I feel like I am on a journey of healing and discovery, and the flute is at once my guide and the stage. For some reason that seems both familiar yet undefined, I never question that when I lift the flute to my lips, that something that is meaningful to me will come out. I don’t fight it; I don’t edit out the unusual sounds that the flute or I may make in the studio. I let it all stay in the track. I guess that since the Peruvian shaman, Don Francisco first touched me with his medicine bundle in ceremony, I feel that is not for me to judge the melodies that have come forth in a constant stream of (un)consciousness since.
At first, I thought it was important to fill every silence with some attempt at virtuosity. I have since abandoned all expectations of any particular outcome and I admit that often I am as moved in the silence as I am by the notes.
These recordings were made after I made a trip through the Mojave Desert. I found a large group of people in ceremony around a fire there. These were people in various stages of learning how to let go of the stories that bind them stiffly in a particular role in life (e.g. “i am an engineer). As I watched them approach the fine in silent prayer, I realized that sooner or later, we all have to face a fire – a fire that burns away our protective stories until and essential layer is exposed.
Fire Ceremony in the Mojave Desert
I hope you enjoy these melodies; may they help you to … face the fire!
Bill Leyden 