Liner Notes: Healing Vibration is a journey through a world of unheard and yet strangely familiar sounds that touch your inner being. The mesmerizing music of the crystal bowls starts out softly, yet can become very intense while enveloping your entire body. It creates a multi-layered sonic tapestry, frequently interwoven with other sounds: spherical overtone-singing, flute or monochord, the pulse of a Frame- or Udu-drum. Let yourself be carried away ...

Liner Notes: In Wavegarden's debut release, Carlos Michael and LeAnn Eriksson have combined crystal singing bowls and flutes in an entirely new way, and they invite us on a meditative journey. The vibrations from the bowls have a deeply relaxing effect on body tissues, and the elegant musical patterns played on the smaller bowls combined with the simple, sometimes raw tones from the flutes have a hypnotic effect on our minds. These sounds carry us into new dimensions in which anything is possible. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, open your ears, and let go of the past and the future. Many of the bowls played on this CD are made not only with quartz crystal, but also with precious gems and minerals. Each of these “alchemy” bowls is played during “Jikoshoukai (Self-Introduction)”. For more information about all of the special instruments Carlos and LeAnn play, as well as their latest concert schedule, sound clips, ring tones, and other fun downloads, see www.wavegarden.net.

Liner Notes: On Saturday, the 26th of April, Christine and Sharif Sehnaoui performed as a duo for the first time in ten years at what turned out to be one of the highlights of the blurred edges 2008, the 2nd instance of Hamburg's independent contemporary music festival. The air flowing through the Christine's saxophone and the sounds Sharif coaxed out of the strings of his guitar wove a magnificent sonic tapestry, sometimes delicately merging, sometimes clashing to flow back to the common ground - a hypnotic groove… Recorded puristically in ORTF configuration with two high-res microphones custom built by United Minorities. Mic-pres & 2d AD by Metric Halo. No compression besides (2d) tube saturation was applied, preserving the original dynamics. This is as pure as it gets :-) Links: http://www.myspace.com/christinesehnaoui

Liner Notes: The story of this CD begins in February, 2007. Carlos and LeAnn have just begun collaborating, and they're in Carlos' 6th floor walk-up in Schoeneberg, Berlin. Carlos is pulling out some of the old music that has inspired him over the years, and he puts on an LP called "Day of Radiance," part of Brian Eno's Ambient series of the late '70s / early '80s. The sound is bright, hypnotic:  a zither being played in lush, repetitive patterns. Carlos plays his crystal singing bowls percussively, matching the rhythm of the zither. He thinks that it might be possible to sample some of this sound, and loop it as a playback under the bowls, during concerts. LeAnn, ever practical, googles the artist, someone named Laraaji, and finds to her surprise that he lives in New York. There is some discussion about emailing him, but it doesn't happen and the whole idea gets tabled for many months, as there is so much other new territory to explore as Wavegarden comes into being. Fast forward to October, 2007. Wavegarden is invited to perform at Mark Becker's New Life Expo in New York City. A memorial is being held after their concert, for Steven Angel, someone who had a strong connection with crystal singing bowls. As their concert ends and other musicians come in to join in the memorial sounds, Carlos and LeAnn look up. Who is joining them? Laraaji! A beautiful connection quickly develops as Laraaji shows Carlos and LeAnn how he converts autoharps into zithers by removing the chord mechanisms and retuning them. After a few jam sessions and a joint concert, it's clear that there is some magic in the collaboration. One thing leads to another, and in May, 2008, Laraaji begins a month-long swing through Germany, France, and Belgium, playing a few concerts with Carlos and LeAnn This recording is made on May 30, 2008, at the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Berlin. With its heated floors and exansive, vaulted ceilings, it is the perfect place for a Wavegarden concert. As guests make themselves comfortable with blankets, pillows, and mats, Andrew Levine of blumlein records sets up a recording system specially tailored to capture the subtle vibrations of the crystal singing bowls. Most of the music on this CD is then spontaneously created by Laraaji, LeAnn, and Carlos. "Mary, Mary," track 8, is still in creation on the night of the concert, and the lyrics have since evolved. Allow yourself to be seduced by these peaceful vibrations of light and joy; these sounds can be addictive! More info: http://www.wavegarden.net/, http://www.myspace.com/laraaji, and http://blumlein.net/ ©2008 Wavegarden, Laraaji and blumlein records

