Gazing Point

The musicians involved in this recording have had various experiences in meditative musics. Master ney player Kudsi Erguner, a Mevlevi disciple, was exposed to the Mevlevi Sufi musical tradition whileplaying the ney in Dervish ceremonies alongside his father and has been featured on several well known recordings devoted to sufi music. The Mevlevi order, founded in the 13th century by the great theologian Mevlana Jalalu'ddin Rumi, is the most famous of sufi groups. The ney was / is played during ecstatic dances in trance ritual of the Mevlevi branch of Sufism known also as the "Whirling Dervishes".

The son of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Markus Stockhausen, has collaborated extensively with his father and has been a featured soloist in many of his father's operas with themes often dealing with spirituality and mythology. The main interests of Markus, as a trumpet player, are contemporary music and improvised music including his own kind of devotional, intuitive music which transcends all musical styles. Markus and Kudsi have performed with percussionist Mark Nauseef whose wide musical vision includes "hands on" research, study and performance in musical traditions ranging from Indian, Javanese, Balinese, and Ghanaian musics to western contemporary and improvised musics. In the duo perfomances with Markus, as well as on this recording, Mark is performing mostly on a collection of temple bells from China, India, Japan, and Tibet where these instruments are often used to stun the mind and capture the awareness in meditation.