I went and looked around your site and enjoyed your beautiful music... flute of the soul gave me tears. You have a big heart, complex heart, and you are generous. I see why you see your music should be free for the world to enjoy... You are absolutely amazing! - Thienna
Feedback & Reviews for Lazy Lizard
- Thank you for the music! It is a joy to listen to it. - Javier B.
- I can't get enough of this CD; I play it over and over again enjoying this playful and delightful CD. - Ama K.
Reviews for Osmose
Published in Tandem and Corriere Canadese newspapers Sept 21st, 2008
Organic and electronic sound are blended magically on the second of Ariel Kalma’s rediscovered vinyl releases from the 1970’s. This French saxophonist was to become fascinated with World music, but not before collaborating with musique concrete composer Richard Tinti’s tapes from that most dense of soundscapes, the tropical rainforest.
Released in a small edition in 1977, “Osmose”’s use of analogue synths and organ make it a cousin of the pastoral “kosmiche” of Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh. And where the cosmic ambience of the pagan electronic symphonies of TD became associated with the vastness of space, Kalma’s minimal and meditative musical lines keep us grounded on the earth with a unique focus to the jungle’s chaotic chatter of bird song and insect drone.
Coming from the jazz world Kalma’s choices of acoustic textures were also important, as he brought echoes of Paul Horn in the Great Pyramid with the lead flute on “Forest Ballad 77,” and displayed his burgeoning interest in Indian modes with the alto sax on “Saxo Forest.” Thanks to this cd reissue a lost classic can be more widely appreciated.
From http://www.newagereporter.com/recording/viewreviews.asp?rvwbrdcmmt=233
Osmose (Rerelease) by Ariel Kalma 
- posted by Lyn McN. on 2/6/2006 
Programmer/host 
"Fantastic to have this one re-released! It was wonderful years ago, and has been unavailable for some time. It holds up very well, and is great to listen to, especially in the endlessly rainly Pacific Northwest!"
Rating: Excellent
From Doug Cole, M.A, General Manager, FM-91.3 (KOCV) Odessa, TX
"Osmose deserves #1 in my opinion… I ticked or approved every single track on it as suitable for airplay on my show (which is a totally selfish and subjective practice). I get maybe one or two CD's / yr. where I like all the tracks… it will probably be my #1 for next month too!"
Aquarius Records,New Arrivals #237,14 April 2006 http://aquariusrecords.org
"Record Of The Week is Osmose by one Ariel Kalma. An amazing Krautrock / nature hybrid. Warm washes of synthesizer, tribal war drums and drones galore all mixed with the sounds of the rainforest, crickets, frogs, even flies. So weird and wonderful."
Record of the Week:
KALMA, ARIEL - Osmose
There's something truly magical about music in nature. And we don't mean the music we find in nature, although more often than not, that natural music is far more interesting and beautiful then anything we humans can conjure up. No, we're talking about playing music -with- nature, -in-nature. The act of collaborating with something so big, so grand, so overwhelmingly complex, that sometimes just the mere act of creating sounds away from the studio or stage, just being outside in nature with your music, can seem truly divine. And as listeners, there is something thrilling about man and nature working together to make music. From the primitive forest black metal blast of Ulver recording Nattens Madrigal in the Norwegian woods, to the Jewelled Antler collective communing with nature, allowing wind and rain and sticks and stones to play as important a part in their music as they themselves, to the rain soaked ritual of Koukiji Kougezan's Live [11th] Final Hyakusenmansyuuraku, a near ambient performance for flute and sitar, with the falling rain, and thus nature, the focal point of the ritual / performance. So lovely, and vital, the music seems so much more whole, so much more alive, all intertwined with the elements.
