Tenzin Choegyal, Matt Corby, Rohin Jones, Alex Henriksson – Snow Flower (Rainbow Valley Records, 2025)
Tenzin Choegyal, Grammy-nominated Tibetan musician and composer, joins forces with multi-instrumentalists Matt Corby, Rohin Jones (The Middle East), and songwriter Alex Henriksson for Snow Flower. This is a seven-track album that interweaves Tibetan spiritual traditions with contemporary musical influences. Produced by Corby and Henriksson at Rainbow Valley Studios in northeastern New South Wales, Snow Flower features acoustic and electronic elements fused with Buddhist mantras, creating a meditative and immersive listening experience.
The title Snow Flower refers to Khaway Metok, a Tibetan term symbolizing both impermanence and beauty, central themes in Choegyal’s artistic and spiritual approach. Choegyal’s music is deeply grounded in Tibetan folk music tradition. Choegyal channels these musical influences, as well as his lifelong connection to meditation, into compositions that merge his three-string dranyen, a traditional Tibetan lute, with modern production techniques.
Originally conceived as an informal jam around the 432Hz healing frequency, the project evolved into a fully realized concept album. The tracks unfold as a musical experience, mirroring the phases of meditation. The album opener, “Snow Flower,” pairs Choegyal’s dranyen with Corby’s warm harmonies, while “Mountain” layers re-harmonized dranyen melodies with delicate acoustic guitar, vocal chants, a spoken word guided meditation and ambient electronic-style synthesizers. Further, “Dawn” introduces Tibetan-language lyrics, set to transfixing body percussion and dreamy ambient sounds.
Each track serves a purpose: “Passage” is a long track, an extended, trance-like soundscape with bowed electric guitar, Tibetan flute and a mesmerizing, repetitive mantra; while “Dusk” incorporates subtle electronic beats, cymbals, strumming guitar and spellbinding, echoing chants.
The delightful song “Lullaby” brings back the dranyen in conjunction with Choegyal’s Tibetan vocals and electronic music arrangements.
The album closes with “Dreaming,” the longest piece on the album, featuring spoken passages from The Tibetan Book of the Dead, along with enchanting electronic atmospheres, reinforcing themes of impermanence and transcendence.
Choegyal’s career has spanned collaborations with avant-garde artists like Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson. His ability to bridge traditional Tibetan music with contemporary genres aligns seamlessly with Corby, Jones, and Henriksson’s exploratory spirit. Together, they craft Snow Flower as an invitation to deep listening, a meditative retreat from the rush of modern life.
Release date: 2025/4/4
Author: Tyler Bennet
