| Sacred
Earth
is an evocative, 1-hour musical experience of the primordial
elements Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The four electro-acoustical
movements offer a mix of lush, ethereal soundscapes, intense
and drum-driven shamanistic chanting, and airy, sweetly
hypnotic meditations.
The
experience begins with a prayer deep inside the long-silent
red-rock canyons and ancient pristine forests where the
soul of Earth herself dwells. Flora and fauna play in delicious
7/4 counterpoint. Wind chimes charm us to a vantage point
just above tree-level; we see in the distance the mystical
flanks of Mt. Fuji, robed like an empress in snow and heralded
with a great Japanese gong. Moments of Zen contemplation
ensue. Then higher still, a welcoming canopy of air lofts
a solitary carefree kite, dancing to a simple F pentatonic
melody nearly forgotten since childhood but now forever
remembered.
The
Fire Movement actually “sounds” hot; beyond-measure-hot…Volcano
Hot. We’re there at the rim, staring deep down into
our own violent, roiling origins, hypnotized and mute, unable
to move. The spell is picked up by villagers below as they
sing by torchlight to their own frenzied, ecstatic dance.
An Elder jumps to the center where with wildest abandon
he gyrates to the drums and scales from worlds well beyond
this one. The spell suddenly breaks with a magic-sword:
a crack of heat lightning. The Storm: a mystery of transformation
from fire to water, two perceived opposites. And then…the
rain comes, and keeps coming. The drops dance; we are intrigued
by the amazing mystic liquidness of our being. The whales
sing. Not just underwater ... through amniotic fluid …the
earth of our birth. |