Osmose was originally released in 1978 and found minimalist composer Ariel Kalma using all manner of keyboards, saxophone, harmonium, delays, effects, even circular breathing, to compose gorgeously minimal, softly spacey slow drifting ambient soundscapes, which were then mixed with the sounds of the rainforest (recorded by Richard Tinti). But unlike new age meditational music, this wasn't just music layered on top of random bits of field recordings, Kalma actually composed and mixed, edited and arranged his compositions to work with and within the sounds of the rainforest. Abstract melodies and warm chordal swirls, simple tribal war drums, perfectly blended with the calls of crickets and frogs and cicadas, the falling rain, birdsongs, flies, and all the sounds of the jungle forest. It sounds almost as if, while walking through the forest, you'd be just as likely to stumble across a bunch of analog synthesizers basking in a sunny glade or a wheezing harmonium perched in low hanging branches as you would frogs gathered by the edge of the stream. Sounds strange, but that's how interconnected the natural sounds are with Kalma's compositions. The distant animal calls sometimes form primitive loops, while Kalma paints them with warm soft smears of sound, extended drones and dreamy drifty ambience. Simple rhythms repeat while the sounds of the forest drift lazily by, everything sun dappled or rain soaked, It's almost like a pop ambient record recorded deep in the forest primeval. Or stumbling upon some ancient burial ground and discovering traces of some long gone krautrock jam, which over time had somehow sunk deep into the earth, or floated off into the sky, leaving nothing but memories, a handful of bones, sonic echoes of its former self. Sounds like ghosts, drifting like spirits through the leaves of the trees, floating weightless above the wet leaves and rich soil. Warm and fuzzy, dreamy and blissed out, so completely lovely and quite possibly our new favorite record to drift off to...
Includes three bonus tracks recorded at the same time as the original lp, but unreleased until now, as well as a booklet of liner notes detailing the lives of both Ariel Kalma and Richard Tinti, as well as the genesis of Osmose.
From DREAM MAGAZINE - publication: www.dreamgeo.com - DREAM MAGAZINE #7: “ARIEL KALMA "OSMOSE"
" THIS WONDERFUL NINE TRACK LISTENING EXPERIENCE WAS FIRST RELEASED IN 1978. IT SHOWCASES FRENCH COMPOSER ARIEL KALMA EMPLOYING A VARIETY OF INSTRUMENTS, TECHNIQUES, AND VOCALIZATIONS IN SUBTLE AND SEAMLESS ACCOMPANIMENT TO FIELD RECORDINGS OF THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA RAINFOREST MADE BY RICHARD TINTI. KALMA'S MUSIC NEVER OVERSHADOWS THE AMBIENT SOUNDS; RATHER IT SEEMS TO BLEND WITH, AND COMPLIMENT THEM. THIS ALSO HAS A LOVELY, ALMOST HOLY, OR SACRED VIBE. A CATHEDRAL OF DRONING SUSTAINED AND OVERLAPPING NOTES; SOMETIMES LIKE SITTING OUTSIDE A CHURCH AS THE OVERHEARD ORGAN MERGES WITH THE SOUNDS AND SONGS OF THE MANY VARIED INSECTS AND BIRDS. IT WOULDN'T BE MISLEADING TO COMPARE SOME OF THIS TO POPOL VUH, OR THE MORE SEDATE END OF THE TANGERINE DREAM SPECTRUM."
(((XM))) SATELLITE RADIO station: HTTP://WWW.XMRADIO.COM
“WE HAVE ADDED CUTS 3, 4 & 9 FROM OSMOSE BY ARIEL KALMA TO OUR REGULAR ROTATION!
From http://www.fishcomcollective.net review written by Upchuck Undergrind:
Massive ambience is yours, a trip to the ethereal ambrosial euphoria of heavenly space, aural pleasure elongated to infinity, unmeasurable pleasantry for your ear canals ... Ariel Kalma uses a variety of instruments to create beautiful, lush and spacey music that sometimes doesn't readily reveal the original instrumentation. It's notable that at least one track was used for a planetarium type event as all the music here seems perfectly fit for such consumption. Verily, this is a soundtrack for sci-fi utopia, the laser-gunless version of ascent into infinite space perfection ...
