New Age music
Encyclopedia
New Age music is music
of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration
, relaxation
, and optimism
. It is used by listeners for yoga
, massage
, meditation
, and reading
as a method of stress management
or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often associated with environmentalism
and New Age spirituality
.
The harmonies in New Age music are generally modal
, consonant
, or include a drone
bass. The melodies are often repetitive, to create a hypnotic feeling, and sometimes recordings of nature sounds are used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. Pieces of up to thirty minutes are common.
New Age music includes both electronic
forms, frequently relying on sustained synth pads or long sequencer
-based runs, and acoustic
forms, featuring instruments such as flutes, piano, acoustic guitar and a wide variety of non-western acoustic instruments.
Vocal arrangements were initially rare in New Age music but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Native American
, Sanskrit
, or Tibetan influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology
such as Celtic legends
or the realm of Faerie.
and Leo Kottke
, classical minimalists Terry Riley
, Steve Reich
, and Philip Glass
, synthesizer performers Pink Floyd
and Brian Eno
, and impressionistic jazz artists Keith Jarrett
and Pat Metheny
. Many different styles and combinations of electronic experimental and acoustic new age music was introduced in the 1970s including music from Asia, such as Kitaro
and Yellow Magic Orchestra
.
New age music was initially produced and sold only by independent labels. The sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health food stores and boutiques, as well as direct mail. In 1981, Tower Records
in Mountain View, California
added a New Age bin. By 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for New Age music and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing new age labels such as Paul Winter
's Living Music and through signing of new age artists such as Kitaro and jazz crossover artist Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen.
On Valentine's Day in 1987, the former Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time New Age music format with new call letters KTWV
, branded as The Wave. During The Wave's new age music period, management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station". DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs, and instead, to maintain an uninterrupted mood, listeners could call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing. News breaks were also re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks". KLRS
(Colours) in Santa Cruz
began a new age format around the same time. Stations in other cities followed this lead and in 1988, Stephen Hill's radio show Music From The Hearts of Space
was picked up by NPR
for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally. Other new age music specialty radio programs included Forest's Musical Starstreams
and John Diliberto's Echoes
. Most major cable television
networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for New Age music, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice
.
By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing New Age music, new age music and adult alternative programs were carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the USA, and over 40 distributors were selling new age music through mail order catalogs.
instruments ranging from the piano, acoustic guitar, flute or harp to electronic musical instruments, or from Eastern instruments such as the sitar
, tabla
, and tamboura.
There is a significant overlap of sectors of New Age music, ambient music
, classical music
, jazz
, electronica
, world music
, chillout, space music
and others. The two definitions typically associated with the New Age genre are:
(founder of Tangerine Dream
), Holger Czukay
(one of the founders of Can
and a former student of Karlheinz Stockhausen
), Popol Vuh
, and Ashra
released a number of works featuring experimental sounds and textures built with electronics, synthesizers, acoustic and electric instruments which were referred to as cosmic music. This experimentation provided early foundational influences for the ambient music
and New Age music genres. In the late 1970s Brian Eno
's defining explorations in ambient music further influenced the formation of the New Age music genre, as developed in the styles of musicians such as Robert Fripp
, Jon Hassell
, Laraaji
, Harold Budd
, Cluster
, Jah Wobble
(of post-punk
band Public Image Limited).
In 1973, Mike Oldfield
's unconventional progressive rock album Tubular Bells
became one of the first albums to be referred to under the genre description of New Age music. Other influences are early electronic music, classical music
, ethnic music and world music
. The minimalism
of Terry Riley
and Steve Reich
(India
n influenced in the former case) can also be cited as an influence, along with artists like Tony Conrad
, La Monte Young
who utilized drones since the early 1960s. Connected to the creation of New Age music is the resurgence of interest in Gregorian chant
during the second half of the 20th century. Now, New Age music has branched out and also includes chanting of "spiritual" or ancient languages, and includes, but is not limited to Sanskrit, Latin, Gaelic, Hebrew and Gurmukhi. Popular artists in this genre include Krishna Das, Deva Premal
, Bhagavan Das and Snatam Kaur
.
The solo ECM performances by artists like Keith Jarrett
(especially his record The Köln Concert
), Ralph Towner
(especially his records Blue Sun and Solo Concert) and Lyle Mays
's first eponymous album, are usually thought to be an influence on Ambient/New Age music. The acoustic solo and group performances by the early Windham Hill artists such as William Ackerman
, Alex de Grassi
, George Winston
, and Michael Hedges
were called New Age for much of the last 30 years.
