![]() The merging of music with my state of mind didn’t happen because I was too sleepy. Although the music was equally pleasant, the psychological engagement didn’t quite mesh. When Saturday rolled around, I intended to recreate the experience with the second disc, “Buddha’s Party”. They are track 4, “Anni Rose” by Tulku–a multi-cultural fusion blend of pure World Music track 7, “La Soledad” by Pink Martini is a traditional, Argentinian tango performed by an acoustic combo with stunning male vocals sung in Spanish and track 12, “Guru Bramha” beautifully sung in Hindi by Jai Uttal.Īfter the 14th and final track, “Gypsy Rain” by Armen Chakmakian was finished, I felt totally revitalized and eager to carry on with the rest of my day. ![]() There are a few tracks that felt more thrilling than I remembered, too. I’d never felt this way about this album even though it had been played as background dozens of times over the past couple of decades. Each track was almost an out of body experience. I was compelled to maintain sharp focus on the sounds. The remainder of the listening time was spent with my mind fully engaged with the music in much the same manner I listen to intricate classical music. I was drawn into the Middle East–East Asian flavored feel of the second track. I became acutely aware of the piano, the guitar, the male voice, then the female voice. As the disc’s mix cross-faded to track 2, “Straight To The Heart” by Sina Vodjani, my consciousness entered a semi-meditative state. Although I’ve owned the boxed set since late 1999, I’ve only used it for its intended purpose–background music for other activities. There are a few vocal songs sprinkled in for variety throughout the various “Buddha-Bar” box sets.įriday morning’s playback of disc one morphed into a different, for me, listening experience of that disc. Most of the music on each of the discs is instrumental. This release included a DVD of nature and ocean footage directed by Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.I should mention that “Buddha-Bar” is the first boxed set of a subsequent series of releases with a similar theme of one disc filled with chill/lounge music by various artists and the other disc filled with more uptempo world music and neo-disco type music. The Buddha Bar has also released some original music for its albums, specifically the songs "Buddha Bar Nature" and "Buddha-Bar Ocean", composed and produced by Arno Elias, the composer of "Amor Amor" from Buddha Bar 2, and Amanaska. The series thereafter continued with different DJs, including DJ Ravin, Sam Popat, and David Visan (son of Buddha Bar founder Raymond Visan). Ĭhalle compiled and produced the first two Buddha Bar albums. Similarly to Café del Mar, Buddha Bar also released CD compilations featuring "lounge", "world" music, a successful enterprise that suggests the striking inequalities associated with the commodification of Third-World art: whereas cassette tapes of Pakistani singer Nusrat Ali Khan are sold in India for about US$1, the same songs remixed within a deluxe Buddha Bar CD are priced in the West at about US$50. Another commentator wrote:Ĭhalle quit his partnership in 1993 and returned to Paris where he subsequently opened the internationally acclaimed Buddha Bar. ![]() On a more critical note, the Oxford Handbook of Music Revival describes the music of the Buddha Bar collection as "close to muzak-like mixtures with neither recognizable original components nor clearly identifiable new structures". ![]() In 2001, a Billboard Magazine critic placed the compilation in his "top ten" musical events of the year, stating of proprietor Claude Challe that "he legendary master of pop and dance music in France has aroused the attention of the global chill-out community with this series of mixed compilations", and concluding that "Buddha Bar is not only a good restaurant in France but also one of the best music experiments to come out of France in the past few years".
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