Udaipur Shakti Works' artistic program presumes that true virtuoso performers from any genre can viscerally recognize and arouse one another to create spontaneous works of great beauty in concert. The following are songs and liner notes from a CD album that arose from one such collaboration in Kyoto, Japan long ago...
KYOTO COVEN WORKS trans-genre jams with the hidden virtuosos of asia
Aeons and chakras below, before composers, formulas and music as product, there was an artesian music of numinous encounter - challenging - collusive - carnal - the erogenous hymns arising when adepts of the muse first harken, tangle and engage one another...
CO-CONSPIRATORS
Christian Braun - Didgeridoo (Narrative) Ishida Junji - Violin (Bluegrass) Morishima Yo - Percussion (Modern Stage) Gary Tegler - Tenor Sax (Latin) Yamada Haruzo - Bass/Calimba (Blues)
- a season of fertility, heat and drama in the skies.
Songs
Encounter in Summertime
Daring Fourplay
South Chakra Song
Mandeltrance
Second Thoughts Serenade
Mama Can't Mind
Java Knees Skittle
Kama Sutralight
David Rockefeller Vexes the Queen
Pleasing Her
Muse Tantra
Afterglow: Cicada Sunset
Perhaps it was so always and everywhere, but in modern Asia and corporate Nihon in pathetic particular, aside from 4 or 5 stars, the most phenomenally artesian musicians reliably starve, quit or clench the margins of a day job. Happily, rapture being what it is, few ever quit totally, though the corporate media continue to obscure them and abort countless terra-erotic opportunities for new growth and creation.
The Kyoto Coven Works conspires to revive the practice of music as shamanic moment, taking heart and direction from two antique open secrets: One, like the Tao, the Muse lurks everywhere - playful, fertile and promiscuously democratic (never know whose loins She'll be warming up in next); and two, Her ardor is contagious.
Adepts who share little else in common, but fervently embody Her esprit can swiftly converge, confuse and inexplicably ignite incredibly sensuous melodies. Coven work strives to occasion such trysts and share the epiphanies.
Coven format is ritual simple.
1) Sequester a few virtuoso artists who don't normally play together, who don't normally even play the same music, hell, who just don't play normally period in a lush sanctuary for a weekend;
2) Record all that transpires - from first half tuned greetings to the intimate concert they give at twilight of the closing day.
3) Winnow out the moments of densest grace and release to the world as proof, prayer and aphrodisiac antidote to MTV.
4) Split the take with the shift, and go out stalking incarnations again.
Enrich the atmosphere. Support us and/or kindle Covens of your own . As observed, bemusing avatars are everywhere. And God knows, She's always available..
Coven I : Contributers
Mantic Microphonics - Goto Akihiko
Editorial Inspirations - Christopher Fryman, Kash Sokol
Passions: trance, meditation, healing music; Day job: Craft trading, DJ work.
coven quote
India's "Namaste" greeting means "I recognize the Spirit within you." Though most of us hadn't even met before, once we got started, it was just like that - one long, jumpin' "Namaste"...
GOTO AKIHIKO
Born: 1959, Wakayama; Passions: jazz vocals/piano, acoustic recording,
inventing exquisite microphones; Day job: Matsushita systems engineer.
coven quote
It just felt so Kyoto-esque. OK, the instruments were all Western, but the spirit pouring out of that chaos showed what Kyoto music could and should be...
Passions: bluegrass, classic/tribal Asian traditions; Day job: Runs graphic design/prepress office.
coven quote
It was unforgettable, and the place deserves a lot of the credit - the cicadas, birds, the wind in the bamboo - like the mountain itself was sitting in to play.
Passions: R&B, rock, funk; Day job: club sound engineer, dance/stage backup.
coven quote
I walked into this gig cold and they only had one old Japanese drum and a kitchen pot. They said just play whatever you feel like so I stayed. So glad I did.
Passions: Latin, straight-ahead jazz; Day job: free-lance journalist & narrator.
coven quote
In 15 years of playing, I don't think I ever enjoyed a gig as much as this one. PS: the cicada chorus will be performing nationwide this summer. Don't miss it...
Clip from first Shakti album - Dr. McLaughlin starts it all... A Meeting by the River by Ry Cooder & Vishwa M. Bhatt - Ry told us about this magic gig in '94 which inspired Kyoto Coven Works Meeting in Summertime - first trans-genre experiment from Kyoto Coven Works Tsuyu Typhoon Janis' Summertime - for the sweet hell of it from Shakti's ultimate Yankee avatar...
Kyoto Coven Works 