From Chain D.L.K. - Music Reviews, June 28, 2006
Hailing from the realm of Tangerine Dream is this pleasant collection of original synth music paired with nature sounds, from French ambient pioneer Ariel Kalma. In 1977, the year of its original release, the recording was sophisticated enough in both concept and execution not to be at all your typical space-trip. The music on each track is blended with rain forest sounds from Borneo brought back to Paris by composer/recordist Richard Tinti and layered in tastefully, if not artfully. On certain of the tracks different instruments are featured, such as soprano saxophone (track number one, "Saxo Planetariel"); harmonium (number three, "Planet-Air"); flute (played modally through "Forest' Ballad"); and guitar and organ (the also-remarkably-titled "Orguitar Soir"). Kalma himself claims to have employed a "circular breathing" technique whilst recording his wind instruments, a physiological twin to the classic technique of tape-looping, which is also featured in spades. The overall effect is eerily terrestrial and space-age at the same time. This can take you back to a blissful, pre-digital era just before the 1980s -- when the Yamaha DX7 took over all synthesized sound, and the terms "New Age" and "Rain Forest" came to mean phony crystal magic and overblown, insincere environmental causes. (And by the way, don't let that soprano sax scare you away -- this is a safe distance from Kenny G territory, so indulge yourself without worry.)
Review by: Perry Bathous [ bathosman {at} hotmail {dot} com ]
From Outer Space Gamelan - 10.25.2006
If I could, I'd like to talk a bit about a record that blows everything else today out of the water even if it was originally released in 1978. Since its original release on 2xLP, "Osmose" has been eternally out of print and unavailable until this year when the good peoples at Beta-Lactam Ring took it upon themselves to get a reissue going. Thank god they did. This music is just too great to not be heard and appreciated. The story behind "Osmose" is that in 1977 a visual artist named Richard Tinti set out for the Borneo rainforest equipped with a Nagra recorder, a pair of microphones and a camera, and spent many hours documenting the sounds within. So lots of insect noises, some birds, war drums (!), other animal-generated sounds, but mostly that kind of almost subliminal vibe that such a place emanates. More on that later.
Later that year Tinti hooked up with musician/composer/artist Ariel Kalma and Kalma, using Tinti's recordings as the foundations, proceeded to create incredible works of cosmic ambience using saxophone, synthesizers, keyboards, flute, drum machines, harmonium, guitar, vocals and multiple effect/pitch filters. Heavy? No foolin' - "Osmose" is subtitled "space music in the rainforest - a breath of fresh air".
As the Beta-Lactam Ring website states, Kalma's creations don't just rely on the rainforest's drones to provide a backdrop - they're actively integrated into the sounds being produced and Kalma is careful to consider the pitch and tone of Tinti's original recordings before adding his own. Which is probably why the lush blast of warm harmonium drones on "Planet-Air" are a match made in heaven when combined with the call-and-response chirping of the birds, who sound like they may just as well be sitting atop the harmonium. Ditto for the swirling psychedelic opener "Saxo Planetariel" wherein Kalma uses circular breathing to draw out a heavenly, organic sound from his saxophone. It paints a strikingly vivid portrait of the rainforest at night, the kind that compels you to curl up right there on the dirt floor for 50 or 60 years.
Some of the tracks on "Osmose" have a lot in common with the early space/kraut investigations of bands like Tangerine Dream, Guru Guru and Cluster, but very much relieved of their "rock" elements. What you're left with is a pure and sweet gloss that sticks in your nostrils and pollutes your mind in the kindest kind of ways. Most notable of these is "Manege" which features a loping keyboard rhythm in duet with "frogs, fireflies, and all kinds of night creatures", as the liner notes say, and "Gongmo" which was originally created for a 1973 slide show named "Voyage au Centre de la Tete" so you know it's turned on. Best of these cuts has to be "Forest Ballad" which is described so well in the liners that I could never top it so I'll just reproduce it: "a silver flute echoes ever changing, harmonic waves of flanged keyboards and tuned reverbs amongst the trees of the rainforest, and as the sun gets hotter, morning birds and insect alike revel in a crescendo of sounds". A-fucking-men. The morning birds, the insects, and me.
That sums up the tracks from the original issue but this re-release includes three bonus tracks, recorded at the same time as the others but completely unreleased until now. "Osmose Chant" is exactly what the name foretells it to be, and although Kalma's vocals aren't as striking as the man himself, the piece does a pretty great job of conjuring up visions of Prandit Pran Nath working on the morning raga in the heart of the forest. "Saxo Forest" is a bit of a companion piece to the first track but features no effects or synths that I can pick up...just the terrestrial ambience and Kalma's thoughtful huffing on the sax. You know how Kaoru Abe used to practice by the roadside until he could hear himself over the oncoming traffic? Exact opposite, baby. "Orguitar Soir" is the best possible closing track for the effort: "a sweet guitar and flanged keyboard (tuned in a Morrocan G' nawa music style) lounge in a summer glade, intermittently pierced by birdsong". If that doesn't make you want to strip off all your closes and live free, well nothing else ever recorded will.
