Archive for the ‘The Grammy Awards’ Category

Some quick notes on the Grammy Awards now before we move on to new music; On the Domo Music homepage you can see Kitaro’s pictures from the awards ceremony. He didn’t win though – but it looks like he still had a good time. There is also a very noisy Grammy Pre Party video available.  And, if you didn’t get to see the show – you can see it in its entirety on Grammy.com. The new age music part is from 59 minutes onwards – or you can listen to an audio version just by visiting David Darling’s homepage.

And, while we are talking about the Grammy Award, check out Peter Kater’s blog about how he felt about being nominated for the sixth time.

We are all congratulating David Darling with yesterday’s Grammy award in new age music category! David Darling is hopefully happy with the award – but before the show he had a little ambivalent feeling about being placed in the new age music category.  According to newspaper Hartford Courant:

David Darling is not entirely clear why it’s in the New Age category. “None of us really know how that came about,” says Darling. He thinks of himself more as a jazz or classical musician, though the New Age connection has been around for a while: Darling’s first professional gig came in the ’70s, playing with the Paul Winter Consort, which also received Grammy nods for allegedly new age albums.

And more:

“I don’t think of it as New Age music; I think of it as contemporary classical music or world-ethnic music, because there’s so much influence in my music that comes from all over the world,” Darling says. “I have nothing against what it stands for; in fact, I’m a great fan of the basic concepts in New Age. I’m not such a great fan of marshmallow music that gets put in New Age.”

Read the complete interview here.

Mmmm. Marshmallows…

The 52nd Grammy Awards are just 1 day away. So let’s just take a quick look at the new age music category. The field is very strong this year. Henta was the surprise of course – but what a pleasant surprise it was!

People ask me; who will win this year? It is impossible to tell, like always, there are so many factors in play. I love both Jim Brickman’s Faith and Henta’s Laserium For the Soul – but I don’t think any of them will make it to the top (but I must note that if Henta was to win, that would be SUPER COOL).

The new age music category 2009:

It will either be In a Dream, Prayer for Compassion or Impressions of the West Lake. All three are wonderful albums with a very classical approach to new age.

I think that, after listening to these albums for weeks, In a Dream and Impressions of the West Lake are on par – perhaps with Kitaro just a little bit better than Peter Kater and Dominic Miller (just because West Lake is a more grand sounding album, more orchestral music). So if I were to decide, David Darling will get his Grammy this year (after being nominated once before). But I wouldn’t put money on it, since the field is very strong this year. Kitaro just might win it too – he sure would deserve it after so many nominations.   

Watch it on CBS on 31 January 8PM ET/PT.

In celebration of Kitaro’s many Grammy nominations, Domo Music Group has just released an album called Grammy nominated music by Kitaro. It is a 13 track long compilation that includes songs like “Estrella”, a track from Kitaro’s Grammy winning album, Thinking Of You as well as “Spirit Of The West Lake”, a track from his most recently Grammy Nominated album, Impressions Of The West Lake (which of course was included on our 2009 Best New Age Music album list)

Through the course of his career, Kitaro has sold millions of albums, CD’s and DVD’s worldwide. Kitaro‘s various sound collaborations and resonant, multi-textured compositions, with their crescendos of passion and oases of serenity, truly defy the constraints of any genre. His pioneering fusion of cultures, techniques and spheres of consciousness is truly his own.

Time will show if Kitaro wins a Grammy this year – but it is nevertheless a great compilation.

See the track listing here. The album is also available on iTunes.

The Grammy Awards are coming up, and we here at .nu will do our very best to give you the complete coverage of the new age music category. This year’s selection of artists contained one surprise: Henta and her album Laserium for the Soul.

After reading the harsh article Grammy Awards Goof Again in New Age on The Echoes Blog (make sure to read the blog comments too), I though that the artist herself is best to answer the question Who IS Henta – and what is her music about.

(The audio quality on the video is sadly not the best.)

I think Laserium for the Soul is a wonderful, heartfelt album by a very dedicated artist. I don’t think the question is “is she better than Kitaro or David Darling?” but the fact that even being Nominated for a Grammy is a big big thing. Go Henta!
Sample the album on CDbaby. Also make sure to visit Henta.co.uk.