I recently wrote a song about the beauty and compelling nature of musical improvisation and creative collaboration. Inspired in part by late night jams at the Illawarra Folk Festival and generally by the often confusing nature of love, music, creativity, passion, eternity, spirit, matter, energy, sexuality………. MUSIC.

Here are some of the lyrics

devour me, i’ll devour you
together we will cease
through the beats between the beats and the notes between the notes
2 as 1, 1 as 1, all as all, all as all
from nothing to nothing
what is it we fear
eternity is split in half when we’re apart

if its love that loves through me
then why is it looking through your eyes
through your mind
through the dance of your fingers
through you

I recently spent 3 days in Melbourne catching up with wonderful old friends from 3 separate phases and cities of my life. Rejuvenating as always. An absolute treat to spend hours in my favorite book shop “The Basilisk” and as often happens I bought so many books I was forced to buy a new bag to lug them home in. One of the scores of the day was Rudolf Steiner’s “Christianity as Mystical Fact and the mysteries of antiquity”
He quotes from plutarch: ” .. not only is the death of fire the birth of air, and the death of air the birth of water, but the same process of change may be seen still more plainly in man. …. What existed yesterday dies today: what is here today will die tomorrow. No person endures or is a unity: we become many persons, even as matter flows around one image, one common form. For if we were always the same how could we take pleasure in things which formerly did not please us, how could we love and hate, admire and blame opposite things, how could we speak differently and give ourselves up to different passions, unless we were endowed with a different shape and appearance, and with different intentions? For no one can come into a different state without change, and one who is changed is no longer the same: but if he is not the same, he no longer exists and is changed from what he was, becoming something else. Because we have no knowledge of true being, sense-perception has led us astray into taking appearance for reality”

I also scored 5 volumes of teachings from Swami Satyananda Saraswati. After years of practicing yoga and meditation on and off on my own, I have recently returned to regular yoga classes. I find it invaluable in maintaining focus in my life. I am prone to getting way to excited about too many things at the same time. Being pulled in every direction at the same time tends to create a stand still. i really appreciate the groundedness of the Satyananda approach and the fact that they introduce people to the breadth of yoga from the beginning. The physical exercises, the breathing, the relaxation. the chanting and the meditation. I also really respect the fact that they tend to do great work in the community, in prisons, schools, retirement homes etc…. There is also no need for color coordinated out fits or the perfect body. There is a healthy anti authoritarianism amongst the people who practice it and an interesting relationship between Australia and the Indian Ashram. There has been a strong relationship between the two ashrams here and in India since the seventies.

I was first introduced to the relaxation and creative imagination practices at the age of eleven as part of my youth theatre workshops. It has always stayed with me. And helped me through the more challenging times of my life.

Back to Melbourne: Here is some footage of the installation by Ruth Allen. We are now looking at making some glass instruments which I am very excited about. Its wonderful to work with long term collaborators. After recently coming out the end of yet another failed ” relationship” my creative relationships seem of even more value as continuity and depth of relatedness mean even more at these times. My creative relationships have often seemed more compelling to me than any and often perhaps the cause of strife in my “love” relationships. Enough for now………
[QUICKTIME https://mariantheloucataris.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/orbe2.mp4 146 120]
This is a clip off my phone. The installation is in a window box and can be seen by the car focussed culture who drive past. The sound was an accidental throw together of the sounds: from the street including some very well timed truck noises, the sounds that were actually being pumped onto the street of mine, plus an overlay of some of the sounds i did for the installation (bowed piano) and a layer of Brian Siskind’s (FOGNODE) lap steel to top it off. He has a gorgeous EP, all lap steel, called “porch music” check it out HERE.

There is a lot of dissonance going on in this accidental 3 min phone vid mix job …but somehow in a rather soothing way.