Spirit Dreams

For “music night” this evening at The Wild Reed I share a track from Spirit Dreams, a rather mysterious CD I found this past Friday in the Australia/South Pacific section at the Cheapo Discs store in Blaine, MN.

I say “mysterious” because there is no artist identified on either the front or back of the CD, and no year of release noted in the liner notes or on the disc itself.

Of course, none of this stopped me from purchasing it. I guess I just found it intriguing, and as something that connected me to my “bone country” (always on the lookout for that!) . . . Plus it was only $5.00.

Subtitled “a soundscape of unsurpassed beauty,” Spirit Dance, I discovered after an Internet search, is a 1999 release by the Indigenous Australia label, founded by Gene Pierson.

The album features Ash Dargan (right) of the Larrikia tribe or “Saltwater People” of the Northern Territory, who provides vocals, didjeridu, wooden flutes and percussion.

Pierson and Mark Doyle are the composers of the album’s haunting music, which is reminiscent of the ambient backing provided by Claus Zundel on the 1994 release, Sacred Spirit: Chants and Dances of the Native Americans and its follow-up, Sacred Spirit II.

Following is Spirit Dreams’ third track, “Ancient Legends (Rawal Woggheegui).” It’s music that, as one reviewer notes of the entire album, is a “sound experience that empowers the listener to harmonize with the natural world and the spirits that dwell there.” Enjoy!





NOTE: To hear all four tracks of Spirit Dreams (each around 12 minutes in duration), click here.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Celebrating Mabo
• Recognising and Honoring Australia's First Naturalists
• Jojo Zaho: “Let Your Faboriginality Shine Through”
• Australian Sojourn – April-May 2019: On Sacred Ground
• Australian Sojourn – Winter 2017: Return to Guruk
• Prayer of the Week – November 14, 2012

Musicians previously spotlighted at The Wild Reed:
Dusty Springfield | David Bowie | Kate Bush | Maxwell | Buffy Sainte-Marie | Prince | Frank Ocean | Maria Callas | Loreena McKennitt | Rosanne Cash | Petula Clark | Wendy Matthews | Darren Hayes | Jenny Morris | Gil Scott-Heron | Shirley Bassey | Rufus Wainwright | Kiki Dee | Suede | Marianne Faithfull | Dionne Warwick | Seal | Sam Sparro | Wanda Jackson | Engelbert Humperdinck | Pink Floyd | Carl Anderson | The Church | Enrique Iglesias | Yvonne Elliman | Lenny Kravitz | Helen Reddy | Stephen Gately | Judith Durham | Nat King Cole | Emmylou Harris | Bobbie Gentry | Russell Elliot | BØRNS | Hozier | Enigma | Moby (featuring the Banks Brothers) | Cat Stevens | Chrissy Amphlett | Jon Stevens | Nada Surf | Tom Goss (featuring Matt Alber) | Autoheart | Scissor Sisters | Mavis Staples | Claude Chalhoub | Cass Elliot | Duffy | The Cruel Sea | Wall of Voodoo | Loretta Lynn and Jack White | Foo Fighters | 1927 | Kate Ceberano | Tee Set | Joan Baez | Wet, Wet, Wet | Stephen “Tin Tin” Duffy | Fleetwood Mac | Jane Clifton | Australian Crawl | Pet Shop Boys | Marty Rhone | Josef Salvat | Kiki Dee and Carmelo Luggeri | Aquilo | The Breeders | Tony Enos | Tupac Shakur | Nakhane Touré | Al Green | Donald Glover/Childish Gambino | Josh Garrels | Stromae | Damiyr Shuford | Vaudou Game | Yotha Yindi and The Treaty Project | Lil Nas X | Daby Touré | Sheku Kanneh-Mason | Susan Boyle | D’Angelo | Little Richard | Black Pumas | Mbemba Diebaté | Judie Tzuke | Seckou Keita | Rahsaan Patterson | Black