Founded by Richard Gere, Healing The Divide is devoted to promoting awareness of – and help for – Tibetans, while also searching for “innovative solutions to issues that threaten the welfare and prosperity of people and communities around the world”. In benefit concert tradition, this September 2003 show comes dedicated to the cause.
This nine-track highlight gives a feel of the meeting-of-thecultures run of the night. Like the sun’s path, it starts in the East and ends in the West: the Dalai Lama himself makes an introductory speech, The Gyuto Tantric Choir, Anoushka Shankar and Nawang Khechog & R Carlos Nakai cover different aspects of traditional Eastern syles; Philip Glass and Foday Musa Suso offer a perfect blend of the hemispheres; and the disc ends with four tracks from Tom Waits’ 50-minute set.
What better than to weld his distinctly Western storytelling with Kronos Quartet’s oompah-folk? They bring a see-saw delicacy to the already seasickness-inducing Lost In The Harbour, while teasing a European thread from the previously unreleased singalong Diamond In Your Mind. “So His Holiness goes to bed at 7.30? That’s not the Holiness I used to know,” Waits jokes. Sure, but his is a whole different kind of spirituality.
