Top Ten Songs by Buddha Bar Artists
10. Secret Love, by Nicos: from Buddha Bar III
This personal top ten song has got that Eastern-Asian charm to it. Secret Love, the lead off tune for the third compilation of the series, is really serious in tone. Many of the selections of the series, as well as my top ten songs, are inspired by the regions in Asia, including the Middle East and the Orient.
9. Una Musica Brutal, by Gotan Project: from Buddha Bar IV
If you can’t afford a trip to “gay Paris”, listen to this lounge genre song. The way Gotan Project performs it comes across as if you are in the front row of some bohemian hangout in Paris, thick with cigarette smoke and the smell of alcohol.
8. Straight to�Number One, by Touch & Go: from Buddha Bar VI
Fans of the Queer as Folk television series will recognize this top ten song of mine about the imminent sexual act about to happen. Here’s a taste of the lyricsâÂ?¦
“Ten . . . kiss me on the lips
Nine . . . run your fingers through my hair
Eight . . . touch me . . . slowly
Hold it! Let’s go straight . . . to number one”
7. Aja Maji (Sacred Rhythm Version), by Joe Claussell with Ustad Sultan Khan: from Buddha Bar VII
Aja Maji makes me feel like I’m on a desert caravan riding through the Sahara and/or am about to get a glimpse of the grand pyramids of Egypt. The song is generally very delicate sounding, but at times, it tends to get a bit manic.
6. Happy Dreamer, by Laidback: from Buddha Bar VII
Happy Dreamer rounds out my first half of top ten lounge/chill out songs. Laidback, a popular act from Denmark, performs Happy Dreamer. Just like Una Musica Brutal above, it’s easy to imagine yourself in some big European city’s jet-setting club listening to the horns lightly blowing to begin this very idealistic song about love. The lyric singer seems to be giving a poetry reading rather than singing, like you’d hear at some trendy literary event.
5. 68, by Anima Sound System: from Buddha Bar I
68 is from the first compilation of the great “chill out” series, and is performed by one of Hungary’s top groups. To reiterate, part of the mystique of these songs is in not knowing what’s being sung unless you are a multi-linguist. It’s the sound of the music via the instruments used, pace, and lyric singing that counts. The song 68 combines fast and energetic-paced music with slower lyric singing, almost chant-like. It’s definitely a winning blend!
4. La Fille De Pekin, by Frederick Rousseau: from Buddha Bar IV
La Fille De Pekin is first ever song I heard from this worldly successful series of music. During that time, I was feeling depressed, and this song mirrored the feeling perfectly while I sampled the CD set at a music store back in 2002. It emanates a slow and deeply serious Oriental style, which is helped by some slow mandolin playing.
3. Sacral Nirvana, by Oliver Shanti & Friends: from Buddha Bar III
Sacral Nirvana is a really one of the fun top ten songs, sung as if you are in a groovy mood after leaving a sacred temple. I eagerly await the ending of the song as Oliver Shanti and his buddies sing a mantra that’s loaded with lots of “Ummm’s” in it.
2. Karma (Extended Mix), by Outsized: from Buddha Bar IV
This personal top ten selection from the fourth release is a praise tune to the enlightened being that sounds as if it’s being done via a bullhorn. Still, it’s so deep, so reverent!
1. Lovasok A Szakadek Fele, with/by Bigteteny’s Finest: from Buddha Bar VII
My favorite top ten tune from this series can be best described this way: it’s as if the Disco Duck converted to Buddhism and/or Eastern Mysticism, and would sing like this. The quacking sounds toward the end of song don’t make me laugh because they have this real deep, esoteric feeling to them. My number one song from this series is chased with subtle piano play throughout. I first heard this piece on a flight across the ocean. It was as if the plane were dancing in the sky as this tune played! And no, I wasn’t drunk on wine or spirits either, just on great music!