The only critique I could possibly come up with in regards to "Osmose" is that it's got a pretty fierce "New Age" feel to it which could turn off some people/squares. But maybe if all New Age music was like this it wouldn't be such a maligned pseudo-genre. And if you've already had your run-ins with Hermann Nitsch, Charlemagne Palestine, Pran Nath, Akio Suzuki, Toru Takemitsu et al, then you've probably already wondered about the potential New Ageyness of it all already. Nevertheless. "Osmose" is all the relaxation you'll ever need compressed into just under an hour's time. The perfect album to sleep by, or do anything lazily by really. But it's such a beautiful, subtle, well-crafted album you'll be revisiting it over and over and over and soaking in it like hot bathwater. And best of all, now you don't have to pay $175+ for it either!
From www.chaindlk.com/reviews
Hailing from the realm of Tangerine Dream is this pleasant collection of original synth music paired with nature sounds, from French ambient pioneer Ariel Kalma . In 1977, the year of its original release, the recording was sophisticated enough in both concept and execution not to be at all your typical space-trip. The music on each track is blended with rain forest sounds from Borneo brought back to Paris by composer/recordist Richard Tinti and layered in tastefully, if not artfully. On certain of the tracks different instruments are featured, such as soprano saxophone (track number one, "Saxo Planetariel"); harmonium (number three, "Planet-Air"); flute (played modally through "Forest' Ballad"); and guitar and organ (the also-remarkably-titled "Orguitar Soir"). Kalma himself claims to have employed a "circular breathing" technique whilst recording his wind instruments, a physiological twin to the classic technique of tape-looping, which is also featured in spades. The overall effect is eerily terrestrial and space-age at the same time. This can take you back to a blissful, pre-digital era just before the 1980s -- when the Yamaha DX7 took over all synthesized sound, and the terms "New Age" and "Rain Forest" came to mean phony crystal magic and overblown, insincere environmental causes. (And by the way, don't let that soprano sax scare you away -- this is a safe distance from Kenny G territory, so indulge yourself without worry.)
From Roberto Valdes 'A Ultima Fronteira' radio show (Spain)
Ariel Kalma es un músico nacido en Francia que conozco a través de los fabulosos recopilatorios que publica desde Australia a través de su sello Music Mosaic , pero desconocía su faceta anterior.
"Osmose" es un trabajo publicado originalmente en 1977, el cual se reeditó en 2006 con tres temas extras. Está editado en un precioso digipack y con el cd en un bolsa imitando la publicación de un LP, una forma muy bonita de recordar al clásico vinilo.
Este trabajo es toda una sorpresa musical, un disco donde Ariel Kalma mezcla los sonidos de los teclados analógicos, guitarras, etc con los sonidos del bosque, los cantos de los pájaros, el ruido de las ramas que se mueven con el viento, el fluir del agua... Música ambiental con los sonidos de la naturaleza, un trabajo de experimentación electrónica que nos hace recordar en su parte más ambient o minimalista a Brian Eno o en su parte más psicodélica a los primeros Tangerine Dream.
La naturaleza siempre ha sido fuente de inspiración para los músicos y sus sonidos el reclamo para obras de corte ambiental donde se fusionan con la electrónica e instrumentos acústicos para que podamos imaginar un mundo libre de todo ruído, un mundo donde la naturaleza nos rodea, un mundo donde soñemos que somos libres...
From 'Flagrant' on iTunes:
This record 'Osmose' from 1978 is the spectral blend of organic + cosmical instrumental drones, chanting and field recordings taken in the jungles of Borneo. To listen to this is to not know where the jungle ends and the cosmos begins, much like the ocean planet in Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris. I am reminded
of this vision throughout the recording. What is most striking to me is the organisational quality. There is always a focused consistancy. The sounds never meander aimlessly despite some of the cosmological textures. Top notch trance out recording.
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Reviews of Le Temps des Moissons
by side-line.com
posted on November 20, 2008
“Le Temps Des Moissons” was first released in 1975 after Ariel Kalma visited India to study modal singing and music. Now remastered and re-released by Beta-Lactam Ring Records, the album features two additional unreleased tracks recorded during the same sessions.
