Sometimes you don’t even have to listen to a CD to appreciate its beauty! It can be enough to open the package that comes in the mail… That was what happened to me when I opened a package from OgreOgress productions, where Mr. Glenn Freeman and Ms. Christina Fong mind the store! Seriously, Freeman and Fong are two prolific and talented musicians, who are doing a lot to diffuse modern art music and old, traditional music as well. Their productions are certainly something out of the ordinary, and not only pertaining to the content of the CDs, but also concerning the layout of the whole package; the CDs and the inlays; they’re simply wonderful. Personally, when I got these two CDs, I burned some incense and sat back with the CDs in my hand, just studying the looks of them, and only then did I put one of them into the laser box – and the brilliance of the sound, the closeness of expression, really hit me! It was so direct, so… overpowering, enchanting!

So, the content…? It’s not John Cage this time from OgreOgress, but Tibetan Monks! This may not come as a surprise to anyone who’s had any contact with Christina Fong, because usually some little note or printed matter is slipped in with the CDs about the Tibetan cause, and for sure it’s easy to sympathize with the Tibetans, who’ve been cruelly displaced inside their own country by their mighty neighbor – and the torturous oppression continues, all but annihilating a whole culture which has been in bloom since ancient times. I’ve always been fascinated by the Tibetan culture and religion, and read an array of books on Lhasa, Dalai Lama’s home in the Potala Palace, early explorers’ accounts of Tibetan life on the high plateaus and so on, and I was just fascinated by the salty yak tea with fermented butter and the dryness of the elevated land – and foremost by the age-old knowledge of the people, of that culture; the Tibetan Book of the Dead, for example… Fantastic, revealing and bringer of hope and perspective!
So, in 1972 when a friend and I went to India from Sweden in a worn out old Ford Cortina I was bent on also reaching Lhasa. In Katmandu, Nepal, I went to the Chinese Embassy to obtain a visa, for there is a road across the Himalayas from Katmandu to Tibet, built by the Chinese. All they told me, however, was to come back “next Thursday”, and when I did they told me the same thing again, and so forth – so I never got to Lhasa.

A little later I also corresponded some with the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala, northern India, and the Deputy Secretary of the time, Lobsang Wangchuk.

These CDs now bring back all those feelings, of the trip in that car through the deserts of Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, down into the green and lush Indus Valley and on to India. I burn another stick of sandel wood incense and turn up the “Chant Retrospective 2000” CD. This is Tibetan chant at its best, with the deep guttural voices of the congregation of monks, occasionally joined by percussive metallic clangs and leathery beats on the big drum. It’s majestic, it’s moving – and the sound is, as said, brilliant! I have some other CDs with Tibetan liturgic music from the French Ocora label, but the sound of those older recordings can’t match the splendid clarity and presence of the OgreOgress CDs. You are there; they are here! That’s how it feels.

The co-producer of these Tibetan projects was DolmaTulotsang, a Tibetan woman born in exile in India; now residing in Toronto. She was in fact the main force behind the emergence of these projects, and moreover, she was the one inspiring Glenn Freeman and Christina Fong to start producing records to begin with, so her spirit is felt all through these CDs.

The “Chant Retrospective 2000” CD contains the following pieces, with attached explanations, from which I freely quote:

1. “Tashi” (2:31). The title means” auspiciousness”. The chant praises the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
2. “Palden Lhamo” (5:24). The title means “Fierce Protectress”, and symbolizes forceful enlightened activity.
3. “Yamantaka” (29:00). This is “Terrifier of Death”, transforming death into a guardian of bliss.
4. “Chogyala” (2:05). Chogyala is a Dharma king, protecting the world’s four corners and the prosperity of Man.
5. “Mahakala” (7:50), “Great Black Time-Keeper”, protector of Tibetan Buddhism, is a form of the Buddha of Compassion, who leads beings to enlightenment.
6. “Guhyasamaja” (23:33), “Secret Communion”, symbolizes the union of the five Buddha clans and their associated wisdoms.

The second of the two new Tibetan chant CDs from OgreOgress is called “Tour 2000 Prayers”, with Tibetan monks from Tehor Khangtsen, the largest house at Drepung Loseling Monastery, recorded in May 2000 at the Basilica of Saint Adalbert in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A. The Monastery was relocated to Southern India (built from scratch) when the Chinese destroyed the original monastery in Tibet.

The tracks on “Tour 2000 Prayers” are:

1. “Gyun Cha Soom Ba” (Making Prostrations to the Buddhas) (9:28)
2. “Chan Ten Maloo Sem Chen Tang” (Inviting the Buddhas and Making Precious Object Offerings of Flowers, Incense, Saffron Water, etc.) (14:34)
3. “Mandal” (Making Sacred Universe Offering to Enlightened Beings) (6:10)
4. “Lama Choepa” (Guru Yoga Prayer) (9:39)
5. “Lama Choepa Tsok” (Ritual Offering Feast) (15:18)
6. “Thor Pul” (Making Ritual Cake Offerings to Dharma Protectors) (9:23)
7. “Lam Rim Monlem” (Graded Path to Enlightenment Prayer) (5:46)
8. “Mig Tse Ma” (Praise to Tsongkhapa by Rendawa) (2:10)

The recording space of the basilica in Grand Rapids renders a reverbing and full sound, which is very appealing. This CD too has a wonderful, thought-through and meticulously designed layout, which really impresses. I’ve only experienced one other CD label with the same uncanny feel for beautiful and interesting CD issue design; Traditional Crossroads in New York. It is not common for a label to put so much effort – and artistic labor – into the looks of the CDs, but surely it is worth it, making the whole set so much more pleasurable, appealing, intriguing – not that it needs that extra quality; the sounds are sufficient – but the impression that these great productions give your eyes as well as your ears, is tremendous.
The entire proceeds from the two CDs are offered to the associated monasteries-in-exile.

These are welcome additions to the sonic documentation of a people in danger, a culture at the brink. Let’s hope for the continued flowering of it for ages to come.