Music
Press
Politically driven, spiritually fulfilling and hauntingly beautiful, ghost horse/ksa is a gift to the listener from Indigenous musicians, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Charley Buckland and Dan Grigsby.
In all my years of being a music critic this is the first time I’ve been honored to review such a unique and deserving genre of music. In their press release Ghosthorse calls their muse Spirit Music and that is truly what I experienced from the moment I put this wonderful disc in my cd player. Framed around the Lakota flute, each track offers up a blend of the individual talents these three men have to share with us. With song titles like-flying waters, city-driven crazy, return the black hills, and the title track-ghosthorse, we are invited into a sacred world that is more like a prayer than a track on a CD. Adding to an already impressive list of individual accomplishments, Ghosthorse has recently been nominated in 10 different categories in the prestigious Native American Music Awards. They most certainly have my vote in each and every one.
There’s not a lot one can critique with this kind of music. Its either good or bad, and this particular record is not just good, but flawless. I have listened to it more than a few dozen times easily, and each time I do I hear something I had not heard before. Its like being in church out in the woods with just you and that powerful force we call nature that our universe has so freely offered to us. Sadly, all we give in return is a need to dominate, control and destroy what we have been given. A fact that ghosthorse gently reminds us of.
Sonically sound, soulfully pure, Ghosthorse/ksa is a must have if your heart is open. I am so blessed that I was chosen to review this CD. I encourage you to get it, absorb it and than offer up reverence to our Native American family who still remind us, that humility and respect for each other and our planet, begins with being truthful with ourselves.
For more about Ghosthorse or to buy this CD, visit www.ghosthorse.biz/
- Music News Nashville
Ghosthorse is truly unique. The album is beautifully recorded and leaves the listener glued to each track. The authentic Native American rhythms are blended with flute, drums, guitar, cello and vocals in a way that stands out. There is nothing over powering here. This album is truly inspiring and gives you the feel of the Native American spirit. You will be in for a big treat when you hear these amazing tracks. I found this CD to be a true pleasure to listen to.
- CD Baby
This album is not like anything you've ever heard before. It is NOT your typical, new age cedar flute music. What it is, is real. Real music with a deep, intense, emotional content. No new age fluff. Just really beautiful music with flute, guitar, cello, drums, and vocals blending seamlessly. I played it repeatedly when I first got it. Just set the CD player to repeat the whole album and forget it. I never got tired of listening to it.
- CD Baby
Discography
Ksa
Photos
Bio
Ghosthorse met through music in many ways. Universe presented the opportunity for the convergence of three existing paths into one continuum. A trifid cypher of mesmeric arias attempting to translate their genres through respective cultural influences as… the muse, the myth and the manna? Tiokasin Ghosthorse, the muse…always absorbed in the thought process of becoming a human being rather than the exclusiveness of “human” only. A beginning with the sound of the Lakota cedar flute centuries ago, a seventh generation cedar flute maker and player, and the tradition carried forward. Charley Buckland, the myth…a story of experience in bringing explanation, time and meeting of the three of us (Ghosthorse) together. A musician also beginning his long musical life with a flute and branching as the maple trees into a multi-instumental entity. Dan Grigsby, the manna…who appeared with his wealth of experience, a glue to keep the recording of “ksa” together in benefit and context for wherever the nourishment of music is needed to be heard. A very talented producer and engineer with numerous credits to his name who began his musical life as a drummer.
This no slight task accomplished, work began on “ksa” meaning: an essence of understanding through trouble or difficulty. Through many twists and turns the recording phases were completed in 33 moons hence the second title on the inner sleeve of the CD. Music leads us and plays us to its own end instead of the other way around. Alter your perspective and this seeming chaos is the constant creation that is taking place every moment in the universe and need not be controlled or feared. Simply find harmonies within it. recorded primarily in Dan’s place on 8th street, overlooking the physical graffiti cover, with the help of many and using a very open and organic writing style, the music crosses many different imagining boundaries, but maintains its center in the earth with the cedar flutes and travels a red-shifted Indigenous path. It is a fusion of traditional and contemporary muses that becomes a vehicle to make the needs of the planet and of native peoples known and to educate those lost and unaware. Hopefully this music can reintroduce what Indigenous peoples know to be true; of spirit, coexistence and responsibility to all that exists in the universe.
Ghosthorse was nominated for Debut Group of the Year in the 10th Annual Native American Music Awards.
For more information contact:
Ghosthorse
P.O. Box 283
New York, NY 10113
web: www.ghosthorse.biz
www.myspace.com/ghosthorseksa
Charley Buckland: maples8@optonline.net
Tiokasin Ghosthorse: tiokasin@gmail.com
First Voices Indigenous Radio WBAI 99.5 FM - NY
web: www.dangrigsby.com Dan Grigsby
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