FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

Ancient Seeds
by Aco Takenaka for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album

Photo by Jo Moriyama

Ancient Seeds is a soul journey through ancient songs, chants, and mantras from Japan, Native America, Brazil, Africa, India, and Tibet. Like seeds discovered in ruins after lying dormant for thousands of years, then awakened by water, these songs awaken through the human voice—reviving memories held in the soul, reuniting heart, body, and spirit with cosmic wisdom.

Beneath our different roots beats one deep sound—one root of life—reminding us that we are connected: to heaven, to earth, and to one another.

Listen Now

Spotify
Apple
SoundCloud

Feature Track
Ame Kuni

"Ame Kuni" is the quiet awakening of Ancient Seeds. Rooted in Shinto, Buddhism, and nature’s rhythms, Aco creates immersive soundscapes for deep presence and transformation.

  • “The album has one of the most original concepts I have ever come across, as ancient chants from Yoruba and other African traditions, Native American, Tibetan, Indian, and Japanese songs are all arranged in a contemporary musical soundscape, and caters for everyone’s palate, on its forward thinking journey.”

    Steve Sheppard, One World Music Radio

  • “A beautiful pop hymn to the African goddess Oxum — sung and chanted clearly by Aco, through which the listener truly feels the blessing of a goddess.”

    Carman Moore, composer, professor, and former Village Voice music critic

  • "If you are searching for something entirely different from the new age genre, then Oxum, the latest track from Aco Takenaka, will satisfy that need. Although she is singing in another language and you may not understand her, the vocals are mesmerizing and soothing as can be."

    Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck, NAMR Founder

  • “Takenaka’s latest song “ Oxum” is a breath of sonic fresh air...There is sweetness and soul in her vocal performance. The wonderful arrangement and production enhances her voice and the song.  I am looking forward to hearing Aco’s next releases. ”

    Peter Bliss, New York Songwriters Circle

  • "Aco’s vocal range is superb for these tracks and their meaning. Her sense of rhythm and tempo feels connected to esoteric things. The inflection of her vocals during these tracks sounds like a combination of Japanese and American Indian; it’s exciting."

    Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck, NAMR Founder

  • "There are artists who sing, and then there are artists who seem to breathe entire worlds into being with every note. Tokyo-based singer and songwriter Aco Takenaka belongs firmly to the latter... Beyond music, Aco's creativity flows freely into other art forms. Her collaborations span musicians, dancers, filmmakers and even researchers from the Shinto Research Institute, reflecting her multidisciplinary spirit.

    Jay Pillai, Founding Editor of Lazie Indie Magazine

  • "Ancient Seeds is a testament to the power of musical convergence, an exploration of global traditions, seamlessly woven together to create a new, deeply resonant tapestry, an experience to be felt, a reminder that in our turbulent world, the most profound truths can be found in the ancient, sacred sounds that live within us all.”

    Robin James, Music Journalist

  • “Ancient Seeds is an almost mystical work by the artist based in Tokyo, the Japanese capital, Aco Takenaka, a composer who moves like a fish in water in a territory that is mainly nourished by the traditional music of the Asian archipelago and also by New Age sounds, a perfectly balanced mix that gives her sound creations an intentional aspect of medical music."

    Jordi Demésenllà, Radio Host for Demésenllà / Panelist for Transglobal World Music Chart

About Artist

Rooted in the spiritual traditions of Japan, Aco Takenaka began with her own ancestral sound and followed it outward, listening for ancient voices that resonate across cultures. A sound artist and sacred vocalist, she bridges primordial wisdom with contemporary ambient production.

Renowned for her expressive “seven-colored” voice, Aco weaves ancient vocal techniques, sacred vowels, and organic textures into a sonic waterfall.

In Ancient Seeds, she honors each culture, weaving their deeper, shared resonance—the “original sound” within us all—into one album.

Song Notes

From the first spirals sung in Japan to a prayer for Mother Earth carried by the Huichol, a mirror held by the Yoruba water goddess Oxum, and a mantra whispered for the well-being of all beings — each track on Ancient Seeds carries words older than memory. Below are their origins, their words, and their meanings.

  • Japan — The First Spirals

    Ameno Mikumari
    Kunino Mikumari

    Note: Name of the two primordial spirals, at the birth of the universe.

