PHURPA

Second pressing with silver lettering.

PHURPA is one of the most interesting recent music phenomena. Founded by Alexey Tagin they create meditative music with its roots in the ancient pre-buddhist tradition BON. Their concerts resemble shamanic mysteria where sounds, singing and rhythms invoke trance-like state introducing the listeners into the realm of dead gods and the times of culture that is already gone. The musicians themselves stress the spiritual nature of their activity.
They have carried their message to many cities all over the world. They played gigs in Paris, Bristol and Amsterdam among others, and also took part in prestigious festivals. They are a staple of Moscow concert scene, where they hold live sessions lasting a few hours.
One can look for a similar band in vain, a band that approaches the sound matter and its creation in such an accurate way. They use traditional instruments, but also human bones found in Tibetan wastelands. They meditate and practise the way of singing called "rgyud-skad."
The magic and strength of their music has been appreciated by Stephen O'Malley among others, who released one of their albums on his own label.
Zoharum would like to present the latest album by the band entitled "Mantras of Bon." It is an extraordinary release, even for such an extraordinary and unusual project as PHURPA. More than 70 minutes of music here is divided into two parts. The first one, featuring Alissa Nicolai on vocals, shows the band from a completely different angle; the other one presents the most important and interesting sessions recorded over the past few years, with a recording from CTM festival where they impressed the audience with "kuntunzangpo."
"Mantras of Bon" is an excellent introduction into the adventures with PHURPA, the world of Tibetan music filtered by contemporary reinterpretation free from rigid rules. It may enchant both those looking for interesting sacral music and the ones searching for a new form of sonic statement.

(label info)