Yamantaka (album)

Yamantaka
Stylized illustration of a Tibetan monk praying or meditating at a temple
Studio album by
Mickey Hart, Henry Wolff, and Nancy Hennings
Released1983
RecordedNovember 1982 and July 1991
StudioGrateful Dead Sound Studios, San Rafael, California; Rolling Thunder Studio, Novato, California; Pulse Wave Underground Recording Studios, Trumbull, Connecticut
GenreWorld music, Meditation music
Length51:52
LabelCelestial Harmonies
CEL 003
ProducerBrian Keane
Mickey Hart chronology
Däfos
(1983)
Yamantaka
(1983)
Music to Be Born By
(1989)

Yamantaka is an album by percussionist Mickey Hart and Tibetan bell specialists Henry Wolff and Nancy Hennings, best known for their 1972 release Tibetan Bells. Yamantaka was recorded in California in 1982, and was initially released on LP in 1983 by Celestial Harmonies. The album, which features performances on rare and invented percussion instruments, was reissued on CD in 1991 with three additional tracks that were recorded earlier that year in Connecticut, and was included in the five-CD boxed set The Complete Tibetan Bells (1972–1991). Musicians Jody Diamond, Sandy Sawyer, and Brian Keane, who produced the reissued album, also appear on several tracks.[1][2][3][4]

According to the album liner notes, Yamantaka is named for "the Tibetan god of the dead and lord of the underworld."[5] In an interview, Hart noted that there are no membrane-based instruments on the album, commenting: "I never struck a membrane because it sometimes takes away that space of drifting, because it draws your attention to it."[6] He reflected: "This music doesn't have anything to do with anything else. We're so inundated by western music and our own sounds that sometimes we can't hear the purity of other music."[6]

  1. ^ Brenholts, Jim. "Mickey Hart – Yamantaka". AllMusic. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  2. ^ "Mickey Hart, Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings: Yamantaka". ArtistInfo. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  3. ^ "Yamantaka: Mickey Hart/Henry Wolff/Nancy Hennings". DeadDisc. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  4. ^ "The Complete Tibetan Bells (1972–1991)". Celestial Harmonies. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  5. ^ Yamantaka (liner notes). Mickey Hart, Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings. Celestial Harmonies. 1983. CEL 003.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  6. ^ a b Trager, Oliver (1997). The American Book of the Dead. Touchstone. p. 411.