VISIONS & HEALING by Ben Tavera King -- Now Available

"Visions & Healing" by Ben Tavera King takes new age/world music listeners on a sonic trip to a little-known world of Native healing ceremonies that feature the hypnotic sound of the "Native-style" 12-string guitar and Native American flute.

The nine compositions on the hour long CD reflect a musical fusion found among Native peoples throughout the Western Hemisphere.  Most often the music has been used by village "medicine men" in healing ceremonies and rites.

String instruments like the 12-string guitar, are featured in these ceremonies but their tuning are altered to reflect Native sensibilities.  Part of the sound of many of these ceremonies is the Native flute - so guitarist Ben Tavera King brought in members of the nationally-known group the Native Flute Ensemble on this release.

Ben Tavera King is an acknowledged "pioneer" in the new age/world music genre having had Billboard-charting hits with such CDs as "Coyote Moon" and "Desert Dreams."

"Visions & Healing" along with Talking Taco's catalogue of over 50 CDs is available for $10.99 from:

http://www.talkingtaco.com/

THE ULTIMATE YOGA CUT!

Over the years we have been asked by yoga instructors and massage technincians for a "special mix" of our music.

I-Tunes has just put up our new "SEDONA MIX" which features an hour of Alice Gomez's best-loved Native American flute tunes in one continuous mixfor a special price.

The low price (under $8.00) also includes 10 other massage/yoga appropriate tunes by the Native Flute Ensemble and the Mesa Music Consort.

Here's a link to the release on I-Tunes:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=280613819&s=143441

It's also available on www.amazon.com and www.e-music.com

CREATION CHANT -- Music To Conceive By?

We get a lot of e-mails from fans of our Native American healing music, but recently we received the following e-mail from Steve Aust.  We'd like to share it with you:

Hi,

My name is Steve Austin, and I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio.  Last January, when vacationing in Arizona, I purchased Eric Casillas' "CREATION CHANT" at the gift shop at Sabino Canyon State Park after a day of hiking there.  I listened to it on one of their audio booths and was mesmerized.

In May, when my wife Karen and I were going through in-vitro fertilization, I had an idea.

On the day they implanted the embryos into Karen's uterus (I hope that's not too much detail!), I thought Eric's music might help create a relaxing, positive atmosphere in the room where the procedure took place.  So I played it in hope that it would set my wife's and my spirits towards "creating" a new life.  Seven plus months later, our daughter, Annabel came into our world on Christmas Eve!

Even though she was born six weeks early, she didn't have to go into the intensive-care unit and came home just five days later.  She's eathing and growing very well now, and we're doing great.

I'd like to send along a word of thanks to Eric for creating such beautiful music that I know helped Karen and I achieve a positive frame mind that helped our miracle happen.

Sincerely,

Steve Aust

Here's a link to CREATION CHANT for the CD or Download on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Creation-Chant-Eric-Casillas/dp/B000003627/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1213720987&sr=1-1

Or you can order it from www.talkingtaco.com

PEPSI POINTS GOOD FOR TALKING TACO RELEASES

Pepsi Points?  You heard about them during all those Super Bowl commercials and now Talking Taco has "partnered" with Amazon and Pepsi to make our entire catalogue incredibly inexpensive to download.

All you have to do is go to any of our releases that you see on this My Space page or at our website www.talkingtaco.com and see what you'd like to listen to.

Then flip over to www.amazon.com and look up the release.  You can buy an entire CD's worth of music for as little as $7.99 and in some cases less.  If you've bought a Pepsi product you can apply the points from the purchase and get an even bigger discount.

Yikes!

That includes all the releases featured on this My Space Page, including our brand new release "TOUCH OF THE DEER" by the Native Flute Ensemble.

Next blog:  Creation Chant by Eric Casillas does some wonderful things for a couple.eric casillas

BUDGET DOWNLOADS FOR GOSPEL MUSIC FANS!

It's now available, the gospel download everyone is talking about for only $5.99.

Go to www.amazon.com and click on the MP3 section, then type in ROOTS GOSPEL ANTHOLOGY Vol. 1.

And there it is --- a definitive collection of the  music everyone is talking about -- there are over 19  cuts  by SAVAE, BEN BOWEN KING, CRAIG "KINGFISH" GRIFFIN and THE EARFOOD ORCHESTRA.

The styles represented on the compilation range from the acapella singing of SAVAE on cuts like "Amazing Grace" to the Cajun-influenced gospel of the Ear Food Orchestra.

Also featured is the Southern-fried, quirky gospel of Colorado picker Craig Griffin.  His version of "We Shall Not Be Moved" should not be missed.  It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

There are also a variety of gospel guitar instrumentals by Ben Bowen King on classics like "Blessed Assurance" and "Softly and Tenderly."

Let us know, if you'd like a disc version of this anthology.

REVIVAL TONIGHT! -- Reaches 2 on Amazon!

The new all-gospel release by Talking Taco's acapella group SAVAE is, at the moment, 2 on Amazon's most downloaded Gospel releases.