The original vinyl release of “Le Temps Des Moissons” was one of the first to feature a locked groove at the end of side two, something that is replicated here in the form of several minutes of looped music. Kalma’s music is a fusion of ancient and modern styles combining saxophone, ethnic instruments, effects, electric instruments and electronic filters. Often giving the impression that it was created and improvised as it was recorded, ““Le Temps des Moissons” has a loose free form structure that gives it a sense of freedom and natural unplanned feel as illustrated with “Bakafrica”. “Voyage Reternelle” is somewhat more structured; a discrete drone is placed over layered saxophones with a vintage drum machine providing a simple rhythm. The almost 17 minute title track reflects his Indian influences of the time while “Fast Road To Nowhere” has a distinct ethnic sound, although not Indian, featuring mouth harp, flute and chanting that conjures images of Aboriginal tribes although it is based on a Middle Eastern melody. Closing the album as it began is the almost 17 minute “Reternelle”; a hypnotic track featuring an undulating looped drone and a pair of saxophones echoing each other.
Kalma experiments with electronic equipment, fusing the old with the new and focusing his experiments around the saxophone. For an album released some 33 years ago, “Le Temps des Moissons” is at times a completely absorbing creation that takes traditional instruments and does something fascinating with them. The saxophone content will not be to everyone’s taste but it must have been way ahead of its time when it came out and still holds a captivating sense of experimentation to this day.
by Ryan Sparks on Sea of Tranquility:
Born and raised in Paris, France Ariel Kalma began his musical journey at a young age when he first discovered the recorder and the saxophone. After traveling extensively and playing in numerous bands he found himself in India in the mid 70's studying the finer techniques of modal music and circular breathing which were taught to him by a snake charmer. He has released eleven records over the course of his career which has spanned over thirty years, and now a long overdue reissue of his first album Le Temps Des Moissons, recorded in 1975 just might give him the recognition he so rightly deserves.
This fantastic collection of music, dubbed as electronica ragas of the 70's features a veritable plethora of Kalma's powerful and at times raw sounding saxophone work. With the steady drones of a harmonium providing a static anchor, Ariel weaves his treated sax lines in and out, back and forth, adding copious amounts of delay and at times what sounds like a wah-wah effect to achieve a hypnotic, trance like feeling. This remaster not only shimmers sonically but it also features two tracks originally recorded around the same time period that were not included on the original LP.
The disc begins with the title track which is an epic sixteen minute aural journey that is based around an endless amount of inventive, sharp sounding, and heavily delayed sax which gives the listener the impression they are listening to one long, ripple effect. This track is absolutely mesmerizing. "Backafrica" is up next with its loose sounding African percussion and heaping amounts of afro-funk. This song is surely one Miles Davis would have loved to have counted amongst his arsenal on his early 70's forays into funk and Indian music, such as On The Corner in 1972. "Voyage Reternelle" and the final track "Reternelle" sound like they were culled from the same source. These two compositions find Ariel 'returning' to the main hypnotic, trance inducing themes first introduced on the title track, via his extensive use of delay. "Fast Road To Nowhere" is a short, relaxing composition that utilizes only the meditative sounds of a mouth harp and flute to construct the gentle melodies.
Before getting this disc I have to admit that I had never had the pleasure of being exposed to this man's immense musical talent. I have played Le Temps Des Moissons repeatedly over the past few months and each time I listened to it I swear I heard something that I had missed previously. Music doesn't get much better than that, when each time you return to it, it has the ability to offer you a fresh new perspective. Some thirty years after it was originally recorded Le Temps Des Moissons still sounds remarkably fresh and dare I say even cutting edge .
Track Listing
1) Le Temps Des Moissons
2) Bakafrica
3) Voyage Reternelle
4) Fast Road To Nowhere
5) Reternelle
Added: November 6th 2008
Reviewer: Ryan Sparks
Score: 
'Flagrant' on iTunes:
Le Temps des moissons, Ariel Kalma's first record alternates from cyclical saxophone drone piece to an improvised delayed out pshych forest jam and concludes with a more ambient composed tape contruction + 2 additional tracks that were not on the vinyl release. The third piece is I think where it comes together. The delayed out saxophones weave in and out over a drone, then an organ machine rhythm kicks in half way through giving it a mysterious spectral groove quality. On the original vinyl the last track ended in a lock grove that would play on indefinitely which is the perfect conclusion. Some of the lock groove was left on the CD to simulate the effect.
