Kim Bold
Carrollton, Texas, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2006 | INDIE
Music
Press
AncesTree – Gift of the Ancients
Kim Bold
Fifth Mesa Music
http://kimbold.com/
This is my first exposure to flutist Kim Bold's music but I hope it won’t be my last. Playing an assortment of world flutes and accompanied by gentle percussion, piano, strings, and ambient textures, Bold weaves a hypnotic web of ethnic flute journeys, transporting the listener to a variety of landscapes, each one subtly aglow with subdued primal energy regardless of mood or tempo. It's always a delight for a music critic of 19 years (yours truly) to discover an artist who possesses a special gift and a unique vision. Kim Bold has both of these in abundance.
Bill Binkelman
Retailing Insight magazine - Retailing Insight Magazine
World Flutes
Once Homo sapiens learned that sound could be made by banging on solid objects and by the human voice, he/she found a reed by the river and blew into it and a type of flute was born. Mammoth tusks, animal bones, and of course, bamboo flutes have been around for over 40,000 years and all have contributed to the birth of music. It is easy to understand that the flute is, if you'll pardon the pun, instrumental in the mystical arts. Kim Bold substantiates that notion on her album AncesTree. The recording is eight tracks of soothing flute music that exemplifies the bond between music and the otherworldly realms. Kim takes us around the planet and through her music, offers what I really think are rituals or rites that establish a connection to other worlds. The music opens a portal, a gate if you will, as she summons kindred spirits from worlds we have yet to discover.
In the dry desert in southern Peru, the Nazca Lines, drawings made of crushed stones seen from great heights, were created to serve a purpose, to honor a God. When I learned about these lines in the sixties, it always made perfect sense. If your God lives in the heavens, looking down, surely He or She would be pleased to see man's attempt at respect. In the song Nazca, the flute and voice mix to create a prayer offered up to the skies as pulsing bass notes form a background to the reverent flute.
A crash of thunder begins the tune When The Rains Came. It is a contemporary song, but it feels like it is trying to express old world sentiment. The music is melancholy and flowing and a reminder to every pluviophile that with the rains come a cleansing sensation as if the tears of sadness, the ugliness of the world and the aching in our hearts is somehow washed away.
We travel to Eire in the tune Tenalach, the Gaelic word expressing a connection with the land, water and sky, to Nature herself. I have this connection and I know how spiritual it is (for me) when I stroll in the forests, walk the mountain trails or sit by the lake and stare in the distance. When the mists clears, when the sun warms the air, I can only say there is a feeling of peace like no other. Kim captures this emotion perfectly in the song and it became my favorite on the album. You can hear the earth sing.
Kim uses a number of flutes and a rumbling drone in the tune Stone Cathedral. She opened my eyes, but offered me dreams in which I saw star studded skies, felt cool crisp air and saw the standing stones towering in the distance. The fire danced before me and the flames were like ghostly hands raised to the heavens. The resplendent music has a mesmerizing effect.
Kim takes us north to the land of Fire and Ice. We are witness to the Blue Crystal Caves of Iceland. The caves were formed where the sea meets the land and the lights that passes through this ice structures is a beautiful sapphire blue. The coolness of the color and the feeling it imparts is one of utter calm and Kim's song Blue Crystal Cave only serves to magnify that sensation.
The final cut is called East and West. The sound of Native American flute echoes throughout the piece and combines with the sacred mantra of Om. Mind, body and spirit are allowed to coalesce and migrate into a quiet world where souls go to transform into light. It is not surprising that Kim balances these worlds perfectly in her song, as all great experiences have universal elements.
I honestly wish that AncesTree had more than eight tracks. I thoroughly enjoyed every cut and played this album repeated because of the satisfaction and quietude is provided. I look forward to hearing more of Kim Bold's work. Highly recommended.
Rating: Very Good
RJ Lannan - Zone Music Reporter
What does the newest album “AncesTree, Gift of the Ancients” of Kim Bold say us? This is music prayer, music meditation. The artist invites us to hear the voices of our distant ancestors. What can they tell us about? What wisdom is hidden in the enchanting sounds of ancient musical instruments?
The bewitching voices of world flutes and shamanic beats of percussion along with gentle piano and string arrangements lead you to start an exciting journey within your own essence, to feel all the endlessness of your inner being. Just relax and listen to this music which is filled with divine beauty and compassion, and let your emotions be released.
Let the tears easily flow along your cheek, you do not have anything to be ashamed of. You will be able to feel this world only with an open heart. And it is so easy and at the same time – so difficult… just open your heart and you will see… and you will understand…
My personal feelings from the music of Kim Bold are the world seems such a beautiful and very small place.
