This album has been created with a deep respect for all the forms of Shamanism around the World.

Inspiration and influence was derived from a wide range of Tribal cultures with the focus on our relationship with the natural World.

A re-imagining of my old ’Shaman’ album originally released in 1995.

New World and I have decided to delete the original version of the album from their catalogue and replace it with a completely re vamped offering.

A soundtrack for an imagined night of ritual magic.

A new vision jumped in to my mind, I was inspired by the idea of creating a deeper journey using the original album as a starting point.

Sections of the original album were carefully overlaid and mixed together, New instruments and Natural location recordings have been added resulting in a totally immersive experience..

The result is journey in 4 parts, The Healing circle is at its heart.

The listener is encouraged to imagine a journey in to the Forest

Where a Thunderstorm heralds the arrival of the ‘animal guides’ that will escort you In to the deepest part of the forest, drawn by the call of the Tibetan Thigh bone

……

As Night Falls you enter the Cloak of Darkness and are welcomed in to the Sacred Grove to Join the Healing circle.

A joyful ritual dance ….. concluding with the sounding of the great horn.

The animal guides gradually return you to the here and now

As dawn approaches you are guided back through the Forest following the path of the babbling brook…….

Its been a lot of fun revisiting ’Shaman’

The additions and changes made along the way became a very focused process.

Animal calls, new performances & location recordings have been carefully choreographed into a tapestry of textures.

Herne the Hunter, Thor, Odin and the Great Goddess were all in my minds eye, along with deeper insights assimilated through travel and study over the last 30 years !

Credits -
Composed, performed and produced by Phil Thornton
Phil Thornton
Chicken Flute, Recorders, been pod, rainstick, Bull Roarer, Bamboo Pipe, Conch, Location recordings & Keyboards.
Darren Green
Didgeridoos
Mike Rogers
Tibetan Thigh bone
David Roberts
Percussion
The Whatlington Renegades
Bonfire Drums

About the original album
The original albums structure was built around the Cassette format
(Side 2 extended the themes being established on side 1.)
25mins of music , turn over for another 25mins.
Back in the days of cassettes New World were known for providing albums featuring music with a continues flow …. The therapeutic intent dictated a relaxed approach to pacing
Side 2 was developed in to a single piece in the longer form.
This dictated the running order to an extent with the Healing Circle opening the album, partly due to the need at that time to draw the listener in fairly quickly.
I always felt that this compromised the musical journey I wanted to depict.

The Healing Circle