Mystery Repeats Itself--The World's First Bowhammer Cymbalom CD (released 1995)

or get individual songs through iTunes or Amazon

	"Masley is a genius...his music appears to come from another world...an unforgettable collection..." --Gianluigi Gasparetti / DEEP LISTENINGS (Italy) "breathtaking...incredibly dense, spherical...brilliant" --Walter Bast / FOLK-MICHEL (Germany) Other Reviews, etc.
Cymbalennium --The World's Second (Bowhammer Cymbalom CD) or get individual songs through iTunes or Amazon
	"...vast in scope...as wizardly a soundtrack to the Harry Potter books as one could hope for..." --Mitch Ritter / DIRTY LINEN "Masley's specialty is strange instruments...bears the mark of traditional music, but is also disconnected from all tradition...a form of ethnic, eastern ambient without getting tiresome...a very different musical world...a gigantic ear-opener..." --Simen Viig Ostensen / TARKUS (Norway) "...sparkling excursions...chiaroscuro nuances...these are new rhythms, harmonies and constructions of a superior mind..." --Gianluigi Gasparetti / DEEP LISTENINGS (Italy) "one of our more unique artists...Masley finds a global balance, with hypnotic results that transport the listener...on the fast track to another world..." --Lloyde Barde / COMMON GROUND Complete Reviews

 

The cymbalom (also sp. cimbalom) is a modern orchestral (Hungarian) version of the hammered dulcimer, appearing first in Persia as the santour. Its trapezoid shape & tradition of playing with two hand-held 'hammers' have traveled world culture's living memory without missing a beat for 2500 years. Michael Masley plays with a technique he originated, which he calls "bowhammer" cymbalom--adding thumbpicks, this enables plucking, striking, and bowing.
 
Michael's music has been heard in diverse national contexts (94 Winter Olympics, NFL broadcasts, HBO, Entertainment Tonight, NPR, etc.); All Things Considered aired a profile of Masley (8-15-95) and excerpts from his CD Mystery Repeats Itself occasionally surface on that program as well as on Morning Edition. 

Michael worked with Ry Cooder on the soundtrack to Geronimo: An American Legend, contributing original music on  cymbalom, Lakota flute, and water pipes. He furnished the soundtrack for the acclaimed ski videos of Lito Tejada-Flores Breakthrough on Skis I, II, III and a recent NASA video Lunar Prospector.

Michael Masley's instrumental modifications, inventions, and extended techniques are treated in an article by Maxwell Taylor in the September 93 issue of Experimental Musical Instruments and Volume 9 of the EMI cassette series.

Michael Masley's music and career have been treated in:
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Classical Musicians
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (8th Edition)
Option
East Bay Express
Beethoven on the Street
Experimental Musical Instruments
LA Times
Berkeley Voice
Detroit Free Press
New Age Journal
Oakland Tribune
PULSE! (Tower Records)
The Music Paper
BAM

and in the Foreign Press:

Ciao 2001
Ascolti Profondi (Deep Listenings)
Italian Public Radio (RAI)
German National Public Radio (NDR4)
Rudolstadt Festival--Magic Dulcimers
Die Tageszeitung (see article in German)
Folk Michel (see article in German)

In Credit is not Negotiable (Musician Magazine / Expert Witness, December, 1994),
Masley describes his Quixotian Quest (legal action) for contribution credit from the Sony Corporation.

Poetry by Michael Masley
Masley's albums are accompanied by a 'concept' poem.

Masley  recorded with producer Butch Vig (drummer for the multi-platinum rock act Garbage)  and appears on Garbage Version 2.0. He has also recorded with Tom Waits, Chris Isaak and Mylene Farmer and appears on the release Celtic Zen, with  Levi Chen and Lisa Franco.

He currently performs in Cloud Chamber, a quintet featuring cymbalom with fretless electric bass (Michael Manring) cello (Dan Reiter) guitar (Barry Cleveland) perc./dulcimer (Joe Venegoni). Dark Matter, the debut CD of Cloud Chamber, is now available from Amazon.com. Also see Interview.

He is also performing in the rave duo Trance&Mental with Mickey Huff.

Cosmic Relief - Covertoon from Life in the Vast Lane

A one hour documentary on the Artist General is being directed by Martin Yernazian. This will be the debut DVD venture of Pyrotecnia Productions. See Art Officially Favored / A Portrait of the Artist General .

All Strings Considered (2001) features dulcimer duets with Jamie Janover.
Click album cover to order.

"This album is billed as "hammered dulcimer dialogues," and that's exactly what you get from these two expert players...esoteric but innovative...a lush web of sounds, tones and melodies that seem to have no musical boundaries..." --RELIX

"...two geniuses of hammered dulcimer...superrefined acoustic dialogues, a record that enchants...a marvelous union...artists on the edge..." --Gianluigi Gasparetti / DEEP LISTENINGS (Italy)

"startling and adventurous duet excursions on this gorgeous CD...challenging, dense music that nonetheless spotlights the delicate, mystical tonalities of their instruments...Masley's use of bowhammers, his own invention, allows...exotic and unexpected textures..." --Michael Parrish / DIRTY LINEN
 

Mystery Repeats Itself, cymbalennium and Cymbalom Solos are available from:

MICHAEL MASLEY
Tonehenge Productions
P.O. BOX 5232
BERKELEY,  CA  94705

Phone/ fax 510-548-1241

Email Comments/Questions or Orders to Michael Masley

Also see "film treatment"----LieJinx.com

"There is no deeper loneliness
Than the memory of a miracle."
        Joseph Brodsky