What can be added about this album? Kim Bold creates a unique ambient environment which is very cozy for the listener. And all parts of various acoustic instruments added in ideal proportions, this music is very well balanced. Besides, the compositions of Kim Bold are full of refinement. I’d like to call her music as the modern renaissance.
The album “AncesTree, Gift of the Ancients” will be perfect for meditation and a wide range of various therapeutic techniques. But maybe its main feature is that this music gives you the possibility to feel yourself as a citizen of a very small and beautiful Planet Earth which is our mutual home. And it has to be saved for our children with all its breathtaking charms.
When “AncesTree, Gift of the Ancients” sounds one wants to live consciously…
Serge Kozlovsky - Serge Kozlovsky - New Age Music Reviews
Discography
In July, 2006, Kim released her debut CD, entitled Gaia Calling: Spirit Animal Music. Along with a book and guided meditation CD, Kim promotes her creative message of healing to others in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Her music and her message can be heard on the Internet at www.artandsoulofnorthtexas.org, www.onevibrationradio.com, www.pandora.com, www.spirit-withinradio.com, www.songvault.com, and many others.
She also performs in the Dallas area for various events including Earth Awareness Festival, International Women's Peace Conference 2007, Winter Solstice Celebration, and Moonlady SpringFest.
Photos
Bio
Kim Bold: Musician, Writer
Sounds, Stories and Songs for the Soul
An Aural Eden
Kim Bold is a musician and author with a rare artistic gift in today’s fast-paced and high-tech world. She creatively taps into the living vibrations within Mother Earth and all living things. With each sentence, each tone and every musical note, she creates a garden of sounds, stories and songs for the soul – an aural Eden.
Kim combines musical talent with the gift of storytelling to reawaken one to their life source. She opens an “inner book” re-introducing awareness of the true being dormant within us all. Kim believes that we are all natural musicians and artists and music is the result of enlightenment. However, she has a special connection with the natural world which allows her to offer inspiration and insight through combining creative writing and musical compositions.
A Connection to Gaia
For Kim, earth is one giant living organism, or Gaia. Her gift of storytelling coupled with her mastery of woodwind instruments yields a masterful musical journey. It’s an adventure filled with messages of healing that permeate the soul and provide intensive healing and deep insight. This is what music was always meant to be as a natural extension of human experience. Just as the Shaman and magical musicians of ancient times, Kim brings humankind back to its basal need for imagery. In both an auditory and visual sense, she re-establishes a connection to Gaia in our subconscious minds.
A Seed is Planted
Born and raised in New Mexico, music and storytelling have always been an innate part of Kim’s life. She began her love of writing and telling stories as a young child and music always filled her home. Her mother was a music instructor and church pianist and each of her four sisters played an instrument. This early and constant exposure to music and instruments would prove vital in Kim’s development as an artist. Her first instrument, at the age of ten, was the acoustic guitar. However, woodwind instruments would become her true love, and she began studying the clarinet at age eleven. Kim’s eventual mastery of the clarinet became the foundation of her implementation and an ever-growing appreciation of native flutes.
Hearing Gaia's Call
Kim continued mastering the clarinet well into college at Texas Tech University where she was trained in Classical Music and earned a B.A. in Applied Music. After college, Kim moved to Dallas, Texas and entered the corporate world. However, it wasn't long before she was once again yearning to develop her creative gifts. Intuitive experiences influenced her while listening to the sounds of a Native American flute at a Shaman sound therapy session in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Kim realized, she could amalgamate her musical compositions and creative prose into one powerful talent - she had heard Gaia's call.
Today, Kim performs on various world flutes including the Chinese Bawu, Pennywhistle, Ocarina, as well as Native Flute. July, 2006, she released her debut CD, Gaia Calling: Spirit Animal Music. Along with a book and guided meditation CD, Kim promotes her creative message of healing.
In May, 2008, she was given the "Best of the Fest" Music award at the M.A.L.I.'s Austin Woman's Film, Music, and Literary Festival. In January, 2014, she released her second CD, Into the Cave, representing her very personal journey through the path of the heart. Her third album, AncesTree, Gift of the Ancients was released in February, 2016 and culminates her deepening experiences with spiritual messages through music. She is currently producing two new albums that expand both her abilities as an intuitive musician as well as a composer of what has been defined as a "new musical genre" which blends elements of classical and world fusion.
Her music can be heard on many Internet Radio stations, including: Pandora, Spotify, iHeart Radio, HeartDance Radio, and more.
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