CD REVIEW: Goddess Groove
By Steve Allat - 10/31/04
World trance? Yes.

The Music Mosaic philosophy, in their own words:

Encouraging all cultures and nations to live together respectfully on our planet Earth. You will hear multi-cultural expressions from diverse countries, yet the sounds flow together in harmony . . . Like a beautiful mosaic! Each CD features exceptional songs on a specific theme from various international artists.

Producer Ariel Kalma has done what few people in his position have managed to do - that is, to assemble songs from a variety of sources that really do blend together and also to produce them in such a way that the sonic tone of the CD is the same from beginning to end, which is really a treat.

On this CD, we have as a theme the 'Goddess in her Dance of Passion', embodied for us via female vocals, performance and songwriting.

Again, all the tracks are strong and well assembled, with artists from Thailand, Morocco, Ireland, Australia and the UK. My faves are amongst those with a Middle Eastern flavour, but there were no tracks which turned my ear the other way, which I admit happens from time to time with certain varieties of music from around the world.

Again, beautiful vocals courtesy of Zehava Ben on 'Ymama' and Ellika Hansen on 'Music Love Makes'. Enough beauty there even if you don't enjoy the rest of the songs. As with some compilations and music in this genre, however, the only potential hindrance I can see is somewhat of a 'new agey' feel to some of the tracks, courtesy of the soft-synth background music and the lush programming. That's not necessarily bad, just a bit typical of the style, and fortunately it isn't overly used or it would have affected the listening experience a lot more. Ariel even manages to transcend the new age 'sound' for the most part through his production alone.

So, kudos to Ariel Kalma - not only for this disc, but for all 3 I listened to and reviewed (see 'Tribal Trance Dance' and 'Tribal Dreaming'). In listening to more than one, it reassured me that his vision is true, his sense of tone is lush & powerful and his ear for choosing tunes that go together is well above average.

I would look to their catalogue now before others of the kind simply based on knowing the attention he obviously gives each product and the overall quality of the finished product. Put this in your player, turn it up and relax - the sound will move right through you.

www.music-mosaic.com