In the Name of Stillness

Áine Minogue

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With the release her fourteenth solo album entitled Celtic Meditation Music: In the Name of Stillness, Minogue weaves together ten mellifluous tracks that, in her words, create a space for "contemplative intention" and a "deepening of the spiritual experience."

"If you seek the pure bird this is it... masterfully arranged and composed...This is a

With the release her fourteenth solo album entitled Celtic Meditation Music: In the Name of Stillness, Minogue weaves together ten mellifluous tracks that, in her words, create a space for "contemplative intention" and a "deepening of the spiritual experience."

"If you seek the pure bird this is it... masterfully arranged and composed...This is a work of art to be savored, but more so to be immersed in." CELTIC BEAT

"Fans of Enya and Loreena McKennitt will want to wrap their ears around harpist Áine Minogue’s latest effort In the Name of Stillness. The native of County Tipperary, who now resides in New England, weaves a warm tapestry of hushed - and sometimes haunting - harmonies on this terrific ten-track release. As the moniker implies, the collection - sub-titled Celtic Meditation Music - is plush with gentle and gorgeous medleys, idyllic for a summer’s day by the lake, an autumns stroll through the colorful foliage, or with a glass of wine by the fireplace during winter months. As prolific as she if profound, Minogue already has dozens of recording credits to her name, including 13 solo albums, and continues to mature as a musical artisan." SPC CELTIC LIFE

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    In the Name of Stillness 4:51
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    Womb of the Word 4:40
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    In the Name of Silence 7:08
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    Chant of Eternity 4:37
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    Home of Belonging 4:22
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    Loves Silent Song 3:42
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    In the Name of Solitude 5:48
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    The Sitting Pilgrimage 6:01
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    Quiet Absence (live) 4:07
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    Home of Belonging (long version) 6:17
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Few or fleeting moments in life allow for contemplative intention or what Aine Minogue describes as the “deepening of the spiritual experience” in a way that many believe her music can provide, especially for those seeking a greater, vaster understanding of their existence in the here and now ... and the beyond. 

Opportunities and openings for introspection, reflection or, as she offers, meditation that captivate and fascinate legions of listeners and followers across the world … many enthralled by songs that settle, soften and still ... all, as she says, "drawing from the well of Celtic mystical traditions." 

Compositions that revered Irish poet, author and philosopher John O’Donohue once described as “Music that invites us to listen with the soul” and who believed music to be “... the one art form that changes our experience of time. We enter the deeper dimension of time where the eternal is hidden. Time is never still; it brings us to new frontiers in every moment.” 

Throughout her musical career, and in her journey through life, Minogue has maintained an abiding devotion and connection to her homeland and its people, legends, customs, mythologies, folklores, and symbols, from Celtic crosses to stone circles, which decorate her country’s endless, timeless undulating green hills and valleys. 

With the release her fourteenth solo album entitled Celtic Meditation Music: In the Name of Stillness, Minogue once again evokes images of a magical and mystical Ireland and she weaves together ten melodic tracks that are, in her words, “a combination of blessing, community, ritual, and intention that are hallmarks of Celtic meditations.” 

The title of this album, and its signature opening song, is borne of a love for the word “stillness” and its manifestations of solitude and silence. “Whether it’s used in contemplation or meditation,” Minogue says, “stillness helps to open or create more space for ‘something else to come in’ … more peace, clarity, balance, serenity, perspective. For me, stillness says it all.” 

And, so, too, does stillness, and solitude and silence, say it for those whose words are captured below and whose wisdom speaks to all who listen.

IN THE NAME OF STILLNESS ~ LINER NOTES 

Liner Notes ~ Irish harp accompanied by clarinet, cello, strings, french horn and guitar. 

1. In the Name of Stillness 

Nothing in all creation is so like God as stillness. ~Meister Eckhart (1260 – c. 1328) 

2. Womb of the Word 

Every man, when he gets quiet, when he becomes desperately honest with himself, is capable of uttering profound truths. We all derive from the same source… We are all part of creation, all kings, all poets, all musicians; we have only to open, only to discover what is already here. ~Henry Miller (1891 –  1980) 

3. In the Name of Silence 

There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen. ~Rumi (1207 – 1273) 

4. Chant of Eternity 

Ask the world to reveal its quietude — 

not the silence of machines when they are still, 

but the true quiet by which birdsongs, 

trees, bellworts, snails, clouds, storms 

become what they are, and are nothing else. ~Wendell Berry (1934 - ) 

5. Home of Belonging 

May we all grow in grace and peace, and not neglect the silence that is printed in the center of our being. It will not fail us. ~ Thomas Merton, The Hidden Ground of Love) (1915 – 1968) 

6. Loves Silent Song 

Enter into the stillness inside your busy life. 

Become familiar with her ways. 

Grow to love her, feel with all your heart and you will come to hear her silent music and become one with Love’s silent song. ~Noel Davis 

7. In the Name of Solitude 

When you are in doubt, be still, and wait; 

when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage 

So long as mists envelop you, be still; 

be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists 

- as it surely will 

Then act with courage. ~Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800 - 1914) 

8. The Sitting Pilgrimage 

Everything inside and around us wants to reflect itself in us. 

We don’t have to go anywhere to obtain the truth. 

We only need to be still and things will reveal themselves in the still water of our heart. ~Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 - ) 

9. Quiet Absence (live) 

If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! 

The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation. ~ Zhuang Zhou (4th century BC) 

10. Home of Belonging (long version) 

The world of men has forgotten the joys of silence, the peace of solitude which is necessary, to some extent, for the fullness of human living.  Not all men are called to be hermits, but all men need enough silence and solitude in their lives to enable the deep inner voice of their own true self to be heard at least occasionally.  When that inner voice is not heard, when man cannot attain to the spiritual peace that comes from being perfectly at one with his own true self, his life is always miserable and exhausting.  For he cannot go on happily for long unless he is in contact with the springs of spiritual life which are hidden in the depths of his own soul.  If man is constantly exiled from his own home, locked out of his own spiritual solitude, he ceases to be a true person.  He no longer lives as a man.  He becomes a kind of automaton, living without joy because he has lost his spontaneity.  He is no longer moved from within, but only from outside himself.  ~ Thomas Merton, The Silent Life.  NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1957. 

~ 

MUSICIAN CREDITS: 

Eugene Friesen, Cello (Womb of the Word) 

Avi Gunther, Keyboards, Soundscapes 

Kathy Halvorson, Oboe 

Brad Hatfield, Orchestration (In the Name of Stillness, Home of Belonging) 

Tom Hill, Clarinet (Womb of the Word) 

Áine Minogue, Irish Harp, Vocals 

Scott Petito, Guitar, Keyboards, Soundscapes 

Recorded by Scott Petito and assisted by Beth Reineke at NRS Recording Studio, Catskill, New York 

www.scottpetitoproductions.com 

Mixed by Avi Gunther 

Mastered by Randy Roos at Squam Sound www.squamsound.com 

Cover and Graphic Design by Alissa Rakauskas 

All tracks traditional, Arranged by Áine Minogue and published by Little Miller Music (BMI)

“Whenever there is stillness there is the still small voice, God's speaking from the whirlwind, nature's old song, and dance...” - Annie Dillard