Popular themes in New Age music include space and the cosmos, environment and nature, wellness in being, harmony with one's self and the world, dream
s or dreaming and journeys of the mind or spirit. Titles of New Age albums and songs are frequently descriptive: examples include Shepherd Moons
(Enya
), Straight' a Way to Orion (Kitaro
), Touching the Clouds (Symbiosis
), and One Deep Breath
(Bradley Joseph
).
Contemporary instrumental: This is a term that may be used most often, and can include artists that do not use electronic instruments in their music, such as solo pianist David Lanz
. Similarly, pianists such as Yanni
and Bradley Joseph
both use this term as well, although they use keyboards
to incorporate layered orchestra
l textures into their compositions.
Contemporary adult instrumental: This term was suggested by Steven Halpern in the June 1999 issue of New Age Voice as an alternative catch-all label for music which is classified by retailers as "New Age", but which is not expressly spiritual in nature.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration
Artistic inspiration
Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in a literary, musical, or other artistic endeavour. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. The Greeks believed that inspiration came from the muses, as well as the gods Apollo and...
, relaxation
Relaxation technique
A relaxation technique is any method, process, procedure, or activity that helps a person to relax; to attain a state of increased calmness; or otherwise reduce levels of anxiety, stress or anger...
, and optimism
Optimism
The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense...
. It is used by listeners for yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
, massage
Massage
Massage is the manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance function, aid in the healing process, and promote relaxation and well-being. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading", or from Arabic massa meaning "to touch, feel or handle"...
, meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
, and reading
Reading (process)
Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...
as a method of stress management
Stress management
Stress management is the alteration of stress and especially chronic stress often for the purpose of improving everyday functioning.Stress produces numerous symptoms which vary according to persons, situations, and severity. These can include physical health decline as well as depression. According...
or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often associated with environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
and New Age spirituality
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
.
The harmonies in New Age music are generally modal
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
, consonant
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
, or include a drone
Drone (music)
In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.-A musical effect:A drone...
bass. The melodies are often repetitive, to create a hypnotic feeling, and sometimes recordings of nature sounds are used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. Pieces of up to thirty minutes are common.
New Age music includes both electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
forms, frequently relying on sustained synth pads or long sequencer
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
-based runs, and acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
forms, featuring instruments such as flutes, piano, acoustic guitar and a wide variety of non-western acoustic instruments.
Vocal arrangements were initially rare in New Age music but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
, or Tibetan influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
such as Celtic legends
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
or the realm of Faerie.
History
New Age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres, for example, folk instrumentalists John FaheyJohn Fahey (musician)
John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
and Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke
Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...
, classical minimalists Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
, Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
, and Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, synthesizer performers Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, and impressionistic jazz artists Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...
and Pat Metheny
Pat Metheny
Patrick Bruce "Pat" Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works and other side projects...
. Many different styles and combinations of electronic experimental and acoustic new age music was introduced in the 1970s including music from Asia, such as Kitaro
Kitaro
, better known as , is an award winning Japanese musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who is regarded as one of the pioneers of new age music.-Early life:...
and Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra
Sakamoto first worked with Hosono as a member of his live band in 1976, while Takahashi recruited Sakamoto to produce his debut solo recording in 1977 following the split of the Sadistic Mika Band...
.
New age music was initially produced and sold only by independent labels. The sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health food stores and boutiques, as well as direct mail. In 1981, Tower Records
Tower Records
Tower Records was a retail music chain that was based in Sacramento, California. It currently exists as an international franchise and an online music store....
in Mountain View, California
Mountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
added a New Age bin. By 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for New Age music and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing new age labels such as Paul Winter
Paul Winter
Paul Winter is an American saxophonist , and is a six-time Grammy Award nominee.- Biography :Paul Winter attended Altoona Area High School and graduated in 1957...
's Living Music and through signing of new age artists such as Kitaro and jazz crossover artist Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen.
On Valentine's Day in 1987, the former Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time New Age music format with new call letters KTWV
KTWV
KTWV is a commercial radio station located in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside–San Bernardino and Ventura County areas on 94.7 FM. KTWV airs a hybrid Smooth AC radio format branded as "94.7 The Wave"...
