• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

'We have a clause in the contract music and an appeal to a wider minutes of harmonic overtone award out there made from crystal, yet trying to define the nature of the audience. For those artists and labels, singing. It's the only conference if s another lightning rod for cliches. recordings that I will deliver to the INAMC conception of "mains- where instead of being awaken by [Virgin Records]. Because I refused tream" was a misnomer. "I think it's loud TVs or parties, you are roused "Look at how new-age music is to say that I will deliver new-age wishful thinking," says Stephen Hill, by chanting from the next hotel room. described in the media, by and large: recordings, because I felt that was host of the Music From the Hearts of Whafs surprising is that these were It's called yuppie Muzak or aural ve y misleading." Space radio program and owner of the among the few meditative moments in wallpaper, hot-tub music, drones; -Mark Isham, winner Hearts of Space record label. the four-day conference, during which there's no structure to it; it's 1991 New Age Grammy Award "That's a nice sentiment," agrees even new-age savant Steve Halpern completely laid back and passive. All Terry Wood, director of commu- left at home his lighted crystal, so of that. Well that certainly doesn't At the Third Annual International nications for Narada Records. "I'm prominently featured on a recent 48 describe my music in any way. It has New Age Music Conference held in not sure that was reflected in the type Hours on CBS. Sure, there was a lot of nothing to do with my music." April in Los Angeles, industry of offerings at the conference." talk about channeling music, about -Ray Lynch, composer of the representatives tried to attack the Narada was among several major how "some of your tri-tones stimulate new-age hit "Celestial Soda Pop" problem from another direction by new-age-identified labels who chose the third eye, others cause your aura to choosing the theme "New Age Goes to stay home. shrink," and how dolphins project It was a conference that tried its best Mainstream." "All the people who sound waves to align your chakras. A to shake the new-age image of crystal have been around for 10 years or so "It's an incredibly limiting category. booth from MC2 displayed a system of gazing, meditative ruminations, and are making a transition by going into We've had so many different people in light and sound that purports to metaphysical mumblings. What was the mainstream record outlets," the concerts, whole families and "Relax, accelerate goal achievement most evident was the "hustle." Evey- asserts conference organizer Suzanne heavy-metal people. We've had lots of and boost personal creativity." You put one was pushing tapes and CDs into the Doucet. "I think there's a lot of things Hell's Angels people, black leather on a pair of headphones which hands of record companies, distributors, happening in media and retail outlets and chains." produce a somewhat annoying tone radio stations and writers. You'd walk that are becoming more open." -Andreas Vollenweider, winner that pulses back and forth in your ears into a room and suddenly see a dozen Doucet, who also runs the Only New of first New Age Grammy Award while a pair of Sun Ra sunglasses business cards criss-crossing the table of Age Music store in Los Angeles, feels project light pulses onto your closed the "International" panel. The talk was that more "spiritual" music is Most conferences begin with a few eyelids, sending you to sleep or into a often less about music and more about reaching the mainstream audience, jokes, some solemn musings and migraine headache. And of course the commerce. 'We're here so that you can even if that audience isn't entirely maybe an invocation or prayer. But conference's version of the Gramo- go further in your business," said aware of the spiritual content. the Third Annual International New phone and Oscar is the "Crystal Richard Bochenek, one of the conference But for many, "New Age Goes Age Music Conference began with Award," a phallic pinnacle of crystal. organizers. "This represents the new- Mainstream" means a shift in the the ring of Tibetan chimes and a few As Halpern points out, if s not the only age industry." At times it could've been a NAIRD or NARM convention. It's a Small World After All amok-albeit in slow motion-through ethereal, spacially 'I don't know what new age is. You enhanced settings. Still, there's a big difference between know, I think it's a marketing term." Jon Hassell, Paul Horn and others discern new classic new-age recording and current world-beat hits. -Chuck Greenberg of age's once and future