World and New Age Music 

By Kathryn Sargent 

Atlanta's own Emerald Rose is a crowd favorite at venues ranging from the Atlanta Montreaux Music Festival and Roswell's delightful “Concert on the Square” series, to the Atlanta Celtic Festival, Eddie's Attic, Variety Playhouse, DragonCon (the largest science fiction convention in the Southeast) and I*Con in New York. Their “Freya Shakti” was a number one hit on mp3.com's Spiritual Pop Chart, and there have been over 200,000 downloads of their music on that URL. Their rich harmony and instrumentation including pennywhistle, driving guitars and bass, and world percussion, weave an uncomplicated, earthy Celtic folk rock that is highly danceable and infectiously fun. The Aquarius staff favorite track on the studio recording Bending Tradition  is “Pagan Girl”. “I'm gonna find myself a pagan girl who understands the Goddess and rocks my world”; now, what woman wouldn't appreciate that lyric? Bending Tradition also includes the hit “Freya Shakti”, which is intense and fiery.           

Their third album, Fire In The Head, was recorded before live audiences and carries higher energy and more musical sophistication than the previous one. Emerald Rose will soon be releasing their fourth album, Celtic Crescent, and I, for one, can't wait to hear it. Be sure to come to the Aquarius Birthday Bash and hear Emerald Rose perform live!

Uma Silbey's Soul of the Beloved is a masterful performance of healing music by an accomplished healer, artist, musician, and author.  

A new edition of Silbey's book, The Complete Crystal Guidebook, has recently been released, and it is one of the best I've ever encountered for both beginning and advanced students of crystal healing. Silbey has fifteen recordings in her discography, both musical and narrative guided meditations. Soul of the Beloved is an instrumental healing journey in synthesizer (Silbey) and flute (Therese West). All songs on the CD are Silbey's own compositions and arrangements. Soul of the Beloved is loving, nurturing  music for meditation, trance, deep relaxation  and expanded consciousness. It is lovely, peaceful music, and I highly recommend it.