Lama Gyurme is a Buddhist monk from the Kingdom of Bhutan in south Asia. Jean-Philippe Rykiel is a blind French pianist possibly best-known for his collaborations with high-profile African musicians. Yet, in 2000, this unlikely pairing produced an astonishingly spiritual record that matched the Lama’s guttural incantations with the Frenchman’s sparse and judicious musical backing – a shimmer of African kora here, a mournful violin refrain there. Few records ooze so much purity and serenity. “Offering Chant Unplugged” from Lama Gyurme & Jean-Philippe Rykiel’s Rain of Blessings is one of my all time favourite Real World pieces. It puts me in a meditative zone almost instantly.” Peter Gabriel “The results are wonderful: ambient, soothing, inspiring and spiritual” – Time Out