Music for Dance and Movement
This is the greatest dance music for free form, let it all hang out, shake your booty kind of movin' and shakin' to do with your lover and/or your closest friends. World music stars like Gabrielle Roth, Jai Uttal, Ry Cooder, Prem Joshua, Al Gromer Khan and many others contribute their best stuff to this collection. Ethnic instruments, soulful voices and throbbing jungle rhythms will get ya movin'.
Recommended Music for Dance and Movement
Bones
Blending the spiritual and the sensual is Gabrielle Roth's specialty. On BONES, shaman drums and snaky bass lines channel the wild spirits of animals and guide the listener through Roth's 5 Rhythms (flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness), which encourage body awareness and lead to states of ecstasy. This music plunges through you like a jolt of electricity, invoking a profoundly meditative and healing atmosphere. 1994, Raven
BrasileiroBrasiliero, A collection of Brazilian pop that spans 1974-1999, is a wonderfully diverse introduction to Brazilian music. It's a sophisticated blend of folk-pop and cool jazz, in the most popular styles: samba, bossa nova, and MBP (musica popular Brasileiro). With Brazilian music's African influence comes a complex rhythmic structure and a prevailing sense of melancholy. Tracks #1 (Take Sarava) and #8 (Mama Africa) are great dancing songs! 1999, Putumayo World Music
Breathing Rhythms Breathing Rhythms features drums and other percussion on this album, utilizing them as a way to evoke the human body, and, especially, the breath. There is a world fusion element in the generous mix of tribal drums, Eastern woodwinds, and Western instruments, but Velez's unusual compositional style, with his compelling use of incidental vocals and guttural male chants makes this collection unique. The overall effect of this percussion-based album is meant to stimulate the body's healing center, and induce a state of comfort while promoting proper breathing. 2000, Sounds True Direct
Chan Chan (Buena Vista Social Club)
Buena Vista Social Club is a rare blend of quietness and intensity; while the players sound laid-back, they're putting forth very alive music, a reminder that aging doesn't mean packing it in. Performed by 80-year-old Cuban musicians "discovered" by Ry Cooder, this album is a wonderful compilation of Cuban music. These tracks have a little something for everyone: melancholy, laughter, power and grandeur. 1999, World Circut Records
Drums on FireDrums on Fire is a journey through the dynamic and exciting interplay of rhythm as jointly created by Indian master drummer Sivamani and world musician James Asher. Vocals, flute, violin, guitar and sax join Sivamani's rhythmic heat, while Asher's keyboards and production mastery set the fires firmly ablaze. The global interplay of Indian and European musical styles is further enhanced by chunky but crystal clear sound. Get those toes tapping with the energy of Drums on Fire! 2003, New Earth Records
Earth HeartEarthy,rhythmic, haunting, powerful . . . Earth Heart blends the traditional and devotional elements of world music with atmospheric and dreamlike soundscapes designed to heal and uplift the listener. These wordless pieces, laid on layer upon layer echoed by drone sounds, appeal to the same areas of the brain as the best of aboriginal and other devotional ethnic music. It arouses a feeling that maybe, this mundane workaday world is not all there is to life . . . 1996, Australian Music
Enchanted EgyptENCHANTED EGYPT is a collaboration between famous Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy and Celtic/New Age multi-instrumentalist Phil Thornton. The album builds tantalizing sound webs on Ramzy's percolating percussion and Thornton's keyboards, guitars, and flutes for a genuine global fusion. This music will fire the imagination, start toes tapping, and expand the listener's consciousness with its lithe ambient grooves. 2004, New World Music
Feet in the Soil Feet in the Soil is an uplifting celebration of danceable energies centered in the earth. Rhythms of an infectious, hypnotic and tribal quality provide the framework for the music, which draws much inspiration from Aboriginal and African sources. James Asher's first instrument is the drum and this collection shows his rich feel and love for the diverse indigenous rhythms of this planet. So . . . kick off your shoes, and get your Feet in the Soil! 2002, New Earth Records
