Patrick Bernard The music of Patrick Bernhardt has reached thousands of people in deeply personal ways. This intimate connection will continue and expand greatly with the release of "Shamanyka" -- but his music as an art form has made a dramatic shift.
The metamorphosis from Patrick's debut, "Atlantis Angelis," through his second release "Solaris Universalis" has been a movement toward rhythmic motion and full-bodied vocal expression, and an ever-widening skill for creating dramatic settings in which to place his potent chanting. While the ethereal hues, instrumental textures and layered vocal passages continue to underscore and hover above many of the tracks, "Shamanyka" is, in a word, ritualistic. The tracks include chants, as before, with their basis in Vedic /East Indian rituals. There are also four Native American chants, from Sioux, Modoc, Hopi and the Grey Flute clan tribes, one traditional African chant, an Islamic-Sufi incantation, and a Jewish/Hebrew Kabbalistic exorcism, called 'Adonai.' There are two CD-only tracks: 'Samsara, " with its mystical yearning, and a second version of 'Adonai,' with a glowing, processional tempo and sparkling guitar. Each piece begins with one distinct sound; sometimes a plaintive piano, elsewhere furious handdrums, crickets or simply the voice. Then melody and pace are established and begin to intertwine and change as the keyboards, percussion and fretless bass frame the delicate guitar workings that focalize each track, always moving upward with a freedom of direction that is rarely heard so consistently. At times the sound ventures into rock terrain, & pulsating rhythms dominate portions of several pieces. In particular, Patrick's voice covers the full extent of his range, exerting intricate inner control while casting his gorgeous voice freely outward as he pleases. His musical statements on "Shamanyka" clearly show the vast possibilities of this unique hybrid of musical delicacies & varied cultural origins.
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