The New Age category remains, in record stores if nowhere else, even if crystals, reincarnation and harmonic convergence fell out of favor.

And artists whose work fill the New Age sections are clamoring for another title.

Yanni, the Greek-born multi-instrumentalist who rides high on the New Age charts (and visits Hartford for the first time Tuesday, for a concert at Bushnell Memorial), says New Age as a term is "meaningless to music."

Speaking from his California home, Yanni says, "New Age is a spiritual definition more than a musical definition. Some musicians began by associating themselves with New Age music. Now they've thrown everybody in there. But it would be silly to associate with this particular music."

Yanni prefers that his music be called simply Instrumental music. His colleague, Andreas Vollenweider, a harpist who has sold 7 million albums, prefers the term Contemporary Instrumental music.

Gary L. Chappell, a music retailer writing in Billboard magazine recently, suggests "Adult Alternative."

"Consumers have a derogatory association with the term New Age," Chappell wrote. "However, this association is related more to a fading lifestyle trend than with a dislike for the diverse range of contemporary music found under the heading."

Billboard has, in fact, just begun calling its charts of New Age and World Music albums "Adult Alternative."

But Yanni, who brings 45 synthesizers to his live shows, doesn't much care for that label either. "I don't think I'm so

alternative after all. I'm on my way to show this is mainstream music. It's music -- that's all it is. It's not pop and it's not meant to dazzle. It's not meant to be a style. It's an honest effort for one human being to communicate."

Still, there are barriers to the communication.

"When you do music like I do, instrumental music, 95 percent of radio shuts the door," he says. "There is a natural resistance built into the system. So naturally I have a harder time."

There is always press, but that has its limitations as well. "You can't talk music," Yanni says. "You can't tell people what it's like. It's original, it's different. That's why the tour will help a lot."

Millions have heard Yanni's music, even if they don't think they have. His tinkly piano and sweeping themes are repeatedly used as the soundtrack to televised sporting events, most recently on the Winter Olympics. His record company, Private Music, goes as far as saying "in the past five years, Yanni's music has been heard by more people in the U.S. than that of any other composer."

Yanni's fame grew last year, when "Reflections of Passion," a collection of romantic themes from his previous five albums, was released, topping Billboard's Adult Alternative charts for a record-breaking 47 weeks and cracking the pop charts. He became a household name as he and his girlfriend, the actress Linda Evans, made joint television appearances.

His work can be heard for the new overnight "World News Now" program on ABC. And he has been commissioned to write the main theme for the U.S. Open professional golf tournament, continuing his association with televised sports.

"The sports programming just took off on its own," Yanni says. "Apparently one producer enjoyed the emotional content of the music, and saw that it worked with the pictures. And once one person started using it, it just caught on."

The blending of the two -- sports and music -- is no accident, Yanni says. "When I was kid, I broke the Greek freestyle record in swimming. So I have these emotions in me, I know the feeling that comes through in sports."

Yanni came to the United States to attend college in Minnesota, bringing with him what he calls "a passion for music."

"I listened to a lot of classical music," he says. "But I also listened to a lot of Middle Eastern music. I liked the sensuality of it, I grew up with it, so I love it. I was also exposed to rock 'n' roll very much and I loved it. The Beatles, Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull and these sorts of bands. Past a certain age, I started looking for something new, something different."

Something that culminated, he says, in "this style of music."

But what do we call this style?

Vollenweider, whose new album "Book of Roses" is one notch ahead of Yanni's "Dare To Dream" on the New Age charts, says he is not comfortable with any category for his music.