Recorded in Tuva, a far off North-Western corner of Mongolia, "Voices Of The Distant Steppes" cap­tures the nearly lost art of Shamanic singing - rituals here are sung for everything for happy marriages to fat sheep as well as ancient cures. "Throat Singing" - a way of compressing the larynx in order to produce sounds not unlike those of Tibetan singing bowls, and gruff drones reminiscent of Indian ragas, are all sung, and interwo­ven with chanting and drums. Spiritual, ancient, and no doubt wonderfully evocative heard while sitting around an evenings camp fire, you're not going to hear this down on your local bar juke box, but for an ambient set­ting at home and with some open ears, maybe those sha­mans can help chill you out. Released on Peter Gabriels "Realworld" label, there is a helpful search function and audio tracks you can download if you want to try some Mongolian shamanism at:

www.realworldrecords.com

-CE