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Shagbark Hickory Spirit

With a mix of tribal and Celtic flavors, accompanied by sweet female harmonies, Kristi Cowles brings us "Shagbark Hickory Spirit," a CD of Cowles¹ original music which could as easily be classified as folk or tribal, world music or New Age.

The lyrics contain the mystic beauty of ancient Irish ballads, or Native American prayers, written with the beauty and simplicity of the feeling that is the human heart. Cowles has the mythological, storyteller quality worthy of the inner wild woman one rarely finds outside of Clarissa Pinkola Estes' "Women Who Run With The Wolves."

It is an album which speaks to, and of, the power of the soul of Woman, and honors both her ancestors and whatever spiritual beings guide and direct songs of life and gratitude. The maiden, mother and crone are all honored here with clear melodies and rhythmic percussive accompaniment which seems at once to reflect the tribal rhythms of Native America, Europe and Africa. It is all of these and yet none; still, in the livelier pieces, like "Ancient Whispers" or "Song of the Ancestors," the drums and rattles will make you want to dance sinuously around a campfire, hair tossed akimbo, lips parted, hands moving in ancient and forgotten gestures. Slower compositions such as "The Way of the Hawk" will remind you of childhood lullabies.

The title song, "Shagbark Hickory Woman" is a pure, slither-on-the-piano jazz piece worthy of Billy Holiday and rendered with the light-heartedness of that classic jazz group, Lamberts, Hendricks and Ross. "Freya Hannah" is at once whimsical and mystical. "Song of the Little People" could have been written for a Broadway musical about fairies, without any guile or campiness, in the tradition of "Over The Rainbow."

Shagbark hickory is a species of tree common throughout the North American deciduous forests, and is especially plentiful in Wisconsin, where Cowles makes her home. Of Scandinavian descent, Cowles seems to have tapped into the indigenous flavor of her surroundings without losing the genetic memories of her Northern European ancestors. She has blended them together with a modern American jazz spice that reflects the mixed roots of most American women today. A grandmother of three, the 56-year-old owner of a bed and breakfast, she considers herself both a crone and a "cultural pioneer." She shares her experience of multiple evolving selves in "Go Deeply, Sister," sharing the lesson so few of us learn until our maturity ­ "I know myself I am worthy, I'm keeper of the mysteryŠ.I know myself."

Prayerful and celebratory with remarkable variety in musical styles from song to song, "Shagbark Hickory Spirit" is a recommended musical companion to women seeking the touch and expression of their own inner spirits.

Catt Foy
http://www.angelfire.com/az/zodiacenterprises

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