Ben Tavera King is an American new age music

New Age music

New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often...

ian. He performs on guitar, lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

, and vihuela

Vihuela

Vihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...

.

King received notice in the 1980s and early 1990s on public radio for his releases, many of which were issued on his own label, Talking Taco. He composed the music for several PBS programs, including Heritage and Mujeres con SIDA. The album Themes of Passion was composed as the soundtrack for the PBS special Los Mineros. His most commercially successful album was 1990's Coyote Moon, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard World Music Albums chart. King also founded the label Iago, which releases new age and American Indian

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 music.

Discography

• Saturday Night San Antonio: Tex-Mex Dance Music (Frank Corrales, Ben Tavera King and the Los Folkeros group) (1982)
• Border Bash: Tex-Mex Dance Music, Vol. 2 (Los Polkeros de Ben Tavera King) (1983) on Folkways Records
  Folkways Records
  Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
  
  
• Border Crossings: New Directions in Tex-Mex Music (1984) on Folkways Records
  Folkways Records
  Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
  
  
• Desert Dreams (1984)
• Coyote Moon (1990)
• Visions & Encounters (1992)
• Turquoise Trail (1993)
• Themes of Passion (1994)
• Hunting Magic (1994)
• Rio Grande Romeos (2003)
• Down Home Saturday Night (2007) on Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
  
  

Visions & Healing

External links

• King Discography at Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways
  Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...