Press
Press realease Sept 11, 2010
Reviews
UNT, 2 Oct 29, 2010
WORLDMUSIC- Malou Berg, renowned in Uppland, Sweden, continues to investigate musical borderlines in her fourth album of the Pleiadian Suite. Now with songs in her own language for which she has been rewarded the Word Prize of the Swedish Word Festival (Ordfestivalens ordpris). This time Malou Berg bases her music on the tones of the ancient Solfeggio Scale and she does this in co-operation with Xavier Desandre Navarre, French percussionist and multi-instrumentalist.
Norran, Nov 17, 2010
The legend has it that the ancient Solfeggio scale contains healing power. I am not going into any deeper music-theoretic interpretation but content myself with ascertaining that, compared with our Western scale, some notes are higher and some lower, that is to say that the distance between the tones of the scale differs. A scale with healing powers, sounds of Tibetan singing bowls and crystal bowls, miracle frequencies etc.
There is an incredible amount of mumbo-jumbo on Malou Berg’s latest album “Alignment” which she has made in cooperation with the French percussionist Xavier Desandre Navarre, much too much for my taste. I am going to be kind and give the record a “2” and also observe that it contains rather efficient meditative music. I leave the belief in the healing powers of the Solfeggio scale and the songs to others.
Mikael Bengtsson
Allehanda.se, Oct 23, 2010
Malou Berg is a singer who experiments and improvises with floating, meditative music. The result is ambient world music, music that won’t fit in any specific category.
Rating: 4/5
Joycine.se, Dec 6, 2010
Malou Berg’s record “Alignment” is magical. At least that is what it says on the cover, several times. With the emphasis on song and Tibetan crystal bowls, Malou Berg and her musicians improvise in eleven meditative and enthralling tunes. The language used is Malou’s own “Pleiadian” and the notes move within the “ancient” Solfeggio scale which is claimed to have healing powers.
The music is truly gentle, flexible and pleasant to listen to. I like the record. However, I do not like the way it is presented. I listen a lot to this type of music, I use it for yoga and meditation and nothing keeps me further away from a potential purchase than slogans that contain words such as HEALING or MAGICAL.
Why is that? Because it is completely unnecessary to use this kind of language. In my opinion, all music that has been made with both soul and heart is magical. Music that flows out of the human being into the world (improvised music) is healing. The making of music is in itself both healing and magical as we use the body, the temple, we have been given as a loan to spread the joy of living. The Solfeggio scale is undoubtedly ancient and contains “miracle frequencies” but, if you listen carefully, you realize that it sounds very much like a slightly modified penta-scale, which it most probably is.
The point I am trying to make is that the record is beautiful and wonderful to listen to, but the pack and the consequent expectations are unnecessary. Listen unbiased to the record with a completely open mind, in this way you will get to the core of the music without getting caught up in all the things around you.
Linda Nihlén
Lira Musik Magasin, March 29, 2011
Meditative improvisation of songs in a mediaeval scale. Malou Berg – singer, musician and composer has many strings on her lyre. She has successfully performed both rock, gospel, pop, cabaret, world music and singing yoga. Her latest project is to realize a suite of songs in the language she herself has invented, Pleiadian, a collection of syllables that are great for singing, according to Malou Berg herself. They even make her focus on the emotions in the music. Now she is presenting the fourth album of this Pleiadian suite. Together with French percussionist Xavier Desandre Navarre, she has improvised her music with no retakes and no intention of any specific content. The sound on this record has been chosen in accordance with the frequencies of the mediaeval Solfeggio scale, a scale which is not “tempererad”. Afterwards such musicians as Lars Danielsson, Ulf Wakenius, Thomas Hellsten as well as others have added their voices and instruments. The result is in the same cross-over style as the Irish Clannad and the effect is as suggestively beautiful as the Indian-world music by North American Carlos Nakai, that is to say it is both exciting and relaxing at the same time.
Alexandra Ullsten
Zeitenwende, 2010
This CD has truly surprised me in a very positive way. No superficial “New Age-nonsense” emerging from the loudspeakers but a musically and technically sounding most well-produced CD with a gifted and very expressive singer. This is already the fourth recording by Malou Berg from Sweden. She is accompanied by a small group of musicians who contribute to the professional and positive expression left us by this CD. Malou Berg wants to bring the listener with her to new worlds where he may experience inspiration, liberation and exaltation in a magical way. These worlds consist of gentle beats, lovely scales, beautiful melodies, virtual guitar-playing and keyboards – and, last but not least, the enchanting voice of Malou Berg.
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Read more herePress realease Sept 11, 2010
Review
Zeitenwende – 2010