephan Micus, Terry Riley, ECM, Colin Walcott,
Paul Winter
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trivia
The
name Kishori is a reference to Indian classical singer Kishori
Amonkar, one of Chris's favourite artists.
At Leicester International Music Festival in 2001 The Rain
Garden re-recreated the music on this album live at the Guildhall,
Leicester . The group was expanded by the addition of students
playing flute, alto saxophone and tabla.
The Rain Garden did not record another album for another 10
years after this when India was
relased in 2009.
CC's
fave track - Cavern
of the Dreamers
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the story
Once
upon a time there was a star child. A young star child who
left home, as star children often do. She soon came to a
planet she hadn't been to before. She accessed the planet's
computers and found out more about it. It was called Earth.
She also found that her name could not be spoken by Earth
people so she chose an Earth name. She decided to name herself Kishoriafter a wonderful Indian singer she
heard on the radio. Star children like singing. She had
seen cities before on other planets and found them pretty
much alike, so she decided to touch down somewhere away
from people. She made a Landing in the Mountains.
The air was clean and crisp as she walked down the mountainside
that early morning, the trees thinning out as she walked.
When she got to the bottom, a large rugged, barren desert
lay stretched out before her. She was keen to live as Earth
people lived so flying was out. She realised she had a long
trek Overland across the desert. She set out,
one foot in front of the other, in the hot haze of the noonday
sun. She had many adventures only star children would notice.
Earth people would think she was just walking along. She
met and spoke with some frolicking lizards who told her
where to find a stream, which she found, and followed to
where more vegetation grew. Kishori stopped to rest.
Sitting alone near the stream, by the fire she made, as
the night descended around her, Kishori found her mind lingering
on Solitary Thoughts of love and longing.
Star children have no need of sleep. Night and darkness
hold no fears for them so once she was rested, she extinguished
the fire and followed the stream. It led into a cave which
led into a long narrow tunnel, ending in a small opening.
Kishori stepped through and gasped. She was standing on
the edge of a huge Cavern. On ledges here
and there sat hundred Of Dreamers,
eyes closed chanting and singing their dreams. It was beautiful.
Kishori sat, closed her eyes and joined them. Star children
like dreaming.
Kishori left the cavern after what she felt had been hours,
but when she looked at her timepiece found that only 5 minutes
and 56 seconds of Earth time had elapsed in the cavern.
"Curious", she thought as she followed the stream
into the open.
It flowed into a number of pools surrounded by walls. On
the walls were paintings, made by the dreamers, of their
dreams. The pools reflected the stars above which moved
and shimmered as Kishori bathed in the water. The
Reflecting Pools also reflected the sunrise when
it came, and the paintings.
She left the pools and the stream to walk in the nearby
forest. Star children like trees. The smell of the forest
made her feel heady and the forest felt full of good
magic. Suddenly the atmosphere changed. There was a chill
in the air. The forest was full of mysterious sounds. She
heard a rumbling sound, saw the Darkening Skies and knew a storm was coming. Kishori was afraid and felt
alone. She started to run.
In a glade she came to a cabin with smoke coming out of
the chimney. She knocked on the door. She was welcomed by
two Earth people. They were travelling musicians. They gave
her food and drink, and began playing. Kishori picked up
an instrument and played with them. Star children like music
but she didn't let on she was a star child. They made a
happy sight and a happy sound, The Three Companions,
playing out the storm around a warming fire.
When the storm had passed Kishori and the musicians left
the cabin to see her off. She said goodbye and took to the
air. Star children like flying. When she was Airborne,
she realised she had forgotten where she was and that Earth
people don't fly. Luckily musicians aren't surprised
by flying people and she saw them happily waving goodbye
as she flew over the treetops. She saw the beautiful view
of the land below her.
After a time she saw a strange tower on the summit of the
highest mountain of the range. She drew closer. It was taller
than it had seemed from a distance, and had a flat plateau
on the top. The tower had been built by people who worshipped
the sky, and a group of them were sat in a circle paying
homage skywards, too busy to notice her land in the middle
of the circle. She watched The Ritual of the Sky People when it reached it's peak they saw her take to the air.
The sky people were happy. They'd been expecting people
to fly for thousands of years.
When Kishori was safely Home she looked back on her trip to Earth. A planet of mountains,
lizards, thoughts, dreamers, pools, storms, musicians, views,
and sky people. "Not such a bad place", she thought
and smiled. Star children like smiling. |
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