Liner Notes: Danish Border Peter Ablinger & Sven-Åke Johansson The opening concert of the blurred edges 2007, the 2nd year of Hamburg's festival for contemporary music, was recorded live to multitrack by Andrew Levine on March 21st at the Forum Neue Musik, Christianskirche. Tracks 02 and 04 are substituted from the original recordings of "Das Buch der Gesaenge, fuer zwei Lautsprecher" (The Book of Songs, for two Loudspeakers) by Peter Ablinger. Used with kind permission. Visit the artists' websites at... P. Ablinger: S.-Å. Johansson:

Liner Notes: About the International Jewish Music Festival Past In 1993, Amsterdam's internationally renowned Yiddish expert, Mira Rafalowicz, established the International Yiddish Festival. First with a focus on literature and language, the festival evolved, changing its name and its scope. The International Jewish Music Festival (IJMF) came to include a combination of workshops and performances of mostly Yiddish music, ranging from solo singers to larger Klezmer bands. Cristofori, a cozy canal-side hall in the middle of Amsterdam, served for many years as the anchor for the festival. In the ensuing years, the field of 'Jewish music' expanded, and the festival's organizers sought to keep up with this growth by bringing innovative Jewish music to as broad an audience as possible. Their goal was ambitious: to present and promote the diversity of Jewish music by entertaining and educating their audience while fostering the gamut of Jewish music and musicians. The 14th edition of the festival, held May 9-12, 2008, in the impressive Muziekgebouw aan't IJ, realized that goal. Present IJMF 2008 featured a children's program with computer-aided music composition, an art exhibit, a Jewish culture marketplace, workshops of Yiddish and Jewish gospel music, and a concert with the Grammy Award-winning Klezmatics. The most innovative element, however, was the creation of the first-ever International Jewish Music Competition. Reaching a larger and younger Jewish audience and providing a podium to undiscovered music and musicians, the competition was an unprecedented success. From the more than one hundred interested ensembles, 24 top-notch amateur & professional ensembles from 15 countries were screened and selected. They played music of virtually every imaginable genre, from classical and Klezmer to reggae, rap, and jazz, and all of it unmistakably Jewish. Attendance figures quadrupled to approximately 2,000. Ensembles received constructive and valuable reactions from both jury and audience, and seven ensembles were recognized with awards including significant cash prizes, concert tours and consideration for a professional recording contract with Universal Music. Since the competition, the careers of nearly all of the participating ensembles have made great strides. Three have been booked for concerts in the large hall of the Concertgebouw, considered by many to be the "Carnegie Hall of Europe". Others have garnered recording contracts and tours throughout Europe and the U.S. thanks to the exposure and contacts made during the competition of 2008. Future In October 2009, we invite six top ensembles from 2008's competition to give workshops and concerts. Add to that a collection of free events (an "open podium" for local talent, a cultural marketplace and a jam session) and we expect to host another unforgettable event. In 2010, the festival will feature the return of the International Jewish Music Competition, open to all genres, and once again, to performers of Jewish music, regardless of their own religious affiliation.  We already have interest from more than a hundred ensembles from around the world, so it promises once again to be an artistic success.   Ken Gould, director September 2009

Liner Notes: Konzept: Thomas Franke & Andrew Levine ℗ & © 2007-2010 by blumlein records Original music by Franz Schubert, texts by Wilhelm Müller. Partially rearranged by Nikolaos Titokis. 12baritone: Ulf Dirk Mädler, Christoph Hülsmann, Marco Bappert, Christian Palm, Nico Müller, Christopher Jung, Clemens Gnad, Thomas Franke, Lars Grünwoldt, Kai Florian Bischoff, Norman D. Patzke, Gero Bublitz. Piano: Newena Popow