Rajna, "The Door of Serenity"

1. Djalambo
2. Belorbai
3. Tore Sensuous
4. The Door of Serenity
5. Elisia
6. Whirling Souls
7. Masati
8. Dervishing
9. Into the Dream
10. Shalim Dhar
11. Djalambo (epilogue)

The French band Rajna's work has always reminded me of musical
travelogues. Their compositions are aural souvenirs of their exotic
explorations. Last cd, "The Heady Wine of Praise," it was a trip to
India, both its sacred and profane spaces; previous trips have been
to Tibet. North Africa is Fabrice and Jean Lefebvre latest
adventure. Like all such trips, the experiences collected to can be
profound, inexplicable, frightening and sometimes silly. Fabrice
tends toward simple, hypnotic trance-like mélanges of ethnic
instruments, such as the oud, the saz, the santoor and the yang
t'chin; they are held together by synthesizers, rhythms and Jeanne's
mostly wordless, operatic vocals. The opening track starts with what
sounds a digeridoo, out of which a majestic tableaux of drums and
strummed instruments grows. Jeanne's repetitive chant gives the
piece some structure and form. The title track, "Belorbai" and the
brief "Elisia" follow in the same vein. They are mesmeric,
devotional pieces. Other souvenirs don't work as well. "Tore
Sensuous," with orgasmic pants and a disco beat, is an unfortunate
cross between Hare Krishna and porn music. "Whirling Souls," in
which whispered New Age poetry reveals Rajna's spiritual/philosophic
leanings are also a mistake; the opacity of belief is what's
interesting. In spelling things out, a lot of the magic is lost.
Things rightfully return to the shadows with the rhythm-
driven "Dervishing," the best Dead Can Dance song never recorded and
the truly eerie unlisted tracks at the end of the cd. While I don't
always appreciate Rajna's artifacts, most of them are exquisite.
http://www.rajna.net

--Craig L. Gidney