The spark of inspiration lives everywhere. It’s passed from person to person, it’s whispered by trees, it’s sung by birds, it’s the mermaid you glimpse along the coastline on occasion and it’s the ‘one of a kind’ colour of the sunset one special evening.
Even if the spark is there, and we begin, far from every project comes to fruition. It’s the very nature of art and the lesson we’re learning along the way. Not everything is meant to be. But run with the project that feels right. It’s okay to stop and let projects rest for a while, then pick them up and take a new direction.
3rd of July 2020 appears to be a magical day. It’s the day Christine (Zema’s healing/Divine Alchemy) posted her prompt for epic music. I saw it, scrolled passed, scrolled back, scrolled passed and then back again. Intimidated, thinking I could never compose epic music. Then, since the Universe insisted, I sat down and tried a few beats. That summer the first skeleton of ‘Be the river’ was born.
I saw before me the river. How it starts small up in the mountains, the playfulness, how it grows, how it’s both stillness and power, how it’s life and death – the music attempts to give sound to this visual. The river of inspiration and flow. In it swims the salmons – each salmon a new idea – just take what you need. Part of the river is the water spirits, and above the surface flits dragonflies.
The salmon is a powerful spirit animal, teaching us how to carve out our own path in life. A message of not giving up. The dragonflies symbolise transformation, joy and lightness of being, and a connection with the spirits of nature.
Nicko, Christine and I had many ideas on just what the collaboration would look like for this song, the pictures for it, even the music… So many of these had to be tried and then discarded. The strange feeling of wonder, but at the same time ‘why doesn’t it work?’.
Nicko and I even had this song mixed and mastered only to go back to recording because the synth drums sounded wrong – like they didn’t do ‘Be the river’ justice. That was when Nicko contacted Marco Minnemann and he used two drumkits to create his version of the ambient drums.
Then back to mixing and mastering.
Still, the video material ideas eluded us. Again, many ideas that had to be abandoned… It sounds simple, as if it’s just to drop ideas and move on. It’s not like that. Dropping ideas actually hurts – like a loss that’s not okay to grieve. It thwarts the flow, hinders inspiration and joy. So, this too, we have to work through.
Christine set this project in motion and has been a supportive partner all along. She’s adding her frequencies and energy work to the project and we, Enchanted Duo, compose and materialise the music.
‘Be the river’ is waiting for you. 8th of August is the magical day we set it free ❤️❤️❤️
Salmons and dragonflies,
Anneli