Charles Van de Kree , Aural Innovations #40 (September 2008)
Prophets, as the old cliché goes, are never accepted in their own country. Such a remark aptly describes the scant but seminal recorded output of France's Ariel Kalma who's labored in comparative obscurity for over thirty years now. But to the initiated he's a genuine, albeit unacknowledged, innovator, a harbinger of a kind of space age tribal sound long before Eno and Byrne had ever dreamed of the exotic possibilities that made My Life in the Bush of Ghosts a trendy avant-garde curio back in 1981.
His two 70's albums (1978's Osmose followed Le temps) are stunning evocations of a music that knows no cultural-indeed no terrestrial-boundaries. Like Jon Hassell, whose Vernal Equinox (1977) Le temps resembles in many ways, Kalma transmutes a more or less traditional musical instrument into something rich and strange. His heavily effected sax squeaks, squawks, wails and whines with all the spiritual intensity of a Native American shaman howling at the summer moon from the peak of a ghostly mesa.
Perhaps now with this much overdue reissue of his first album, Kalma will start to receive some belated recognition as a progenitor of a form of music that today passes for everything from New Age to ambient to jungle to trance. Kalma himself certainly has his influences. The lengthy title track is unquestionably indebted to Terry Riley's late 60's experiments with tape delay and harmonic repetition. Here Kalma's sax warps back in on itself, creating spectral copies that echo into infinity. The steady drone of Kalma's harmonium provides the perfect static accompaniment for his spiraling sax inventions. The overall effect is akin to some futuristic raga being played out in the steaming marshes of a mythic Venusian rain forest.
The more overtly joyous "Bakafrica" still sounds remarkably fresh and vital today but for 1975, it was both revelatory and revolutionary. An intoxicating mixture of African percussion, snaky Afro-beat guitar and Kalma's way out wah-wah sax, "Bakafrica" ushers in tribal fusion five years ahead of schedule. "Reternelle" returns the listener to the incantatory trance involutions of the title track, utilizing much of the same sound architecture (sax, tape delays, harmonium and various electronic filters) to achieve a sublime, flowing arabesque of riotous beauty-the tonal equivalent of being immersed in an ocean of quicksilver.
As with Peter Michael Hamel's amazing 70's ensemble Between, the music of Ariel Kalma is both eclectic and cathartic, drawing on the sounds of the whole earth to forge a pan-global musical consciousness that dissolves and ultimately transcends all distinctions of genre.
Robert Carlberg (Seattle) in Amazon.com:
The CD version of this release is credited to Ariel Kalma alone, rather than Ariel Kalma/Richard Tinti as in the original double LP, because the second disc of that set is not included here. That's a shame because Richard Tinti's field recordings of the Borneo jungle in 1977 remain some of the best unspoiled jungle recordings ever taken.
But the first LP disc, reissued here on CD for the first time (with 3 bonus tracks) where Kalma improvises on saxes, flute, tape loops, organ and harmonium over a backdrop of Tinti's jungle recordings, is still pretty wonderful. It's like Jon Hassell or Urban Sax in its ability to transport you to a different time & place.
Clint Listing on Heathen Harvest :
A Release from 1975 reissues from an experimental artist in a time when music like this was very experimental and almost no one would take an adventurous listen in the world over ultra avant jazz and ambient sounds. From what I am learning on Ariel Kalma he is a French born horn player and after a journey to India this release was created. You can very much hear the eastern influences going on in the horn's progression and they way that Le Temps des Moissons is layered. This must has been something John Zorn was draw to and if not I hope he will listen now an see a great work 30 yrs ago. There is a very psychedelic element to this as a whole . I really like the way the simple eastern percussion adds to the musical experience as a whole. Beta lactum Ring has really found a true gem here.
Le Temps des Moissons is not something that everyone will like. I would call this more an aural tapestry then musical release as there are very non musicial moments with Ariel Kalma. I think Mr Kalma much like Coltrane, Mingus and Bird got odd looks for there stretch of what Jazz was is very much what was going on in 1975 on the avantgarde music from for Ariel Kalma.Being that this was his 1st solo release it makes it all the more special to the listener , well to this listener anyway. As you can feel the personal connection to what Ariel Kalma is creating here.