    Within the power of these words lies the fractal seed of all beginnings.

  • Huichol — Prayer for Mother Earth

    Tate Yurianaka, Tate Yurianaka
    Camu Ne Iyari, Camu Ne Iyari,
    Tate Yurianaka

    Possible Translation:
    Mother Earth, I offer my heart — here, you have my heart.

  • Huichol — Calling to the Great Spirit

    Wani Wachi Elo, Wani Wachi Elo,
    Wakan Ka Taya, Wakan Ka Taya

    Possible Translation:
    Oh Great Spirit, I want to live.

  • Yoruba — Tapestry for the Water Goddess

    Nhem-nhem-nhem, nhem-nhem ô xorodô
    Nhem-nhem-nhem, nhem-nhem ô xorodô
    É o mar, é o mar
    Fé-fé xorodô
    Oxum era rainha,
    Na mão direita tinha
    O seu espelho onde vivia a se mirar

    Possible Translation:
    It is the sea, it is the sea. Oxum is a queen — in her right hand she held her mirror, in which she gazed at herself.

    Ide were were nita Oxum
    Ide were were

    Possible Translation:
    The shining, radiant beads of Oxum.

  • Yoruba — Honoring Mother Earth

    Iyalàwà Orisha O
    Iyalàwà Atakiyoke
    Tà re mo yì o, Ilẹ̀ Oba
    Oba tó ra Orisha O
    A wà ni rè Orisha O
    Iyalàwà Atakiyoke

    Possible Translation:
    Oh Mother Earth, revered elder — we see you, the divine queen of the earth, the supreme divine mother who created the Orisha. We are in your presence.

  • Xhosa — Ancient Mothers

    Oh Mama Bakudala Babe Thandaza
    Babe Thandaza
    Babe Thandaza
    Oh Mama Bakudala Babe Thandaza

    Possible Translation:
    Oh, ancient mothers — they prayed.

  • Tibet — Jewel Within the Lotus

    Om Ma Ni Padme Hum

    Note: The repetition of these sacred words gently leads our consciousness beyond duality — beyond the separation of you and me.

  • Hindu (India) — Mantra for Healing and Balance

    Ra Ma Da Sa Sa Say So Hum

    Note: It expands into eternity and infinity, merging universal energy with the finite, bringing harmony to all layers of our existence.

  • Hindu (India) — Mantra for the Well-Being of All

    Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

    Possible Translation: May all beings in all realms be happy and free, and may my thoughts, words, and actions contribute to that happiness and freedom.

  • Japan — The Goddess of Haku Mountain, with the Eleven-Faced Kannon

    Kukuri Hime
    On Maka Kyaronika Sowaka

    Note: Three parts in one chant: Kukuri-hime, deity of connection who dwells in this range; the mantra of the Eleven-Faced Kannon; and an invocation to Mount Haku, whose blessings reach every direction.

  • Ancient Japan — Ancestral Blessings and Beyond

    Note: It dismantles all thought and purifies all existence — in other words, all ancestors and all gods smile and bless us.

Album Credit

The voices, instruments, and hands behind all eleven tracks —recorded across four studios and several private rooms, and brought together by Aco Takenaka and Toshiyuki O'mori.

  • Aco Takenaka & Toshiyuki O’mori

  • Traditional

  • Aco Takenaka (composed on tracks 1, 7, 9, 10)

    Toshiyuki O’mori (composed on tracks 8, 11)

    Other tracks: Public Domain

  • Bernie Grundman @ BGMastering

  • Arrangement & Programming: Toshiyuki O’mori

    Vocal, Chorus: Aco Takenaka

    Native American Flute: Hiroki Okano (tracks 2, 3)

    Percussions / Marimba / Djembe / Taiko / Shaker / Rattle: Tamao Fujii

    Sho (笙): Ko Ishikawa (tracks 1, 11)

    Bodhrán / Talking Drum: Joss Jaffe (tracks 1, 4, 9)

    Bansuri (バンスリ): Taro Terahara (track 9)

    Tabla: Joss Jaffe (track 9)

  • Kenichiro Ueda

"With gratitude, I welcome you into the resonance." — Aco