Selections include Babaji's northern Indian song to combat depression and fatigue (bet it also works with anxiety), a Kuma Indian song from the San Blas Islands for healing mental illness, Amazon medicine man Dakikiking Don Alejandro's ritual for healing digestive problems, and the more general application song for petitioning the gods for healing from Mexican peyote shaman Mara'akame. I'm cautious about trying Tuvan shaman Alexander Tavakay's song for calling animal helpers for fear of our pet geese breaking into the house. Ellipsis arts is onto something here. I foresee whole cds of indigenous healing music designed to treat individual ailments. A headache anthology could go right through the roof. Sadly, the collection sits a box big enough to hold a National Geographic-size accompanying softcover book, making Shaman too bulky to fit cd shelf or medicine chest.

I've often thought the timbres of the gamelan were chosen to resonate sympathetic notes of physical, mental and spiritual well-being in the listener. Maryland's Robert Macht takes full advantage of this principle on Suite for Javanese Gamelan and Synthesizer (Macht). "Ripples" uses gamelan, assorted percussion and keyboards to create uncluttered layered complexity that projects waves of joy and discovery. Just when you think you've hit your happiness peak, Macht shifts the patterns or introduces new combinations of textures to keep the experience flowing. Blissfully, his synthesizer largely avoids fat washes of sound in favor of gentle eddies or mallet instrument emulations that integrate well with traditional themes. Macht, who studied the court gamelan repertoire in Central Java, arranges, plays and records his compositions with clear understanding of the ensemble process, avoiding the effect of a one-man band adrift in an empty studio. The exception to his do-everything philosphy is a lovely extended piece "Wind Brings Rain," backed by Global Percussion members Barry Dove, Donna DiStefano and Jon Seligman. Suite is a wonderful disc whose pleasures are immediately accessible while harboring deep structural secrets that take repeated listenings to unravel. [6140 Barroll Rd., Baltimore, MD 21209 or machtone@erols.com]

Nature lovers should cherish Utom: Summoning the Spirit (Rykodisc), a nicely varied anthology of music of the Tboli people of Southwestern Mindanao in the Philippines. The utom repertoire is tied closely to sounds and spirits of the Tboli's environment. Some songs strive for a sonic imitation of the area fauna, such as lute-player Bendaly's "Call of the Cicada" and "Flying Woodpecker." The former gets loads of local play--a version for bamboo zither is performed by Lendungan Simfal and Ihan Sibanay, but Sol Ayaw does my favorite rendition. After seeking shelter from an afternoon downpour in a cave, he engages a songbird just outside the entrance in a spirited duet with his violin on this piece and "Cackling mnaul bird." Other songs evoke the atmosphere of the Tboli's natural setting, such as the gong and drum pieces reminiscent of the Muslim Filipinos' kulitan ensembles which ostensibly convey the sound of lapping waves but also project a lovely feeling of intimacy and well-being. Rounding out the collection is "Prized Banana," a bawdy vocal performance by Ye Gas that extols the charms and failing of various gentlemen she has known. And it's not even rap.

If Hapa ain't Hawaii's Beatles, then they're certainly the island's Oasis, and if not Oasis, they're still the raspberries. To almost the same degree that I loathed the sickly sweet slack key of Keli'li Kanneali'i and Barry Flanagan's first local mega-seller, Hapa, I admire the slick pop smarts of the bombshell follow up In the Name of Love (Coconut Grove). From the front cover of a buffed Kaneali'i in indigenous cloth wrap and Flanagan in tartan kilt, both armed with serious armament from the Keola Beamer custom guitar craft studio, to the power chords that kick off disc opener "E Hele Ana E," it's evident no kitchen sink will be spared in this assault on the charts. Hapa hot-wires traditional themes and tunes, inventing a kind of speed slack key as "Pahinui Aloha" zips from ki-hoalu to bluegrass fingerpicking with nary a sliver of Polynesian daylight in between. But the lads' favorite gambit is warm and fuzzy psychedelia. Not content dunking "Leluhuna" beneath an ocean of flanged vocal effects, they knock the cobwebs off a stuttering electric sitar solo reminiscent of Strawberrry Alarm Clock's finest hour. But with all the aural hooks and loop-the-loops by Kanneali'i, Flanagan and their exceptional session musicians, it's the harmonies that keep me from running away screaming as sappy ditties like "Manoa, In the Rain" make you wish they stuck to Hawaiian-language lyrics. But gorgeous vocals elevate phonemes over morphemes, keeping me in pineapple fields forever.

