Shaman Music

Shaman's Breath by Professor Trance & The Energisers

This remarkable CD is a soundtrack for trance dancing-but it's not rave, it's not techno, it's not ambient or industrial or hip hop, or anything remotely partaking of the mind-numbing conformity of modern urban dance music. Instead, it's made up of beats inspired by traditional cultures that still maintain a connection to the spirits via shamanism and trance dancing, mixed with cutting-edge club music: that is, it's modern tribal techno-pagan shamanic music, and it rocks! If you can sit still during this album, you're either completely physically repressed, deeply into resistance, or dead.

Prof. Trance & The Energisers are an international "tribe" of creative folk who "experience the Great Mother Earth as the original deity and the intelligence within nature." Their purpose is to bring good energy into people's lives through neo-shamanic cross-cultural spiritual practices. Trance dancing is an ancient shamanic practice used for healing through techniques of ecstasy. As the Energisers write, "Anyone can Trance Dance because there are no steps, no external expectations. Spirit knows the steps and once awakened, Spirit takes over."

The concept, text, and lyrics for Shaman's Breath were all created by Frank Natale, aka Prof. Trance, the leader of the Energisers. Each of the CD's nine tracks conveys a piece of the Energizers' cosmology. The CD kicks off with "Spirit Catcher" and progresses to the core tracks, "Breath Connects Us All" and "Dancing Your Animal," concluding with the beautiful "Soul Hunters Return." Using this music is meant to be a spiritual practice distilled from many shamanic traditions-spiritual technology stripped of cultural baggage (a paradox, because what makes the music so successful is its grounding in, with occasional samples of, particular music cultures). I've interacted with a lot of modern tribal techno-pagans over the years (Madison is full of 'em), but very few as are committed, as focused, as grounded, and as effective as the Energizers appear to be.

The CD's liner notes are specific about how to use the music to enact your own trance-dance ritual. (I tried it out, following the directions: it works.) If you're into techno-rave, or a hardcore modern urban soul who sneers at anything remotely spiritual, then steer clear of Shaman's Breath. If, on the other hand, you're serious about The Real Stuff (not just more "New Age" ear-candy crap and quick-fix album), then this CD is a must-have. Give into the flow-as the words to "Xingu" say, "Move that body, heal it...