Various Artists - Best Of Buddha (2002)

UK import

"Bar de Lune - The most sexy label in the world presents a new album for the mind, body and soul."

I'm guessing this 2 CD set is another world beat chill-out compilation from our friends at Buddha Bar, but the bar isn't mentioned anywhere on the packaging so it may just be a coattail rider. In any event, it's the same kind of stuff - repetative background music for your next cocktail party. I bought a CD lot of Buddha recordings after a visit to the French Caribbean in 2025. This set is the last of that lot.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

CD1
	Artist	Title
1	Moby	Another Woman
2	Gotan Project	Last Tango In Paris
3	Fila Brazillia	Soft Music Under Stars
4	Kevin Yost	7th Heaven
5	Da Lata	Binti
6	Radar	Running Away
7	Fragile State	Song Of Departure
8	Bonobo	Terrapin
9	Christophe Goze	Barcelona (Faze Action Mix)
10	Al-Pha-X	Mi Corazon (Smokers Mix)
11	Dust	Dead Cowboys
12	Nitin Sawhney	Homelands (Joe Claussell Mix)

CD2
	Artist	Title
1	Nitin Sawhney	Bengali Song (Extended Mix)
2	Alex Gopher	The Child
3	Delerium	Silence (Album Mix)
4	Al-Pha-X	Blue Jay (Zape Vala Sojk Pitcha)
5	Christophe Goze	Manana
6	Al-Pha-X	Hojar
7	Christophe Goze	Sirocco
8	Kinobe	Slip Into Something More Comfortable
9	Badmarsh & Shri	Sajanaa
10	Dust	I'll Take You There (Chris Bowden Remix)
11	Fragile State	The Barney Fade
12	Moby	Porcelain

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: See my first Buddha Bar blog post.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Buddha Lounge (2002)
Buddha-Bar IV (2002)
Buddha-Bar III (2001)

Various Artists - Buddha-Bar IV (2002)

Another world beat chill-out compilation from our friends at Buddha Bar. Meant to be heard, but not noticed. For what it's worth, I prefer CD1 to CD2.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

CD1: Dinner
	Artist	Title
1	Frédérick Rousseau	La Fille De Pékin
2	Tiber Project	Tibet (A Passage To...)
3	Jade Or	Opium
4	Nitin Sawhney	Moonrise
5	Nash Didan	A Window Of My Dreams
6	Agricantus	Amatevi
7	Manuel Franjo	Tiempo
8	Guadalupe Pineda Con Los Tres Ases	Historia De Un Amor
9	Armen Chakmakian	Distant Lands
10	Nickodemus	Desert Dancer (Zeb's Slow Camel Ride Remix)
11	Flam	Monsoon
12	Tulku	Rahda Ramana
13	Natassa Theodoridou	Tora To Thimithikes
14	Gotan Project	Una Musica Brutal

CD2: Drinks
CD2	Artist	Title
1	outsized	Karma (Extended Mix)
2	Time Passing	Party People
3	Panjabi MC	Mundian To Bach Ke
4	Ishtar	Comme Toi
5	Chris Spheeris	Dancing With The Muse
6	David Visan & Carlos Campos	Irish Coffee
7	Llorca	The Novel Sound
8	Loving Paris	Loco
9	Roland Louis	Percussion's Rhythm (Dimitri From Paris Re-Edit)
10	Dan Lackman's Alliance	Louxor In Vegas
11	Angie Samiou	Agoraki Mou
12	Amr Diab	Aktar Wahed
13	Celia Cruz	Yo Vivire (I Will Survive)
14	Usual Masters	Nocturne In Paris

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: See my first Buddha Bar blog post.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Buddha Lounge (2002)
Buddha-Bar III (2001)

Various Artists - Buddha Lounge (2002)

UK import

The story about how I found this particular brand of ambient lounge music is available on a previous Buddha blog post so I won't go into again. However, if you need some innocuous background music at your next cocktail party, these discs might just fit the bill.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

