Monday, March 11, 2013

CD Review – Heart of the Universe, by Peter Kater and Snatam Kaur


Fresh on the heels of his Grammy Award-nominated New Age masterpiece Light Body, Peter Kater offers up another original collection of beautiful keyboard-based tracks, this time in collaboration with American Sikh female vocalist Snatam Kaur (pronounced Sun-Autumn Car).
 
As evidenced by Kaur’s adopted Sikh tradition, the songs are quietly powerful anthems of peace and love, fueled by Kaur’s soft but firm vocals (her inflections remind me of Celine Dion and her sweet timbre is similar to that of Susan Boyle) and Kater’s gorgeous piano playing and elegant synthesizer textures.
 
Making the already magical proceedings even more exquisite are wonderful contributions from Paul McCandless on oboe, penny whistles, and English horn, Bijoux Barbosa on bass, Christian Teele on percussion, and Glen Velez Frame and Larry Thompson on drums. Also on hand is the Macedonia Radio Symphonic Orchestra, giving the recording a touch of classical class.
 
The result is one of the most beautiful vocal/instrumental albums I have heard in any genre.
 
--Raj Manoharan

No comments:

Post a Comment