Initiation Initiation is "a musical map, from inertia to ecstasy," the formal musical presentation of Gabrielle Roth's 5-Rhythm Wave. Moving and dancing from flowing through stillness can catalyze and release the emotions of fear, anger, sadness, joy, and peace, according to urban shaman Gabrielle Roth. The clearly-marked tracks offer the trance-dancer an excellent workout through the cycle. Additionally, Roth offers "Body Jazz," an easygoing yet snappy cut to isolate movements of separate body parts, and the intensely driving "Initiation," whose vocal chants and clapping provoke urban tribal feelings. 1994, Raven
Karma CirclesKarma Circles embodies a unique musical synthesis of East and West with Celtic and Indian motifs, circle and dance, and an ancient landscape that comes alive through 21st century sounds. Sarod, tablas and bamboo flute fuse with electronics, bass and drums in this interesting musical journey through many cultures and climes. You can't help but let go and move your body with this music. 2000, New Earth Records
Kin The landmark release of KIN in 1996 merged hip hop, dub and jazz and caught the imagination of hearts and minds worldwide.UK duo Elliot Morgan and Nick Woolfson make some of the most stunningly rich, dynamic, bass-heavy downtempo instrumentals on the planet. This music seduces, humanizes, liberates you. Soul moving . . . makes you want to dance! 1996, Waveform
Luna Woman, ceremony, and the allure of evening form the basis for this voluptuous and mysterious album. Nominated for an INDIE award, Gabrielle Roth's Luna weaves a seductive web of mystery that seems to come from an ancient time. The strong rhythmic foundation is spiced with riffs from violins, synthesizers, guitars, bass, harp and vocals. This is exotic, sensual, dreamy night music. 1994, Raven
Ritual Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors go with the flowing rhythm on Ritual, laid-back and gentle, yet deeply sensuous. Resonant primal drums offer warm rhythms for heart and hips, rattles and plucked strings call fingertips to stroke, an English horn mystically entices like a cobra's song, a woman's voice chants to hidden desires. Ritual is perfect for trancedancing, meditation, massage, lovemaking, stretching, or soaking in the hot tub. 1994, Raven
Shaman's Breath An unusual mix of ancient ethnic and modern electronic influences, Shaman's Breath points out the connection between the recent trance music movement and ancient shamanic healing practices that date back more than 40,000 years. With elements of ambient, techno, and especially world music traditions, Professor Trance & the Energisers make spiritually-charged music designed to aid in the pursuit of the contemplative inner journey that trance dancing represents. 1995, Island
Sky Kisses Earth The new sitar master of the West, Prem Joshua is a World Music pioneer, creating a musical synthesis beyond borders. He draws deeply from the well of eastern traditions without losing the pulse of contemporary western music. Over the years he has refined his distinctive sound, blending the sensuous instrumentation of ancient India with evocative melodies, modern electronica grooves and danceable ethnic rhythms. Prem Joshua and his musical companions invoke a memorable and finely woven tapestry of sonic magic. 1999, White Swan
Tantra Drums Tantra Drums contains elements of dance, electronic space, world ambient and traditional Indian music woven seamlessly together. The theme is Tantra, a practice of the ancient Shakti cult, which contains many secrets exercises and rituals with erotic content."Mystical, flowing, sensual, erotic, engaging . . . lovely musical support for slow, ecstatic lovemaking. Transports the listener to another level of consciousness . . ." 1998, New Earth Records
Tantra Electronica World ambient music pioneer Al Gromer Khan collaborates with producer Emin Corrado to revisit elements of ritual dance and electronic space on Tantra Electronica. The mood is mesmerizing, evocative, sensual, erotic, and engaging. Another level of consciousness can be reached through the listening of Tantra Electronica." Full of sensuality . . . that takes your breath away . . . the kind of music that makes you dance." 2004, New Earth Records
Tongues Tongues is a lyrical, upbeat journey through Roth's 5 Rhythms with an emphasis on vocal chanting. Jai Uttal's dreamy voice is featured. The strong, driving rhythms and sensual tones of this album will make you want to dance. 1995, Raven
