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Waves

Track Listing MP3 files
Save Shasta play sample
Orcas Air play sample
Death at the Edge play sample
For Its Own Sake play sample
Three Characteristics of Existence play sample
Elegy for the Missing play sample
Blank Slate Day  
Lost  
Flux: Dance of Hericlitus
Small Daily Things
Rapture for a Friend  
total time: 48:10

Waves - solo huaca 2001
11 Compositions for the haunting beauty of the huaca. The shape of the instrument reminds some of lungs or a heart, while the finish can range from the subtle hues of a saggar firing to the raw earthy look of a pitfire. The sound has a primal quality that can call up memories of a distant past. The focus of Waves is the beauty, mystery and plight of the oceans. As our own 70% salt water body, the ocean is becoming more toxic as we dump our wastes, and runoff from fertilizers reach the sea. Pieces are linked together by sounds recorded on underwater hydrophones. Volcanic tremors, orcca pods and mysterious sounds of unknown origin. Waves closes with a symphony of these sounds. They are a cry for help from ocean creatures to us to not take them for granted and protect their habitat.

The sound has a primal quality that can call up memories of a distant past. The overall theme of Waves is the ocean as our own 70% salt water body. The mysterious sounds linking pieces on this project were recorded on underwater hydrophones. Orca pods, volcanic tremors, and sounds of unknown origin serve as a cry for help and wake up call to not take the ocean, its creatures and habitat for granted. 48 minutes



Quotes

When I listen to the music on Waves I feel as if I am being drawn into an ancient mystery tradition where the secrets are all encoded in the subtle blend of notes, evoking something ineffable from the heart without passing through the mental region and its thoughts.
– Brian Swimme, cosmologist and author of "The Universe Story", "The Heart of the Cosmos" and "The Universe is a Green Dragon."

I knew this guy in high school and he was a total jock and Alan has now mastered an instrument I didn't even know about. It's haunting but sweet and has an effect that is unlike any I have experienced.
Roger Hand, activist and Bioneer

The ocarina is such a beautiful, beautiful instrument. I feel privileged to be part of the historical continuity of it . . in a very small way, like a grain of sand on the beach. The pieces on this record are composed and performed by the instrument’s most advanced player. Alan’s music is often contrapuntal and complex. He has mastered the instrument.”
– Sharon Rowell, inventor of the huaca, a radical innovation based on the ocarina

Sharon invented the huaca in 1980, in response to the deep sound of an offshore foghorn echoing over the california coastal town of Mendocino, CA where she lived at the time. She has developed a unique Äring process that creates a gorgeous, ancient and organic look to the instrument.

The creation of a small clay chamber with holes for a Åute sound is thousands of years old surfacing in Mexico, Peru, China and Italy. The huaca has three large chambers with a split mouthpiece allowing one, two or three notes to be played simultaneously. Chambers are tuned to a speciÄc musical key and to each other in a tempered fashion like the piano. A few, commissioned by Alan, have all three chambers tuned to different musical scales providing the potential for more unusual harmonies.


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