Few percussionists have the ability or inclination to hold the spotlight on a solo recording, but with his arsenal of tuned tabla drums and prodigious chops, Badal Roy could keep me riveted all by his lonesome. The Bangladesh-born drummer has supported such luminaries as Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, John McLaughlin and Bengali folk musician Purna Das Baul, so he's used to meshing gears with top-notch talents. On One in the Pocket (Nomad/Music of the World), Roy explores the many different timbres of the tabla, from the well-water thump of "Geeta's Shuffle," to the pitched tabla tarang of "Bombay Boogie," the gentle percolation of Mike Richmond's bass-charged "Island Song," and the familiar "dang-dut" of "Roda Gigante" anchoring the sequencer-precise Brazilian guitar duo Duofel. But it's the diversity of Roy's collaborators that puts this in the pocket, as Steve Gorn adds dreamy bansuri flute to the title cut and Eastern-flavored soprano sax to "Dadaism," and Amit Chatterlee lends cosmic electric guitar to four songs. Roy balances the forward presence of his drums with the contrasting textures of his bandmates as carefully as he blends genres in this slap-happy, hook-filled disc. [worldmusic.com]

For too many years Texas' Brave Combo has stood alone hoisting the twin banners of virtuosity and a perverse taste in international music. Now The Reptile Palace Orchestra draws a yellow line in the snow outside their Madison, Wisconsin headquarters daring madmen only to take the entrance ramp to Hwy X (Omnium). Dipping into a mostly Mediterannean and Mideastern repertoire laced with a few pop oddities, RPO plays with the druggy determination of a band that doesn't find its legs until 3:00 am after the third handful of demerol. Reinforcing the late-night attitude is a woozy choice of covers that blurs sincerity and irony with deadpan instrumental prowess until you couldn't care less about the distinction--Michael Hurley's "The Revenant" as prom night make-out music, or Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wings" cast as SoCal folk rock ballad. Sonics are of a piece as well, as comfy space around the instruments opens up via signal processing to suggest a reverb-plagued performance in a metal and concrete hockey rink. Most bands crystalize into hardened professionals before they attain Reptile Pace Orchestra's level of stoned ennui, so pick up this ambitious yet half-bored disc of international intrigue while it's still wriggling. [PO. Box 7367, Minneapolis, MN 55407 or www.omnium.com]

Each Christmas I grit my teeth as my wife trots out her cds of holiday standards from the Nutcracker to der Bingle's rendition of "Silent Night." In self-defense I try foisting alternatives on her, such as my favorite seasonal disc, Marta Sebestyen's Apocrypha, which isn't recognizably Christian, or Bruce Cockburn's bouncy Christmas cd. Next year's addition will be Nomad Christmas, A World Music Celebration (Nomad/Music of the World) which should satisfy Linda with recognizable tunes and keep me relatively sane with its expostulations on same. My favorite cuts are by oudist Simon Shaheen, who transports "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" and "We Three Kings" to appropriate Middle Eastern territory with an added jazzy swing, and Duofel, who demonstrate both tact and inventiveness with "Jingle Bells Brazil" (I can barely type these titles). Bulgarian a cappella group Folk Scat is less palatable with its doodly-doo version of "Silent Night," though homeland Christmas tune "Koledarska Pesen" fares slightly better. Also featured are percussionist Glen Velez, bassist Mike Richmond, percussionist and label founder Bob Haddad, pianist Richard Sussman and others. Nomad Christmas isn't as good as avoiding seasonal music entirely, but it is kind to the stomach. [worldmusic.com]

[Copyright 1998 Bob Tarte]

All world music reviews by Bob Tarte from:www.technobeat.com