Le Temps des Moissons is expertly displayed in a very thick hardcover book binding like digipak . Limited to just 500 copies so it's sure to go rather fast. All i know is with Le Temps des Moissons . I Now need to hear more of Ariel Kalma as this is only the begining of his 30 yr journey into aural magic. An with this taste you'll be hooked I'm sure as much as I've become if you just close your eye's open your mind a bit and see how much is really going on here. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Ok I think I've made my point load and clear.
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Reviews for Chillout India
Ryan Sparks - 31 May 2009 - 4 stars
I have to admit right off the bat that usually anything, especially when it comes to music, if the words 'chillout' are involved, then I can pretty much guarantee that I won't spend a lot of time listening to it , let alone liking it. Now I know it sounds like a cliché to suggest that you shouldn't judge the proverbial book by its cover, but I realized this is in fact what I was doing with Ariel Kalma's latest release Chillout India. Maybe it was because that when I first discovered Kalma it was through his ground breaking electronic ragas of their early 70's on the brilliant recent re-issue of Le Temps Des Moissons, that I could not bear to think he was venturing off into chillout, ambient territory. However, Kalma is someone who has long been known for fusing various different styles and cultures of the world into his own unique musical mosaic for over forty years, so I have to further admit that I was both frustrated and confused as to why my reluctance and trepidation to delve into this album was basically hindered by my own impractical, preconceived notions of what basically amounted to nothing more than a word.
Without getting into further analysis of my own insecurities, by the time the first track "Hindinasia" was halfway through all of my thoughts were out the window, as I continued to listen somewhat embarrassed with myself. As the beautiful, mellow sounds of a bamboo flute and equally as soothing electronic tribal beats lightly caressed my brain, Indian vocalist Siddhant Bhatia entered the mix to give this engaging composition it's distinctly Eastern feel. Chillout India is billed as Eastern moods on ambient grooves and Ariel in addition to providing grooves and programming effects, also displays the considerable skills that he's world renowned for on flute and saxophone on tracks such as "Deva Dancing" and "Sarega Sax". The nine minute track "Hardi Ari" is opulently layered in such a way, that along with the steady, understated hypnotic grooves, it creates nothing less than the ultimate, relaxed listening atmosphere.
Chillout India is further proof that Ariel Kalma's inimitable vision of seamlessly blending the diverse cultures of the world can indeed bring the citizens of this planet a little closer together through music. It might also help tear down the odd preconceived notion as well.
Published in Tandem and Corriere Canadese newspapers Sept 21st, 2008
From the “it’s a small world after all” department comes a package from Australia by a musician who’s rediscovered music from the ‘70’s I reviewed in June. Back in the day Kalma was a sax player in the French jazz and art-rock scene that got into World music and traveled the globe (including a tour of Quebec in the ‘80's as music director for the famous Margot Anand’s Tantra seminars). Now Kalma lives in Australia and produces music in the company of musicians from India and Indonesia.
His Music Mosaic label publishes cds that are packaged for the New Age wing of the chill-out scene, but “Chillout India” has more in common with the World fusionist excursions of people like Bill Laswell and Talvin Singh. Midtempo rhythms from electric bass, hand drum and tablas create a flowing groove as male Indian vocals or flutes weave introspective melodies over spacious synth backgrounds.
The vibe is not entirely ‘ambient’ either, as double tracked vocal harmonies or Kalma’s jazzy sax solos foreground more impassioned feelings. “Sarega Sax” moves the sound west from India to the Middle East, as Kalma becomes an Arabic Manu Dibango in tandem with snake-y synth lines.
Visit Music-Mosaic.com for sound clips and mail order info, as well as discovering more of Ariel Kalma’s wonderful catalogue of music for didgeridoo and tribal drums.