inspiration: world music The emerging international music industry emphasizes Shadowfax, winners of the New Afropop and Latin styles precisely because their Age Grammy Award in 1989 By Linda Kohanov exhilarating, dance-inspired polyrhythms exist within a Euro~ean-influencedmelodic and harmonic context. "The The argument for new age going s the Beatles took the United States by storm, jazz artist things that are struggling are the Middle Eastern and mainstream can be persuasive. After A Tony Scott took a deep breath and uttered the first Oriental releases," reports Lowenhar. "This means that all, Yanni is attaining unprecedented notes of Music for Zen Meditation. Back then no one really people still need to overcome the bias that our Western sales, receiving a gold record with his knew what to do with a serenely exotic set of interactions system of music is the best." When the averaae" American synthesized updating of Mantovani, between clarinet, Japanese koto and shakuchachi flute. listens to recordings based on the micro-tonal melodic Reflections of Passion (Private Music). Released on Verve in 1964, Music for Zen Meditation meanderings and strange tuning systems of Eastern styles, He was preceded by the synthesizer remained an anomaly in the jazz label's bebop and swing the most common reaction is that the instruments have "an confections of Ray Lynch's chart- catalog until this subtle, cross-cultural venture was hailed irritating habit of weaving in and out of tune" and the toppers, Deep Breakfast and No Blue as the first new-age album some 20 years later. If Scott music "doesn't seem to ao", anwhere in ~articular." Thing on Music West, an independent would have come up with the same American-Japanese The fact that people often lodge the same complaint about label. Add to that the mainstream collaboration in 1991, he might just as easily have found new-age music is revealing: The genre's early innovators penetration of Enya, Andreas Vollen- himself under the "world music" banner. were inspired primarily by Indian, Balinese and Japanese weider, George Winston and Kitaro, as Billboard magazine's 1990 new age issue contended styles. "A lot of us took our inspiration from the Orient well as the mock-new-age dance music that "in both artistic and marketing areas, NAM is rapidly because it was the only place we found anything related to of Enigma, and you might think there's being absorbed into the expanding world music market." what we wanted to do," insists Steven Halpern, who helped still a movement afoot. The 1991 International New Age Conference in Los usher in the new age with a series of "Anti-Frantic Yet, none of these artists were at Angeles also seemed keyed up about the influx of cross- Alternative" albums in the mid '70s. "The origins of these the conference. The best-known musi- cultural sounds as the annual convention held its first musics were ceremonial, magical, healing, uplifting." With cians present were Halpern, flautist "New Age World Music Festival.'' this in mind, spiritual seekers like jazz flautist Paul Horn and Paul Horn and violinist Steven "New age has a few more gold and platinum albums, German multi-instrumentalist Deuter (influential albums by Kindler. The very labels that have but world music is closing in," observes Eric Lowenhar, both are available on Kuckuck) went off to India and had mainstream success, like Music manager for Billboard's new age and world music charts. discovered a highly specialized series of traditions that West and Private Music, were absent. The most confusing aspect of. his job, in fact, is trying to emphasized music as a path to enlightenment. Though these Windham Hill, which is in the decide which releases are appropriate for which chart. artists studied and played Indian classical music in the late process of converting itself into a "One of the reasons is that there are a lot of titles that fall '60s and '70s, they emerged from the experience with mainstream label with rock, jazz and into that grey area between the two.'' compositional styles that combined the meditative essence of folk acts, was never present and From the beginning, the new-age genre itself was a certain Oriental forms with Occidental (continued on 89) hardly ever mentioned. Even Narada, giant grey area where ethnic styles and instruments ran which has usurped much of Wind- ham Hill's initial audience, passed on 86 PULSE! JULY 1991 ILLUSTRATION ON PAGE 84 BY ADELE CAMERON. new-age genre, but Hill himself has "1 don%think never called it that. "We never billboarded the program as a new-age program but a space-music pro- new age is going gram," says Hill, who did attend the conference.

Load more

  6

Copy Link