From PHD
CANADA - Our Canadian Distributor
Victor
Chorobik, Tsar Tsar Gyalten Rinpoche, Mariusz
Kwiatkowski and guests. Vancouver based Victor
Chorobik is a designer, multi-instrumentalist and
composer whose music converges many cultures
and styles. Originally from Poland, he graduated
from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow before
moving to BC in the early '80s. His visceral sound
experiences draw on many musical influences including
jazz, classical, rock and world music. He uses
acoustic instruments and digital technology like a
palette of colours and paints musical pictures
that alternately probe and haunt, soothe and uplift.
Desert Of Clouds is a beautiful release of
effervescent instrumentals, Tibetan environments, airy
ambient and authentic vocals by a Tibetan Lama. Desert
Of Clouds evokes the feeling of floating over a sunny,
pristine steppe, gliding through small eastern villages,
trekking across great plains of sunlight, icebound cliffs
staggered over the distance. Victor Chorobik, uses
electric guitar, flutes, voice, slight hand-percussion,
location recordings from the East and minimal
electronics to create a very echoey, ghostly
landscape of light and space. The vocals of the Lama
are used sparingly but with great power, delivering
moments of greatness and purity throughout the
record, pulling certain pieces up into a more powerful
area for a listener. Each piece has it's own mind, it's
own heart and tone. Enjoy Suso Saiz? Steve Roach's
Suspended Memories or Shinkuku Thief circa
Bloody Tourist? Then you should really check this out!
FROM DJ MAGAZINE # 344
..the
most innovative music on this website is
from Victor Chorobik, who merges ambience with
chamber music with saxophone, flute and the vocals
of Tibetan Lama Choying Rinpoche! It's quite
breathtaking and, as Iris Light's Adam Sykes
points out, "a total shift from the electronic
music we have become famous for, however it
is
such a powerful and enchanting album that
we could not resist it!" There are seven free MP3s
to check out".
From "All Abut Jazz" (05/08/03)
In its original incarnation the music on
this
album was the soundtrack to the movie Boundless
Light—The People of Tibet. Soundtracks have their
appeal, but in most cases it is limited, serving
to frame the pictures and the emotion of film. They
must have a whole new pulse to succeed outside
that ambit. Chorobik’s beautifully crafted
compositions on Desert of Clouds work very well
indeed. He meshes different musical forms,
artfully creating sounds that are ethereal and
captivating. Perhaps nothing is more effective
than the seamless integration of Tibetan chant into
the music. The credit for this infusion should also go
to Choying Rinpoche, a Tibetan Lama, whose
voice soothes like a balm and caresses like
a dew drop.
Serenity marks much of Tibetan life.
The music reflects this and the spell is cast
from the opening track, on which the voice of
a child is the herald for Rinpoche. His chant falls
softly against the lush notes of the organ; and
when the flute, violin and guitar are incorporated
into the weave, the tapestry is resplendent.
The family of flutes that Chorobik uses enhances
several of the compositions. There is a particular
appeal to the soothing strains that come in “After the
Rain,” a superbly structured entwining with the
string players. Happiness is the hallmark of the
jaunty “The Shadow Dance– Second Round,” a
repeated motif on the bass tracing a hypnotic spell
that gets the flute dancing a melodic tune on top.
Prayer is an integral part of Tibetan life and “Prayer
Wheels” turn on the rhythmic groove of percussion,
incantation and the soprano for a magnetic whole.
The concept is interesting and it works.
From Side Line #44
Although living in Canada
V. Chorobik is a
Polish composer who has just released his
official cd-debut! "Desert Of Clouds" has been
written initially as a soundtrack to the films of
Geoff Browne "Boundless Light - The People
Of Tibet". It directly reveals the influences of
the artist ,who realized a fascinating
concept. He tries to intermix traditional
instruments and the amazing deep humming
vocals of a Tibetan Lama together with Western
influences. The result is sometimes totally
surprising and undone! Just imagine hearing a
saxophone being merged with the influence of
the Tibetan culture! It's only one example,
but the red line remains the picture we have
in mind of the high plateaus of the Himalayas.
We're entering a moon-landscape and
meditation. This is a real relaxing trip that will
help you to forget the daily labor. It has to be
said that "Desert Of Clouds" has been
written like a pure soundtrack, but it doesn't
really bore at one single moment! (DP:6)
From
David Tibet - Current 93
"...very beautiful. Congratulations on such
a
moving release!"
(June 03)
Ambientrance 0603
Climbing Tibetan mountaintops gets Victor
Chorobik
closer to a blooming Desert of Clouds from which
ring a series of ethnic-inspired adventures.
Tantric chants (courtesy of Choying Rinpoche),
eloquently sawed strings and wheedling flutes rise
above the flatlined shifts of stately Notes From
The Journey. In spacious-yet-urbane Prayer
Wheels (7:00) pulsing drums turn over streaming
tones, topped by sinuous sax twirls. Backed by
melancholy/lovely strings and drones, traditional
Prayer for Long Life is simply stunning.
An aural tranquilizer, Mantra of Guru Rinpoche's
sonorous floes of voice, flute, synth are eventually
stirred by light, clop-along rhythms. Snow of Tibet
(2:34) is Choying Rinpoche's compositional
contribution, his wavering words traipsing over low,
warping viola strands.
With a bit of a new age lilt, the saxy leads of The
Shadow Dance - The Second Round perkily
skip over hovering terrains. Naturalistic cloudcover
atmospheres seep into closing After the Rain, in
which flutes and strings perform a sedate, yet
loose, jam session. So nice!
Get your heart steadily pumping with the ear-travel
of a Chorobik workout... serious-but-light Desert
of Clouds makes for first-class transportation
via skyward ethno-symphonic pieces.
B+
From John Mingay - Poet & Publisher
"Mere words would not describe the absolute
beauty
I have found in this."
(May 2003)