From Paul Headon
Emanations/ Sirius FM Music, Australia
This is the latest offering from Music Mosaic, one of the leading labels specializing in the Ambient/World/Chillout music scene. Ariel Kalma is the prominent musician holding all of this together and is ably supported by some of his friends, including Bhakta, Stefen Be and Efen Jaenudin, however the one that really stands out is Siddhant Bhatia. His singing is so hypnotic and reminds me of the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
This record is of a very high standard on so many levels.Ariel’s woodwind and production skills are of a musician who KNOWS his art and loves it!! The overall production is beautifully crafted, the grooves are very good without repetition rearing it’s ugly head and the finished product, helped by mastering maestro Kamal M. Engels is right on the mark!
All the tracks are good – no weak links on this chain!!
My favorites are “Deva Dancing”, “Chillout India” and the beautiful “Hardi Ari”. I cannot get sick of this track!!
Like all music of substance one has to listen a number of times before you “get it”. “Chillout India” fits this attention level…. and then some!
I have no problems in recommending this record to anyone even remotely interested in this beautiful genre.
Reviewed in Music Design - In Review
MUSIC MOSAIC COLLECTION
Category: World Beat
Music Mosaic is known for their compilations, which usually mix together tribal influences and beats with electronica. CHILLOUT INDIA turns the focus away from the 'various artists' format in favor of an album completely put together by producer Ariel Kalma. The style of the music will be familiar to fans of the label's releases - it is a funky energized blend of trippy beats, synth moods, some Asian-oriented instrumentation, wordless vocals and sax. As the name implies, the general essence of chill-out music, creating a vibe that is trendy and perfect for creatign a colorful, Indian-oriented atmosphere. Includes guest appearances from Bhakta, Siddhant Bhatia, Nanda and others.
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Reviews for Spirit Dancer
By Ryan Sparks - seaoftranquility.org
For nearly four decades French multi-instrumentalist Ariel Kalma has been pursuing his mission of melting the borders and boundaries between existing musical genres. He has achieved this primarily by merging world music with something that he calls 'space music' which incorporates elements of hypnosis and trance. His travels have taken him all over the world and together with his wife Ama, with whom he began his own label Music Mosaic many years ago, his aim has been to bring the world's diverse cultures a little closer together through music that promotes peace and unity.
Originally released in 2006 Spirit Dancer is a great starting point to get introduced to the boundless talents of this incredible artist. While Kalma's fantastic earlier recordings of the mid to late 70's are considered to be more ambient and avant-garde sounding works, his more recent albums such as Spirit Dancer and last year's Chillout India have found him concentrating on exploring the unlimited power and potential of said 'space music'.
Spirit Dancer features eleven majestic and mysterious sounding compositions which utilize the unique sounding percussive instruments such as log drums and dumbeck to propel these hypnotic and tribal sounding beats. In addition Kalma employs the sounds of a didgeridoo, an aboriginal wind instrument from Northern Australia on "Didgeridoo Groove". He naturally blends the deep, rich sounds of that instrument with his funky, saxwhaphone (saxophone with a wah-wah pedal) and atmospheric synth washes. "Fire Drums" invokes the Indian fire goddess Agni via an array of swift, multi-layered percussion and the odd frantic sax flourish, while "Tribal Trance Dance" with its native chanting, electronic beats and delicate flute make for an infectious combination to say the least. "Rhythm and Soul" has a great mellow, laid back vibe flowing through it and the mood is established quickly through it's supreme, relaxing percussive arrangement and dreamy synth textures. Perhaps no track on Spirit Dancer sums up this whole rich and magical experience better than the track "Ano Tao Inan". The story goes that when Ariel was recording this track in Hawaii he was trying to capture the American Indian spirit with a friend of his who is half Cheyenne. He was visited at his door one day by a Cree Indian whom he had never met . This individual heard their backing track and then recited an invocation in both his native language and English to accompany Kalma's drum tracks and the rest as they say is history.
I don't know how you'd even begin to classify or describe Ariel Kalma's inimitable musical vision amidst today's convoluted genre obsessed industry. All I can say is simply that Kalma's music makes me feel good and takes me away to a different place every time I hear it. Sometimes the destination is distinctly familiar while other times it's not. However, half of the joy and excitement of going along for the ride with Kalma is having no preconceived notions of where the music will take you or where it will end up. If you've never heard Ariel Kalma's music before you can start here with the brilliant Spirit Dancer or weave your way back to the beginning. Either way you can't go wrong because regardless of your choice you'll discover that endless hours of engaging and enriching music await you in the end.
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