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Title: Ayahuasca Music: Look Somewhere Else!
Review: I purchased this CD in Amsterdam back in the Summer of 1999. I was shocked to find that it was basically straight-ahead techno-type dance music spiced up with samples of Shipibo shamans and Don Agustin Rivas. Nothing very original there (if you want to hear good uses of similar samples, try "Mother Ayahuasca" on the "Kiva" CD by Steve Roach, Michael Stearns and Ron Sunsinger). However, the CD is well-designed, and has a wonderful little booklet about ayahuasca in English and Dutch (?). If you're curious about traditional, contemporary or "post-modern" uses of ayahuasca, whether in South America or Europe, the booklet serves as a good introduction. If you want to hear insipid techno with pilfered sound samples, this is also good. However, if you want to hear "the real thing," I suggest you fly down to South America (or New Mexico), drink the brew and listen.
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