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Rajna |
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Line-up: Jeanne Lefebvre (vocals) Fabrice Lefebvre(music) Gérard Chambellant (1997-2000) "Rajna arose from a passion for ethnic musical instruments. It is an encounter between different cultures: a music tinged with occidental and oriental sonorities as well as Tibetan and Indian ones. Rajna also introduces a voice full of mysteries and emotion. It is an invitation to travel and also an invitation to the independence of the spirit."
-- Ishati liner notes
"Rajna captures the passion of the possessed, the spark of divine inspiration. Fabrice Lefebvre and Gérard Chambellant play traditional Tibetan and Indian instruments such as the santoor, the yang T'chin, gongs and bells in a way that resembles ritualized devotional music, rather than actual songs. This is often discreetly embellished by synthesizer passages, and galvanic rhythmic patterns. Jeanne Lefebvre's marvelously operatic vocals sound like she's channeling the voices of spirits. You feel as if you are witnessing some clandestine, ancient ritual."
-- Craig Gidney, Ethereality Yahoo Group
¼ 1997: Ishati "The French trio Rajna have a definite Dead Can Dance vibe. Instrumentalists Fabrice Lefebvre and Gerard Chambellant weave medeival, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern modes with traditional Tibetan, Indian and Middle Eastern instruments. The third member, Jeanne Lefebvre, turns up the heat with sultry and sometimes impassioned quasi-operatic vocals, some of which are wordless chants. Sythesizer drones are used to good effect and with great taste, providing many of the 13 pieces with additional ritualistic solemnity. Rajna's music has little grit and sweat, but it's not represented as authentic. Rather, it's a distillation of the most exalted and dramatic aspects of traditional music, and it succeeds admirably on its own terms, often sounding like ancient, alien court music. Ishati sustains drama without ever degenerating into kitsch."
-- Bill Tiland, Alternative Press, no. 158, 9/01
1999: Yahili Just click here! to send us your review of this album 2001: The Heady Wine of Praise Just click here! to send us your review of this album 2002: The Door of Serenity "Rajna have created a stream of ethereal sounds with the use of traditional and exotic instruments coupled with the use of synths. Merge in the (what words can I use here to describe the unearthly voice of Jeanne Lefebvre) multi-dimensional and extremely capable vocals talents of Jeanne and layer in the exotic Euro/Eastern musical components and you have an album of such incredible capacity that it could be other than what it is; a doorway to another plane, a key to inner exploration. (...) Instrumentalist Fabrice Lefebvre provides the range of musical explorations created by old world instruments. Picking up where DCD left off at their peak, Rajna have escalated the advancement of the style by exploring vast uncharted musical terrain, painstakingly mapping the results of aural involvement and releasing the whole as a sketch of spiritual ascendency with an accompanying soundtrack."
-- Matt Rowe, musictap.net, 7/02
2004: Hidden Temple Tracklisting: CD1- 1- Ranakpur 2- Buried Philae 3- Helay, Helay 4- Rajgir 5- Dancing with Divinities 6- Odyssey 7- Kerala Breath 8- Glorian 9- Anakera 10- Aswan 11- Hidden Temple mp3 + 3 Hidden Temple tracks: Bihar, Glorian (instrumental), Odyssey (Remix) + Bonus video track: Kalos Irtes. CD2- 1- Shantra (ethnic version) 2- Incantation 3- Baraka 4- Kalista 5- Milandores 6- Bredzina 7- Develyn 8- Nostalgia 9- Shantra (Church version) 10- Infernam 11-Solstice 12- Greek Dance 13- Mandarek 14- Luciana 15- Benista "'Hidden Temple' is a digipack with 3 bonus tracks and a live cd-rom track. The first 2000 copies include an extra limited CD with demos from 1998 to 2002 entitled "From the Ashes". On the 'Hidden Temple' the musical travel goes on to lead us towards other lands where riddles and mysteries reign. 'Hidden Temple' was recorded in 'Out of the World' studio with a myriad of ethnic instruments coming from numerous continents. A production spiritual, deep and rythmic as well in wich lyrical flights and plaintive singings mingle with sometimes entrancing and disturbing sonorities, sometimes profound and luminous."
-- press release
2005: Black Tears Tracklisting: 1_Black Tears (edit) 2_Traoma 3_Sanctuary 4_Pearl of Ashes 5_Glorian 6_Sién 7_The Door of Serenity 8_Mona lyssa 9_Shalai 10_Cantara 11_kalimbha 12_Shushai 13_Dervishing 14_Aswan 15_Trehya man 16_Buried Philae_remixded by Division Alpha 17_ Black Tears "'Black Tears' is an intense retrospective celebrating Rajna's first six years. The disc features 9 songs covering all their albums, 5 new songs (4 recorded in 2005 especially for this release), the massive Buried Philae remix by the electro-industrial masters Division Alpha, plus 2 exclusive rarities: spiritual Sién and surprising Shushai. In partnership with the association The House of the Himalayas, Rajna will donate their royalties to the building of a school for the children of Tibet. 'Black Tears' is dedicated to all those who wish to discover the special musical universe of this French-Tibetan duet: the scents of the East and Asia; the taste of spices which wake your senses, musical colors which hypnotize, echoing landscapes which transport you towards unknown regions; celestial, sensual, tragic, powerful and captivating voices which charm the hearts in search of sincerity. Rajna is a bridge of perfect harmony creating a wonderful alliance between the earth (humanity) and the sky (paradise). From black tears emerges the light of our souls."
-- press release
2006: Otherwise Tracklisting: 01.Porcelain Sky 02. Shall I Go ? 03. Angel (click to listen) 04. Just My Life 05. Colours Of Love 06. Prima Ballerina 07. Abyss 08. Radio Island 09. Secret Place 10. Lost Memories 11. Black Humanity 12. When I Was A Child? 13. Antalya 14. Porcelain Sky (Guitar Edit) Just click here! to send us your review of this album 2008: Duality Tracklisting: 1. Towards the Universe 2. Above this Grey Land 3. We are the Echoes 4. Maetel 5. Pearl into The Ocean 6. Lamentation 7. Kaloum 8. Sun Comes to Life 9. Fallen 10. Le Toit du Monde 11. Omajna 12. Tree of Patience 13. I Used to Pray 14. Kaitena 15. At Dawn 16. The Echoes Just click here! to send us your review of this album 2010: Offering Tracklisting: 01. The Arrival 02. Ephesus 03. Cycléades 04. Epidauros 05. Illa Saldé 06. Eleusis 07. Offering 08. The Dance of Cléomene 09. Never Land 10. Quiet Hour "With their new opus 'Offering' (9th album) and for the first time with Equilibrium Music, Rajna continue their musical and cultural exploration of sounds crossing the Mediterranean and taking us above the Aegean islands, the Cyclades, Crete and Greece towards Turkey ... Using a considerable selection of acoustic instruments, Rajna's sound returns to its roots, leaving only very limited space for electronics and modern technology. Fans of the eighties will not be forgotten in songs like The Dance of Cléomene, Neverland and the surprising Quiet Hour sung by Aret Madilian from the band Deleyaman."
-- press release
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