You can get the whole album for only $5.99 as a download at Amazon's download site.  You can also download singles from the Sno Cap site on this page.

To get the MP3 download go to www.amazon.com and click on music MP3 and then type in REVIVAL TONIGHT! -- You can also order the physical CD.

Check out the tunes below on the SNO CAP store.  All the tunes are great including:  "Give Me That Old Time Religion," "Shall We Gather By The River" and "Amazing Grace."

More links as they develop.

REVIVAL TONIGHT--JUST RELEASED

(New download prices for historic gospel music)

REVIVAL TONIGHT! by  the nationally-known chorale singing group SAVAE is now available on this page via the Sno-Cap store or on the new Amazon.com MP3 site.

At Amazon you can get all 17 cuts for only $5.99 -- it's all part of the new way of getting this music out at affordable prices.

And what music  this is -- these are all the tunes you heard coming out of little churches in the country on Sunday mornings. 

Scroll through the Sno Cap titles and you'll see more than a few "old friends":  "Amazing Grace,"  "Just As I Am," "Shall We Gather at the River," "In The Sweet By & By" and many more.

SAVAE (The San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble) has been featured on NPR three times in prime time as well as making several national tours.

"Revival Tonight" was a personal release for the group since several members have grown up "in the church" as children of preachers and evangelists.

Just click on any of the tunes if you want to verify the authenticity.

To take advantage of the "introductory order":

1.  Go to amazon.com

2.   Click on Music and then click on MP3s

3.  Type in Revival Tonight and you're there.  Download individual tunes for 89 cents or buy the whole album for $5.99 while these prices last.

BILLY SUNDAY'S MONDAY DRIVE

A tune offf of our new release, "Six-String Sermons" by Ben Bowen King, haspossibly, kicked off a new musical genre.  We're calling it "stream of conciousness" gospel music.

It came about when Ben was in the studio recording "Six String Sermons," the follow up to his critically acclaimed "Sidewalk Saints" when the question was posed:  "What do preachers do Monday after working all day Sunday?"

The answer, at least in the good old days, would be to take a "Monday Drive," since everyone else used to pile into the family car and take Sunday drive.  Now everyone just goes to Wal-Mart. 

Somehow the famous evangelist Billy Sunday's name came up.  Mr. Sunday was a fiery pro-prohitibion preacher during the 1920s and 1930s.  To his credit though, he was never caught in a compromising position unlike many others of his calling during that time and more recently.

Ben started doodling on the 12-string guitar and  strung together old hymns that might have been going around Billy Sunday's head as he took his Monday drive -- stuff like "Old Time Religion," "Amazing Grace" and "What A Friend We Have in Jesus."

You can hear the result on this page -- just go to the Sno Cap store and scroll down to the selection of tunes by BEN BOWEN KING from "Six-String Sermons."  Click on "Billy Sunday's Monday Drive."

You can download it there, if you like, or go to I-Tunes or amazon.com.

RUBEN ROMERO'S LEGACY

When internationally-known flamenco guitar player Ruben Romero passed away this February his legion of fans were shocked and saddened.

Ruben was one of Talking Taco's most popular artist and really, a larger-than-life figure when it came to arts and music in Santa Fe, N.M.

A lifelong resident Ruben had his hand in most undertakings involving music and his store on the plaza was a "must-stop" site for visitors wanting to take some of Santa Fe's musical magic with him.

Before his passing Ruben and Talking Taco were assembling his best live performances for a CD.   Ruben passed away before some of these tracks were released.  They are all on the CD, "FLAMENCO FIRE."

However, they are now available as downloads directly from this site or from other download sources like I-Tunes.  The special "live" tracks are on the "Elegy" download.

The CD is available at www.talkingtaco.com and www.amazon.com.

Even casual clicking on the tracks on the Sno Cap site reveals the "genius" that was Ruben Romero.

Legendary Tex-Mex Guitarist Dies

One of Talking Taco's most popular artists and best friends, Frank Corrales, passed away Thursday after a long fight with diabetes.

Frank's career stretched from his teen years of playing for tips in San Antonio's Mercado, along with other Americana legends like Lydia Mendoza and the Carter Family during the '30s, to being a popular download on I-Tunes.

In between those years he played cantinas as well as Presidents of the United States and other heads of State of Latin America.  To say the least Frank got around because of his one-of-a-kind talent with the guitar.

He recorded a total of seven releases for Talking Taco, with his most popular being "Cantina Classics."   What listeners took away from even listening to just a few minutes of his music was the incredible passion he put into his Tex-Mex guitar.

A wonderful example is "Estrellitas, which you can sample on this page.

Services for Frank will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Alamo Funeral Home with Burial at Fort Sam Houston at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

He is survived by his five children, grandchildren and Wife Yolanda, who never faltered in her painstaking care of Frank during his final years.  Her constant devotion and unfaltering work says volumes about the vow concerning, "Until Death Do You Part."