Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Hmmmmm...now THIS is different! A selection of chants offered as a soundtrack to pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Can't afford the plane fare? Scared of Millennium fever? Well, here's the solution; buy the album! Two CDs in fact of very traditional worship, some of it dating back to the middle ages and here recorded in a spectacularly diverse selection of locations. From Bethlehem to the Mount Of Olives and from monasteries on Mount Sinai to the seashores of Galilee and a chapel in Cambridge (Cambridge?) Ermmm...not sure why that's here but elsewhere monks and nuns sing in languages as diverse as Aramaic, Armenian, Latin, Greek, Romanian, Slavonic, German, French, Italian and Arabic. There is actually some beautiful music here, even if I don't understand a word of it! However, you have to remember trial because these recordings aren't all done by professionals, some of them are, shall we say, a little raw. I particularly enjoyed the Ethiopian Liturgy Choir, oh and the harpsichord thing was interesting too, accompanying a V Margarian as he sang an air. The ladies from the Russian Orthodox Church who sang the canon of Easter weren't always in tune and you could hear them whisper in the background but their rendition had a certain charm. My ultimate favourite has to be the contribution from On Our Way To You Choir who I'd guess are singing in German and whose music included guitars, drums, bass and a tune which sounded like an entry to the Eurovision Song Contest circa 1972. Very strange! An enjoyable hour and a halfs worth of listening that's as far from Rebecca St James as it's possible to get and fascinating for all that! If you're wanting plenty of material to sample into dance trax, this is worth checking out or if, like me, you take great delight in hearing music that is totally away from the norm, albums don't come much stranger than this!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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