2000
YEARS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS
"2000
Years in the Footsteps of Jesus, despite what the
title may sound like, doesn't have religious overtones. It
is instead a musical evocation of Jerusalem and its
heritage. Anstey's project was ambitious: fusing together
traditional Middle-Eastern music and instruments,
Christian sacred music and modern electronic instruments.
The result is a convincing form of ethnic fusion, well
balanced between New Age synthetic soundscapes and ethnic
music samples. But Anstey does it with good taste and a
keen sense of atmosphere. In addition to keyboards, he
also plays saz, oud and tambur. He is joined on a few
tracks by Adam Szydel on bass flute and Michal Müller on
zither. The Plains of Medigo and Bethlehem
Nights provide the highlights of the album, at times
evoking Peter Gabriel's luxurious (and influential)
Passion. In a few other places the music becomes
one-dimensional, as if it was only an illustrative
counterpoint to a documentary. But in general 2000
Years... stays an engaging album." François Couture
-All
Music Guide
AMG Rating |
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Instrumental musical impressions of the middle eastern landscapes,
and ambiences from the marketplaces and oriental bazaars,
to the resonant beauty of big cathedral acoustics.
These original
compositions of Richard Anstey contain a unique blend of
ethnic middle eastern instruments played authentically by
oriental musicians in a modern fusion with a massive 80
voice London choir, Gregorian men's choir, a boys choir,
acoustic and electronic western instruments.
Exotic oriental lutes:
oud, saz, yali tambur, psaltry, zither and guitar. Ethnic
percussion instruments of metal, clay and skin: darbuka,
riq, tanake, dumbek, daf, sagat, tabla, bendir, duvul and
tof Miriam. Ancient flutes: ney, shepherd's flute
and
modern bass flute, plus the traditional fiddle,
Jew's harp and rams horn shofar.
The
music was recorded at Silicon Sound Studio in Vienna,
Austria after a 13 year extended stay in Israel.
This CD was first published
in Israel and is also popular with
massage
therapists.
Listeners from around the
world
"I'm still listening
to the 'Footsteps' CD whenever I need some tranquility,
which is often when you live in LA! It's very good at
pulling pictures out of the mind, if you know what I mean.
Great CD, which I also listen to while driving down the LA
freeways."
Leah
-California, USA
"When
something excellent like this comes along, I don’t want to
listen to anything else, and I never get tired of it. I’ve
listened to this thing probably 300 or 400 hours. I just
can’t get enough of it.
What
ever kind of spirituality or what ever you’ve tapped into,
you’ve hit something really profound. This music has
changed the way I look at things. It really has. I’m not a
religious man, I’m a spiritual person, a Buddhist…..and
I’ll tell you, it just brings everything to the surface.
It brings tears to my eyes, and nothing, no music ever
moved me like this before. With the kind of spiritual
awakening that you have, you’re going to be appealing to
those people, not on a logical, lineal intelligent level,
but on a spiritual level. So it’s really touched my life
in a positive way."
Gordon B. Barnholden A.M.T. -Vancouver, Canada
"'2000 Years In The Footsteps Of Jesus'
is an impressive walk. The best of the music is like heavy
footsteps of the Master -at time ponderous and sad, at
other times smooth and joyful. I love to
listen and am inspired each time. Last year I played On
The Via Dolorosa for my Sunday School class during
Lent and plan to do the same this year. Thank you for this
musical gift of promise." Anne
Crowfoot -Morrilton,
Arkansas, USA
"I
listened to your two discs and found that I enjoyed '2000
Years' the most, as the changing instrumental textures and
modal melodic ideas kept my interest engaged throughout."
Barnaby Ralph -Queensland,
Australia
"'In The
Footsteps Of Jesus' is most relaxing. I play the CD very
often, usually early in the morning to help start my day
or while eating breakfast -very relaxing and
inspirational." Edith Foster -Morrilton,
Ark., USA
"I
recently had a radical prostatectomy and it was the first
operation ever for me; for that matter I had never been an
inpatient in a hospital. To put it mildly I was very
apprehensive about the event and had trouble sleeping or
concentrating on anything else. I heard of Richard's music
through my cousin who lives in Vienna and it was really
the only thing that helped ease my mind. I did not want to
take a tranquilizer or sedative, but Richard's music
provided just that without any side-effects--or, I should
say, only positive ones. I can highly recommend his
"medication" and the price is right.”
George -living
in
Switzerland and California
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