, branded as The Wave. During The Wave's new age music period, management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station". DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs, and instead, to maintain an uninterrupted mood, listeners could call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing. News breaks were also re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks". KLRS
KLRS
KLRS is a radio station. Licensed to Lodi, California, USA, the station is currently owned by the Educational Media Foundation. The station broadcasts the K-LOVE format to the Sacramento area....
(Colours) in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
began a new age format around the same time. Stations in other cities followed this lead and in 1988, Stephen Hill's radio show Music From The Hearts of Space
Hearts of Space
Hearts of Space is a United States weekly syndicated public radio show featuring music of a contemplative nature drawn largely from the ambient, New Age and electronic genres, while also including classical, world, Celtic, experimental, and other music selections...
was picked up by NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally. Other new age music specialty radio programs included Forest's Musical Starstreams
Musical Starstreams
Musical Starstreams is a terrestrial and internet radio program that first aired in the San Francisco bay area in December 1981...
and John Diliberto's Echoes
Echoes (radio program)
Echoes is a daily two-hour music radio program hosted by John Diliberto featuring a soundscape of ambient, space, electronica, and New Age music. The program features in-depth artist interviews and intimate "living room" performances. Interview subjects have included Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel,...
. Most major cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for New Age music, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice
Music Choice
Music Choice is a United States company that programs music and produces music-related content for digital cable, cell phones, and cable modem subscribers in the US. Music Choice programs dozens of audio music channels for digital cable subscribers, as well as programs and produces music-related...
.
By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing New Age music, new age music and adult alternative programs were carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the USA, and over 40 distributors were selling new age music through mail order catalogs.
Definitions
New Age music is defined more by the effect or feeling it produces rather than the instruments used in its creation; it may be electronic, acoustic, or a mixture of both. New Age artists range from solo or ensemble performances using classical musicClassical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
instruments ranging from the piano, acoustic guitar, flute or harp to electronic musical instruments, or from Eastern instruments such as the sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
, tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
, and tamboura.
There is a significant overlap of sectors of New Age music, ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
, world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
, chillout, space music
Space music
Space music, also called spacemusic, is an umbrella term, synonymous with a segment of New Age Music and Ambient Music, used to describe music that evokes a feeling of contemplative spaciousness. Space music can be found within a wide range of genres. It is particularly associated with ambient, New...
and others. The two definitions typically associated with the New Age genre are:
- New Age music with an ambient sound that has the explicit purpose of aiding meditation and relaxation, or aiding and enabling various alternative spiritual practices, such as alternative healing, Yoga practice, guided meditation, chakraChakraChakra is a concept originating in Hindu texts, featured in tantric and yogic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. Its name derives from the Sanskrit word for "wheel" or "turning" .Chakra is a concept referring to wheel-like vortices...
auditing, and so on. The proponents of this definition are almost always musicians who create their music expressly for these purposes. Prominent artists who create New Age music expressly for healing and/or meditation include Paul HornPaul HornPaul Horn is the name of:*Paul Horn , jazz flutist*Paul Horn , American computer scientist...
, DeuterDeuterDeuter is a German New Age instrumentalist and recording artist known for his meditative style that blends Eastern and Western musical styles.- Biography :...
, Steven HalpernSteven Halpern-Early career:Halpern played trumpet and guitar in the New York City jazz scene of the 1960s, but became disenchanted with it and moved to California. There he began exploring the idea of creating music entirely for the purpose of relaxation, which he called "anti-frantic alternative" music...
, Dean EvensonDean EvensonDean Evenson is a New Age musician and producer. He plays several instruments including the flute, percussion, synthesizer and keyboards. In the New Age genre, his music is generally sounds of nature combined with flute melodies and other instruments for ambient and meditative purposes.In 1979, he...
, Lawrence BallLawrence BallLawrence Ball is an English musician and composer who currently lives in North London. He produces multi-media compositions, performs in concert, and also works as a private tutor in mathematics, music theory and physics....
, and KaruneshKaruneshKarunesh is a German-born New Age and ambient musician. His music has strong Asian and Indian influences prevalent throughout, with liberal use of Indian instruments, such as the sitar. Having sold 450,000 albums, Karunesh is one of the best-known New Age artists.Karunesh was born in Cologne,...
.
