BARDO

A 60-minute surreal drama. Tibetan Book of the Dead concept. Recorded with the Czech Philharmonic.

BARDO is a 60-minute psycho-spiritual requiem for a deceased friend, composed across two years of research and contemplation. Informed by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Tarot system, sacred geometry, and sound healing theory, the work maps the journey of "The Fool" — a Major Arcana archetype — through darkness, dissolution, and fortunate rebirth. The album was commissioned for a site-specific world premiere in June 2012 at the Ann Hamilton Tower, Geyserville, California, with 47 musicians performing on the building's double-helix interior staircases for an audience moving through the space. That score was subsequently recorded with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague — translated from a spatial installation into the horizontal record format you hold. Visual collaborations by artist DZO Olivier, created over one year, accompany the release.

Credits

Christopher Bono — Composer, Producer

Recorded at Czech Philharmonic Hall, Prague

Videos

Press

“Christopher Bono's soaring, dense and rich musical score encapsulates all of the joy and pain of this journey in one of the most ambitious and challenging modern classical pieces I have heard in some time.”

Restless & Real · 2014-12

“If you didn't read the liner notes or have any frame of reference for Bono's inspiration, it could totally sound like the soundtrack for an amazing RPG or fantasy film. Played straight through it is like a saga told in sound.”

Second Inversion · 2014-07-21

“Bardo is a huge soundtrack of sadness and Tibetan mysticism, and sometimes dramatic.”

Democrat & Chronicle · 2014-07-21

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