Gandalf | Gates to Secret Realities

A wide open horizon beneath an endless sky, mountains of majestic beauty, rivers cutting their way deep into the rock since millions of years - images like these have appeared in the minds of countless listeners by the music on "Gates To A Secret Reality" in the mid-nineties. With this album the Austrian composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Gandalf had moved a giant step closer towards a new kind of world music. It was inspired by encounters with the culture of the American Indians, especially their close relationship to nature and their awareness of the connections between all of us and the world we are living in, between the elements and all living creatures. On a concert tour through Brazil in 1995 Gandalf had met the English cellist and vocalist Emily Burridge, who had been living with a tribe of Brazilian Indians several times and working with Roger Daltrey, George Michael, Chrissie Hind, Jools Holland, Zero 7, Stereophonics and Hans Zimmer. During a couple of live-shows together with Gandalfs group she proved to be the perfect creative partner for "Gates To A Secret Reality". Her melodious cello-lines, gently woven into Gandalfs multi-coloured textures of sound and rhythms, and her vocals on three of the tracks give the music a very special note. Peter Aschenbrenner, long-time member of Gandalfs live-band on flute and saxophone, and Gandalf himself on a variety of electric and acoustic guitars, Charango, Saz, Piano, electronic keyboards and percussions also turned "Gates To A Secret Reality" into a unique listening experience in 1996. Today it is as fascinating as it was then.