- Music which is found in the New Age section of the record store. This is largely a definition of practicality, given the breadth of music that is classified as "New Age" by retailers who are often less interested in finely-grained distinctions between musical styles than are fans of those styles. Music which falls into this definition is usually music which cannot be easily classified into other, more common definitions, but often includes well-defined music such as worldbeatWorldbeatWorldbeat is a music genre that primarily refers to a blending of Western pop music with traditional/folk or world music influences...
and FlamencoFlamencoFlamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
guitar. Musicians as varied as George WinstonGeorge WinstonGeorge Winston is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up mainly in Miles City, Montana as well as Mississippi and Florida. He attended Stetson University in Deland, Florida and lives in Santa Cruz, California.-Background:...
, VangelisVangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, David ArkenstoneDavid ArkenstoneDavid Arkenstone is an American New Age musician. His music is primarily instrumental, with occasional vocalizations. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 1, 1952. He has three children—Quillon, Dashiell and Valinor—with his first wife, Julie...
, Paul WinterPaul WinterPaul Winter is an American saxophonist , and is a six-time Grammy Award nominee.- Biography :Paul Winter attended Altoona Area High School and graduated in 1957...
, Will Ackerman, Ray LynchRay LynchRaymond "Ray" Lynch is a classically trained guitarist and lutenist. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to a musical and artistic family. His mother was a classical pianist and watercolor artist. At age 6, Lynch began studying the piano until age 12, where he was inspired by the music of Andres...
, Suzanne CianiSuzanne CianiSuzanne Ciani is an Italian American pianist and music composer who found early success with innovative electronic music.-Education:...
, Jim BrickmanJim BrickmanJim Brickman is an American songwriter and pianist. He has been named the most charted male Adult Contemporary artist to date, with six of his albums receiving Gold and Platinum status. He is known for his solo piano compositions, pop-style instrumentals, and vocal collaborations with artists...
, Bradley JosephBradley JosephBradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet, and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".Active...
, DeuterDeuterDeuter is a German New Age instrumentalist and recording artist known for his meditative style that blends Eastern and Western musical styles.- Biography :...
, EraEra (musical project)Era is a New Age music project by French composer Eric Lévi. The band has sold more than 12 million albums...
, EnyaEnyaEnya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
, Jean Michel JarreJean Michel JarreJean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
, EnigmaEnigma (musical project)Enigma is an electronic musical project founded in Germany by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. The Romanian-born Cretu conceived the Enigma project while working in Germany, but has based his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain, since the early 1990s until May...
, Jean Ven Robert HalJean Ven Robert HalJean Ven Robert Hal, stage name for Roberto D'Agostino Vendola born 11 May 1970 is an Italian musician, composer of Electronic Music, Kosmische Musik, Space music, Progressive, Ambient, Jazz, Synth pop and Orchestral music.-Biography:...
, KitaroKitaro, better known as , is an award winning Japanese musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who is regarded as one of the pioneers of new age music.-Early life:...
, Sandeep KhuranaSandeep KhuranaSandeep Khurana is a Film Maker, Music Composer and Producer living in California.He has produced and directed short films and documentaries, and released more than 50 music albums in the genres of New Age Music, Neo Classical, Yoga, Healing, Dance and World Music...
, YanniYanniYanni , born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States.He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time...
, Andreas VollenweiderAndreas VollenweiderAndreas Vollenweider is a Swiss musician. His music has been categorized as World Music, Jazz, New Age and even Classical; two of his albums were number 1 on the Billboard charts simultaneously in the categories Classical, Jazz, Pop and Crossover for more than 11 weeks. His music could be...
, Mannheim SteamrollerMannheim SteamrollerMannheim Steamroller is an American music group founded by Chip Davis and Jackson Berkey, known primarily for its modern recordings of Christmas music. The group has sold 28 million albums in the U.S. alone.-Beginnings:...
, Suzanne DoucetSuzanne DoucetSuzanne Doucet is an award winning German composer and producer. She lives and works in the USA since 1983.-Biography:...
, Mike OldfieldMike OldfieldMichael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
, Peter GabrielPeter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, Steve Roach, Constance DembyConstance DembyConstance Mary Demby is an American multi-instrument musician and composer. Demby is identified with the New Age movement , while some of her output is also classified as ambient or space music. She is also a singer, instrument designer, painter, sculptor, and multi-media producer...
, Patrick O'HearnPatrick O'HearnPatrick O'Hearn is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and recording artist. While his musical repertoire spans a diverse range of music, he is an acclaimed New Age artist in his solo career...
