Kiva is a collaborative album by the American ambient

Ambient music

Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...

 musicians Steve Roach, Michael Stearns

Michael Stearns

Michael Stearns is a United States musician and composer of ambient music. He is also known as a film composer, sound designer and soundtrack producer for large format films, theatrical films, documentaries, commercials, and themed attractions....

 and Ron Sunsinger. A kiva

Kiva

A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and underground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies....

 is an underground ceremonial chamber used by Native American

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...

 cultures of the Southwest

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

.

The album is a mixture of traditional Native American ceremonies and highly experimental ambient music.

“East Kiva, ‘Calling in the Midnight Water” is a Peyote

Peyote

Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...

 ceremony. “South Kiva, ‘Mother Ayahuasca” is an Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...

 ceremony from the South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

n rainforest. “West Kiva, ‘Sacrifice, Prayer and Visions” is a Sundance. The Sundance is an elaborate ceremony used by the tribes of the central plains to seek visions and initiate holy men. “North Kiva, ‘Trust and Remember” is a non-traditional improvisation created by the three artists in a cave in Northern New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

.

Track listing

1. ”Passage One” (2:27)
2. ”East Kiva, ‘Calling in the Midnight Water” (13:42)
3. ”Passage Two” (1:59)
4. ”South Kiva, ‘Mother Ayahuasca” (15:13)
5. ”Passage Three” (2:12)
6. ”West Kiva, ‘Sacrifice, Prayer and Visions” (17:27)
7. ”Passage Four” (2:00)
8. ”North Kiva, ‘Trust and Remember” (9:42)
9. ”The Center” (2:33)

See also

• Steve Roach
• Michael Stearns
  Michael Stearns
  Michael Stearns is a United States musician and composer of ambient music. He is also known as a film composer, sound designer and soundtrack producer for large format films, theatrical films, documentaries, commercials, and themed attractions....
  
  
• Ron Sunsinger
• Ambient music
  Ambient music
  Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
  
  
• Electronic music
  Electronic music
  Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
  
  

External links

• Hearts of Space Records (Record label's album page)