CD1	Artist	Title
1	Stereo MC's	Fever (Steve Hillage Mix)
2	Talvin Singh	Traveller
3	Fila Brazillia	Nature Boy
4	The Cristophe Gaze Project	Manana
5	Thievery Corporation	Indra
6	4 Hero feat. Terry Collier	The Days Of The Greys
7	Jazzanova	Bohemian Sunset
8	Al-Pha-X	First Transmission
9	Bebel Gilberto	Samba De Bancao (4 Hero Mix)
10	Outside	Blue Sky
11	Nitin Singh	Indian Secret (Shankar Remix)
12	Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan	Mustt Mustt
13	Purple Nine	Moodswings (Kharma Mix)
14	Herbalism	Run Away
15	Dave Warrin, Julius Papp & Lisa Shaw	Looking Up

CD2	Artist	Title
1	Badmarsh & Shri	Day By Day (Chris Coco Mix)
2	Gotan Project	El Capitalismo Foraneo
3	Bob Holroyd	Waking The Spirits (Loop Guru Extended Strawberry Mix)
4	Jonathan Maron	Wish You Well
5	Nitin Sawheny	Breathing Light
6	Roni Size	Heroes (Kruders Long Bossa Mix)
7	Native American Dream	Native American Dream
8	Illie Natalia	Romanian Gypsy
9	Tribal Lord	African Chill
10	Craig Armstrong	Weather Storm
11	Sergio	Ibizan Dawn (Chill Mix)
12	DJ Kermit	Turkish Dawn
13	Eastern Awakening	Eastern Awakening
14	Dust	Stand By My Side

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Another pic from my vacation in the French West Indies? Sure! Here's the tropical rainforest in Parc national de la Guadeloupe.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Buddha-Bar III (2001)

Various Artists - Buddha-Bar III (2001)

French import

My beautiful wife and I were recently on vacation in the French West Indies, visiting a high school classmate of mine who has retired there. While there, we spent a few late evenings drinking champagne, reminiscing, laughing, eating, and playing a rummy card game my friend learned as a child in Brazil called "Mexe Mexe." There was always some innocuous music playing in the background as we played cards. I enjoyed it and it fit the mood perfectly, so of course I eventually asked about it. I got the full story on the Parisian restaurant Buddha Bar which has its own DJ (Ravin) who released many compilation CDs. Complete explanation over on Wikipedia: Buddha Bar and/or Buddha Bar compilation albums. Also see the restaurant's website at buddhabar.com.

So while I'm over a quarter-century late to the game - better late than never! - I picked up some Buddha Bar CDs upon my return to the US. Mostly international artists of which I've never heard playing in genres with labels such as chill out, lounge, downtempo, etc. fused with world music, mainly Indian and middle eastern. As I said, great background music. I bought an inexpensive multi-CD lot of these things so there will be other Buddha Bar compilations featured in the space.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: 2 CD set. The first CD (15 tracks, 67 minutes) is titled "Dream," the second "Joy" (13 tracks, 77 minutes). Appropriately, each has a slightly different vibe. Tracks all blend/seque in to the next.

CD1	Artist	Title
1	Nicos	Secret Love
2	John Kaizan Neptune	Golden Lotus
3	Yorgos Kazantzis	Sorocos
4	Karunesh	Solitude
5	Platon Andritsakis	Via payuta iii
6	Tulku	Spiral Dance
7	Manuel Franjo	Solo por tu amor
8	Gustavo Montesano & Royal Philharmonic Orquestra	Tango Serenata
9	Adrian Enescu	Invisible Movies Part 1
10	Deepak Ram	A night in Lenasia
11	Amr Diab	Tamallu Maak (Always with you)
12	Frederick Rousseau	Danya
13	Eden	Mavis
14	Oliver Shanti & Friends	Sacral Nirvana
15	Jesse Cook	On Walks The Night

CD2	Artist	Title
1	Gotan Project	Triptico
2	Zeb	Sufism
3	Osman Ismen	Kale
4	Freeman	My Dear Masters
5	Evoka	Starlight in Daden (Aurora Remix)
6	Talvin Singh	Veena
7	Ravi Prasad	Indian Gipsy
8	Hasan Cihat Orter	Flirting Shadows (Sehnaz Longa)
9	Ana Vissi	Den Me Agapas
10	Nacho Sotomayor	Don't Do Anything
11	Badmarsh & Siri	Sitar Ritual
12	Kodo	Strobe's Nanafushi (Satori Mix)
13	Livin' in Da Ghetto feat. MOKTAR	Arabian Song (Da Ghetto Fuckiro Club)

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above. Moving beyond English-speaking culture is always an eye-opening treat for me. And the views weren't bad, either.