Tibetan Buddhism - Tantras of Gyuto (1975) [Re-Up]

Very rare chant of vajra meditation. Maybe the music itself just wasn't mysterious enough for the Nonesuch label, so on a subsequent reissue of this title all that was reissued was the title itself, but the recording featured is actually different than the material that was included on this, the original album version. Major recorded documentation took place in Bhutan in both the early '60s and early '70s; when producer David Lewiston actually did his recording of these Gyuto monks is not something the busy producer of world music recordings seems to have wanted to share with his audience, not even as a reward for squinting at the liner notes. The sloppiness of the vinyl pressing did nothing to help this particular series of releases, which were first of all mastered with an extremely wide dynamic range, then pressed on the el cheapo side, because after all, this was a budget label. Thus both a pristine copy and one wedged out from the bottom of the used-record pile will no doubt have a supply of surface noise that will seriously compete with the extended chanting and beautiful held notes of the monks, although nothing – that is, nothing – will drown out the clattering handheld cymbals accompanied by brief bass drum thumps. Even in ideal circumstances the volume contrast between the cymbals and the voices will be bothersome to some listeners, although one can't imagine the producer having altered it in any way. These two extended pieces are intense and absorbing, although these collections lack the excitement of the Lyrichord and Baren Reiter series. ~Allmusic

Track listing
1. Sangwa Dupa 41:37
2. Mahakala 18:33



original uploader unknown, found in my archive