, 2002 (band)2002 (band)2002 is a New Age music group composed of Randy and Pamela Copus. 2002 has charted nine albums on the Billboard New Age Charts. This Moment Now won the COVR award for Best New Age Album in 2004...
, and Singh KaurSingh KaurSingh Kaur was a new age music composer, vocalist and instrumentalist, who had a prolific career that lasted from the early 1970s to the late 1990s, releasing 23 albums...
are typically classified as New Age, although they may have divergent styles. It also includes expressly spiritual New Age music as a subset. There are retail outlets, that specify subcategories such as Nature Sounds, Healing, Piano, Chants, and so on. AmazonAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
includes also Celtic, Meditation, World-dance, and Relaxation, and iTunes StoreITunes StoreThe iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
includes Nature, Environmental, Healing, and Travel, besides other subgenres. The German new-age site Silenzio lists almost 70 subgenres.
Influences and themes
From 1968 to 1973, German musicians such as Edgar FroeseEdgar Froese
Edgar Wilmar Froese is a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group, Tangerine Dream. Although his solo and group recordings prior to 2003 name him as "Edgar Froese", his solo albums from 2003 onward bear the artist name "Edgar W. Froese".Froese...
(founder of Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream
Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music group founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The band has undergone many personnel changes over the years, with Froese being the only continuous member...
), Holger Czukay
Holger Czukay
Holger Czukay is a German musician, probably best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. Described by critic Jason Ankeny as "successfully bridg[ing] the gap between pop and the avant-garde," Czukay is also notable for creating early important examples of ambient music, for exploring...
(one of the founders of Can
Can (band)
Can was an experimental rock band formed in Cologne, West Germany in 1968. Later labeled as one of the first "krautrock" groups, they transcended mainstream influences and incorporated strong minimalist and world music elements into their often psychedelic music.Can constructed their music largely...
and a former student of Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen
Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
), Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh (German band)
Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
, and Ashra
Ash Ra Tempel
Ash Ra Tempel are a German krautrock group of the 1970s, and are an example of cosmic or space rock.-History:The group was originally founded by guitarist Manuel Göttsching, keyboardist/drummer Klaus Schulze, and bassist Hartmut Enke in 1971. All three founding members had previously played...
released a number of works featuring experimental sounds and textures built with electronics, synthesizers, acoustic and electric instruments which were referred to as cosmic music. This experimentation provided early foundational influences for the ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
and New Age music genres. In the late 1970s Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
's defining explorations in ambient music further influenced the formation of the New Age music genre, as developed in the styles of musicians such as Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...
, Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell
Jon Hassell is an American trumpet player and composer. He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.-Life and career:...
, Laraaji
Laraaji
Laraaji is an American musician. Born Edward Larry Gordon in Philadelphia, he studied violin, piano, trombone and voice in his early years in New Jersey. He attended Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, D.C. on a scholarship to study composition and piano...
, Harold Budd
Harold Budd
Harold Budd is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires....
, Cluster
Cluster (band)
Cluster is a German experimental musical group who influenced the development of contemporary popular electronic and ambient music. They have recorded albums in a wide variety of styles ranging from experimental music to progressive rock, all of which had an avant-garde edge. Cluster has been...
, Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble
Jah Wobble is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two albums...
(of post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
band Public Image Limited).
In 1973, Mike Oldfield
Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature...
's unconventional progressive rock album Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells
Tubular Bells is the debut record album of English musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1973. It was the first album released by Virgin Records and an early cornerstone of the company's success...
became one of the first albums to be referred to under the genre description of New Age music. Other influences are early electronic music, classical music
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, ethnic music and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. The minimalism
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
of Terry Riley
Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
and Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
(India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n influenced in the former case) can also be cited as an influence, along with artists like Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad
Tony Conrad is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer...
, La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
who utilized drones since the early 1960s. Connected to the creation of New Age music is the resurgence of interest in Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
during the second half of the 20th century. Now, New Age music has branched out and also includes chanting of "spiritual" or ancient languages, and includes, but is not limited to Sanskrit, Latin, Gaelic, Hebrew and Gurmukhi. Popular artists in this genre include Krishna Das, Deva Premal
Deva Premal
Deva Premal , is a musician known for her meditative spiritual New Age music, which puts ancient Sanskrit mantras into atmospheric, contemporary settings....
, Bhagavan Das and Snatam Kaur
Snatam Kaur
Snatam Kaur Khalsa , is an American singer and songwriter. She lives in Española, New Mexico. Kaur performs Indian devotional music, kirtan, and tours the world as a peace activist. The name "Kaur", meaning "princess", is shared by all female Sikhs....
