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.