Temple
Coming Home
Sounds True M1153D   
(soundstrue.com or hebrewchanting.com)

New Age music fans will exult to the Hebrew-language chanting of Danya Uriel accompanied by guitarist Eyal Rivlin. The young married couple from Boulder, Colorado, calls their radiantly peaceful new CD one step toward reconnecting to “ancient Hebrew mantras” through communal meditation and ecstatic prayer. Backed by an ensemble of international instruments, including a bansuri (Indian bamboo) flute and oud (ancient Middle Eastern lute), the songs reinforce messages of spiritual self-discovery. As the title track hypnotically advises us: “Come home to yourself; come home to your heart.” The noted Moroccan-born musician Rachid Halihal collaborates on “Shalom,” which the CD booklet terms a “multicultural symphony” that evokes the Old City of Jerusalem, with repeated calls for peace in Arabic and Hebrew, blending in a celebration of interconnectedness. Other chants about healing and reunification are given extra conviction by the guitar playing of the Israeli-born Rivlin, who, in addition to his musical studies, earned a master’s degree at Naropa University in transpersonal psychology, a discipline that focuses on the transcendental spirituality in life.