.
The solo ECM performances by artists like Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...
(especially his record The Köln Concert
The Köln Concert
The Köln Concert is a recording by the pianist Keith Jarrett of solo piano improvisations performed at the Cologne Opera House in Cologne on January 24, 1975 before a live audience...
), Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner
Ralph Towner is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion and trumpet.-Biography:...
(especially his records Blue Sun and Solo Concert) and Lyle Mays
Lyle Mays
Lyle Mays is an American jazz pianist and composer from Wausaukee, Wisconsin. He is best known for his work with guitarist Pat Metheny as a member of the Pat Metheny Group...
's first eponymous album, are usually thought to be an influence on Ambient/New Age music. The acoustic solo and group performances by the early Windham Hill artists such as William Ackerman
William Ackerman
William Ackerman is a Grammy winning guitarist and composer of acoustic-based instrumental music. He founded and ran for many years the influential New Age record label Windham Hill Records.- Career :...
, Alex de Grassi
Alex de Grassi
Alex de Grassi is an American Grammy Award-nominated fingerstyle guitarist.-Early life and influences:Though born in Yokosuka, Japan, de Grassi grew up in San Francisco, California, where his grandfather played violin for the San Francisco Symphony and his father was a classical pianist...
, George Winston
George Winston
George Winston is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up mainly in Miles City, Montana as well as Mississippi and Florida. He attended Stetson University in Deland, Florida and lives in Santa Cruz, California.-Background:...
, and Michael Hedges
Michael Hedges
Michael Alden Hedges was an American composer, Acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Background:...
were called New Age for much of the last 30 years.
Popular themes in New Age music include space and the cosmos, environment and nature, wellness in being, harmony with one's self and the world, dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
s or dreaming and journeys of the mind or spirit. Titles of New Age albums and songs are frequently descriptive: examples include Shepherd Moons
Shepherd Moons
Shepherd Moons is an album by Irish musician Enya, released on November 4, 1991. It won the Grammy Award for "Best New Age Album" of 1993...
(Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
), Straight' a Way to Orion (Kitaro
Kitaro
, better known as , is an award winning Japanese musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist who is regarded as one of the pioneers of new age music.-Early life:...
), Touching the Clouds (Symbiosis
Symbiosis (musical ensemble)
Symbiosis is a British musical ensemble which creates relaxing, ambient music. Symbiosis was first formed in 1987 and consisted of a trio with: flautist, John Hackett; guitarist and cellist, Richard Bolton; and singer, flautist, keyboard player and percussionist, Clive Williamson...
), and One Deep Breath
One Deep Breath
One Deep Breath is Bradley Joseph's fifth album, . It held a position on NAV's top 100 radio chart for over six months.-Critical reception:...
(Bradley Joseph
Bradley Joseph
Bradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet, and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".Active...
).
Alternative terms
As described in this article, the borders of this genre are not well defined; however music retail stores will include artists in the "New Age" category even if the artists themselves use different names for their style of music. Here are some other terms used for "New Age".Contemporary instrumental: This is a term that may be used most often, and can include artists that do not use electronic instruments in their music, such as solo pianist David Lanz
David Lanz
David Lanz is a Grammy-nominated New Age pianist. His most popular album, Cristofori's Dream, topped the New Age charts in 1988, which was No. 1 on Billboard's first adult alternative/New Age chart for 27 weeks and eventually sold platinum. Natural States peaked at No...
. Similarly, pianists such as Yanni
Yanni
Yanni , born Yiannis Hrysomallis is a Greek self-taught pianist, keyboardist, and composer who has spent most of his life in the United States.He earned Grammy nominations for his 1992 album, Dare to Dream, and the 1993 follow-up, In My Time...
and Bradley Joseph
Bradley Joseph
Bradley Joseph is an American composer, arranger, and producer of contemporary instrumental music. His compositions include works for orchestra, quartet, and solo piano, while his musical style ranges from "quietly pensive mood music to a rich orchestration of classical depth and breadth".Active...
both use this term as well, although they use keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
to incorporate layered orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l textures into their compositions.
Contemporary adult instrumental: This term was suggested by Steven Halpern in the June 1999 issue of New Age Voice as an alternative catch-all label for music which is classified by retailers as "New Age", but which is not expressly spiritual in nature.