HOSIANNA MANTRA

This site recommends the utmost care in assigning five stars to any album, but this one... When I was eighteen I discovered Werner Herzog's mastery as a film-maker by watching on TV his amazing "Aguirre". Aside the beautiful images, the very good direction and the unforgettable performance by Klaus Kinski, I was struck also by the soundtrack, underlining the "Conquistadores' progress" into the rainforest with solemn chords of mellotron and ethereal moog sounds. Thus, I made my acquaintance also with Popol Vuh's music. "Hosianna Mantra" is their timeless masterpiece, a real work of the spirit. Electric Prunes, Spooky Tooth and Stryper (gasp!) should feel deeply ashamed of their attempt into "religious rock" after listening to this. The first part of the album is a sort of Mass, consisting of an instrumental introduction (in line with the use of composers such as Frescobaldi and Monteverdi), the "Kyrie" and a part of the "Sanctus". "Ah" is a very good opening, very atmospheric at the beginning, than moving to almost dancing indian influenced tunes, lead by piano and harpiscord. "Kyrie" is pure "kosmische Musik" without any need of synthesizers: in its first part the piano and the Tamboura form a sort of rhythmless "ocean", from which Veit's spacey guitar and Yun's ethereal voice emerge in pure beauty; then music gets a regular cadence, entering Eliscu's oboe lines, to became more solemn and, in the end, finishing like a sort of whisper... This track leaves me totally breathless! "Hosianna" is structured as a real Indian dance, with constantly evolving rhythm patterns and a more rocking feeling. Part two of the album consists in a series of quotes from the Bible. "Abschied" is pure classical, moving and visionary. The other tunes are very charming, and Popol Vuh becames more a small classical ensemble than a pop-rock (even if prog) band. Yun sings amazing tunes, while Fricke, Veit and Eliscu seem to run after each other in a loose counterpart, rich in impressive peaks. Yes, this is probably my "desert island" album.