KARUNESH

Karunesh is a new age / ambient musician born in Cologne, Germany in 1956. His music has strong Asian and Indian influences prevalent throughout, with liberal use of Indian instruments (like the sitar for example).

Although he had been drawn to music as a child and played in bands as a teenager, he chose to study graphic design as a career. However, after attaining his degree, Karunesh was involved in a serious motorcycle accident. His brush with death prompted him to rethink his life and embark on a spiritual journey of sorts, and in 1979 he travelled to India. His accident also prompted him to choose music as a career instead of graphic design.

In 1987, Karunesh released his first album entitled Sounds of the Heart, which was met with success, followed by Colors Of Light the following year and Sky's Beyond the year after that. As of 2006 Karunesh has released 17 albums (see Discography below).

Karunesh has lived in Maui, Hawaii, since 1992.

Discography

• 1987 Sounds Of The Heart
• 1988 Colours Of Light
• 1989 Sky's Beyond
• 1991 Heart Symphony
• 1992 Heart Chakra Meditation
• 1993 Beyond Body & Mind
• 1996 Secrets of Life
• 1997 Osho Chakra Sounds (Note: Co-artist 'Osho' is sometimes dropped from the title)
• 2001 Wanderer (May 8, 2001)
• 2001 Zen Breakfast (July 10, 2001)
• 2002 Nirvana Cafe
• 2003 Silent Heart (July 1, 2003)
• 2003 Global Spirit (September 2, 2003)
• 2004 Call Of the Mystic (May 11, 2004)
• 2004 Beyond Heaven (June 8, 2004)
• 2006 Global Village (April 11, 2006)
• 2006 Joy Of Life (October 24, 2006)

New Age Music

There is no formal definition of the New Age movement. One academic study suggests that those who sample many diverse teachings and practices from both 'mainstream' and 'fringe' traditions and formulate their own beliefs and practices based on their experiences can be considered as New Age.Rather than following the lead of an organised religion, "New Agers" typically construct their own spiritual journey based on material taken from the mystical traditions of the world's religions, also including shamanism, neopaganism, and occultism.

New Age practices and beliefs may be characterized as a form of alternative spirituality or alternative religion. Even apparent exceptions, such as alternative medicine or traditional medicine practices, often have some spiritual dimension—such as a conceptual integration of mind, body, and spirit.

The term New Age is used in a Western or modern context where the Judeo-Christian tradition and/or Positivism are dominant, so the use of "alternative" in New Age thought generally implies a contrast with these dominant religious and/or scientific beliefs. Hence, many New Age ideas and practices in the West contain either explicit or implied critiques of organised mainstream Christianity—emphasis on meditation suggests that simple prayer and faith are insufficient, and beliefs such as reincarnation (which not all New Age followers accept)—challenge familiar Christian doctrines, like those regarding the Afterlife.

New Age is a wide range of ideas and activities, from which participants in the subculture select their own preferred streams to identify with. The question of which contemporary cultural elements can be included under the name of "New Age" , or what it means, is much contested. New Age channelers, for instance, have many points of similarity with Spiritualist mediums. Many spiritual movements, such as neo-paganism and transpersonal psychology partially overlap with it. Many groups prefer to distance themselves from the possible negative connotations of the "New Age" name, such as the media hoopla and commercialism, while others prefer not to use it at all. For example, key individuals in the New Thought Movement, such as Ernest Holmes, have focused on a more scientific approach and do not share beliefs in reincarnation, magic, or channeling. Major efforts to present the New Age as a values-based sociopolitical movement included Mark Satin's New Age Politics (orig. 1976),Theodore Roszak's Person/Planet (1978), Marilyn Ferguson's Aquarian Conspiracy (1980), and Gordon Davidson and Corinne McLaughlin's Spiritual Politics (1994).

The Music that makes you ROCK...!!

Rock music is a form of popular music with a prominent vocal melody accompanied by guitar, drums, and bass. Many styles of rock music also use keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, mellotron, and synthesizers. Other instruments sometimes utilized in rock include harmonica, violin, flute, banjo, melodica, and timpani. Also, less common stringed instruments such as mandolin and sitar are used. Rock music usually has a strong back beat, and often revolves around the guitar, either solid electric, hollow electric, or acoustic.

Rock music has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll and rockabilly, which evolved from blues, country music and other influences. According to the All Music Guide, "In its purest form, Rock & Roll has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody. Early rock & roll drew from a variety of sources, primarily blues, R&B, and country, but also gospel, traditional pop, jazz, and folk. All of these influences combined in a simple, blues-based song structure that was fast, danceable, and catchy."

In the late 1960s, rock music was blended with folk music to create folk rock, blues to create blues-rock and with jazz, to create jazz-rock fusion, and without a time signature to create psychedelic rock. In the 1970s, rock incorporated influences from soul, funk, and latin music. Also in the 1970s, rock developed a number of subgenres, such as soft rock, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, and punk rock. Rock subgenres that emerged in the 1980s included synth-rock, hardcore punk and alternative rock. In the 1990s, rock subgenres included grunge, Britpop, indie rock, and nu metal.

A group of musicians specializing in rock music is called a rock band or rock group. Many rock groups consist of a guitarist, lead singer, bass guitarist, and drummer, forming a quartet. Some groups omit one or more of these roles and/or utilize a lead singer who plays an instrument while singing, forming a trio or duo; others include additional musicians such as one or two rhythm guitarists and/or a keyboardist. More rarely, groups also utilize stringed instruments such as violins or cellos, and/or horns like trumpets or trombones.

Summarised:

Stylistic origins:	Rock and roll, ultimately blues (mostly jump blues and Chicago blues), country music and R&B
Cultural origins:	Late 1940s United States
Typical instruments:	Guitar, Bass, Drums, often also Keyboards
Mainstream popularity:	Much, constant and worldwide since the 1950s
Derivative forms:	Alternative rock - Heavy metal - Punk rock