Rain of Blessings: Vajra Chants
Lama Gyurme & Jean-Philippe Rykiel
48814 Real World

Vajra is Sanskrit for "diamond", representing the spirit's pure, sparkling essence. 

Lama Gyurme was named Ouzme - Master of Music in Tibetan Buddhist tradition - at twenty.  Recognized in early childhood as exceptional, he was entrusted at age four to the monastery at Dhang Tchub Tcheu Ling in his native Bhutan.  He thrived in the spiritual life, and his affinity for sacred music revealed itself at once, launching a lifetime of devotion to the traditional arts and study of Tibetan Buddhism.

Pursuing his lamaic path through monastic residencies in India, Sikkim and Bhutan, he became an initiated teacher of the Kagyupa ("transmitted word") tradition; he now directs major Tibetan Buddhist centers in Paris and Normandy.

French pianist Jean-Philippe Rykiel has worked as composer and arranger for such diverse artists as Leonard Cohen, Salif Keita, Jon Hassell, Papa Wemba and Youssou N'Dour.  His 1994 collaboration with Lama Gyurme, SONGS OF AWAKENING, was a major success story in Europe - a recording project that was truly "magic at every level...a rare experience" according to producer Jean-Michel Reusser - who was persuaded by Peter Gabriel to reunite the two extraordinary musicians for this second album.

RAIN OF BLESSINGS: VAJRA CHANTS is a serenely elegant expression - delivered in delicate arrangements of kora, piano, and violin framing deeply resonant chants.  Here are blessings intended to heal, purify, protect and liberate, creating a contemplative space to behold the sublime infinite.  Here are prayers for peace.