Kirtan - The Great Mantra From The Himalayas, Vol.

TriLoka - (Various Artists)

Think of this as a field recording disc, since that's what it is, taken from tapes made by the label heads over the years at an Indian ashram. In other words, it's true chanting for a sacred purpose in a holy place, instead of a disc custom-made in a studio. And that's how it should be. But to judge it as music is both unfair and difficult. The chants are what they are, ways to praise and to achieve a heightened state, and they're not sung by professionals, but by monks and devotees. Aptly, the chants aren't called by name, but by number. They're hypnotic, and certainly draw in the listener, but what you make of them is what you will, nothing more or less.