Personnel
Session two, May 2014
Ed Bolkovac
Steve Evans
Jordan Strybos
John Curtis
Adam Paul
Andrey Stolyarov
Session one, June 2010
Ed Bolkovac
Steve Evans
Karl Bolkovac
Don Khon
Howard Hebel
Griffin Combs
Greg Flowers
Gabriel Lofuall
Concept
The Meditations of a Commuter Choir has evolved as a chorus that comes together periodically to record music that has not only musical beauty, but spiritual and healing power. The type of singing is based on ancient traditions from Tibet and Mongolia, and in modern times based on the pioneering work of David Hykes who developed the term ‘harmonic chanting’ to describe the joining of overtone singing with a deeper spiritual practice of meditative chanting.
Singing overtones is done by changing vowel sounds and vocal placement to allow overtones to be heard, high whistling sounds that result in a very high register.
The roster of singers in the Meditations of a Commuter Choir includes not only skilled choral singers with some proficiency at producing overtones, but also singers who are themselves enthralled and inspired by the spontaneous creation of deeply spiritual music that has the power to rejuvenate as well as heal.
The recordings are improvised, and largely unedited, except to diminish the sound of street noises that can sometimes be heard. All of the sounds you hear in this recordings are created by human voices only. Nothing electronic.
The Meditations of a Commuter Choir hopes that this music can be an aid to your thoughtful introspection, meditation, contemplation, and spiritual healing, or simply enjoyed as beauty and ethereal music.