TALKING WITH TREES Appearing Sun Nov 4th 2018 at 7:30pm
The intrepid world music ensemble Talking with Trees features
Scott Sheerin
on flutes
Isabel Castellvi
on cello
Chris Rosser
on a variety of stringed instruments
With special guests
Jake Wolf
on bass
Ryan Oslance
on drums
This evening promises superb heartful musical journeys of discovery.
Gifted storytellers in the languages of cello, piano, dotar, silver flutes, cumbus oud, soprano sax, guitar and more, soundscapes emerge rich with joy, longing, contemplation and beauty. "The world is music" the mystics say. These heartful players explore realms of Silence with generous musicianship, deep listening and openness.
To Listen to This Wonderful Ensemble
ABOUT SCOTT SHEERIN
Scott Sheerin is the musician and musical visionary behind the music on Healing Music Now. My deep interest in healing and the spiritual dimensions of music have led me to a long apprenticeship in learning the ways of music as prayer and music as medicine. I work as a traditional healer or mara'kame, initiated with the blessings of the Huichol ancestors.
The music you will hear here is not Huichol. It is an expression of a lifetime of uncovering what spirit is wanting to express in any given moment through the voices that are available. This is music not anchored in any specific ethnic or geographical tradition. It speaks of the energy of fire and heart, the transformational and connective force in the world. This is music that invites the listener out of the dream of separation and into the dream of nature. Music that slows down the mind and connects us to heart.
Whatever capacities I have to bring this presence into music come from a long and steady learning relationship with the Gods or Divine forces in the world. I have been a musician since early childhood and had a normal arc of studies through school and college (Berklee College of Music). I played a wide range of styles in my 20's and 30's including free jazz, folk, rock and world. As a flute and saxophone player I often was a "sideman", accompanying singers or adding texture and melody to bands. At this time I had no conscious relationship with the Divine but I loved to improvise and spontaneously create with others. I think it was my favorite way to be in the world.
In my late 30's I began to study Traditional Chinese Medicine and became an acupuncturist. This was my first foray into holistic healing concepts and practices as well as exposure to the philosophical depths of Taoism from which that medicine is drawn. I also met a very important teacher for me, Eliot Cowan. He came to where I was living and taught Plant Spirit Medicine. This was my introduction to some basic elements of shamanic perspective. I found that I could journey to the spirits of the plants and later deliver the healing the plant was offering to my patients through the songs of my flute.
In my mid 40's I met another important teacher for me, David Wiley, in Mexico. He introduced me to the elemental God of Fire known to the Huichols as Tatewari or Grandfather Fire. Grandfather began to work with me to learn how to listen to him and to the living world. As I would listen and then play, the music became a prayer. I began a shamanic apprenticeship overseen by Tatewari and after 7 years I was initiated as a mara'akame, one who is called to serve his or her people as a healer, counselor and a leader of rituals and ceremonies. The music that I began to play and record took on more spaciousness and healing qualities. Although not technically part of my work as a mara'akame, my music grew along with my capacities to listen to the song of the world and be a vessel for Divine.
Early in my apprentice years I was taken to see Gurumayi, known as Swami Chidvilasananda by my beloved, at the time not yet my wife, Prema. Gurumayi is a great being, a meditation teacher and Master Musician. I had the great fortune to be drawn close to her and learn some of the ways of the profound spiritual practice of chanting and the devotional music of India. For 5 years I offered my seva as a sacred musician in ashrams and public programs around the world in the core ensemble of Siddha Yoga Music. This training was invaluable to my growth and practice of knowing the Divine through music, for which I am forever grateful.
Over the past 15 years I have been making healing music recordings as an independent recording artist. These recordings are in use around the globe in a variety of therapeutic settings. I serve on staff at shamanic healing retreats as a healing musician around the US and more recently at The Blue Deer Center in upstate NY. I currently live and work on music at home outside of Asheville NC surrounded by these exquisite old mountains.
ABOUT ISABEL CASTELLVI
Isabel Castellvi is a cellist, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, and composer. As a versatile musician you can find her collaborating with musicians from around the globe. These collaborations span many genres, including world music inspired projects, indie rock bands, her own solo projects, free improvisation, performance art, western classical music, and music for dance and film.
Isabel is grateful to share music all over the world through performances, recordings and teaching. Her musical travels have taken her throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Central and South America and the Middle East. These experiences continue to be a great source of inspiration, deepening her understanding of music's powerful ability to connect people and communities.
She received a Bachelor's in music performance at DePaul University and a Master's in the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music. Isabel has studied North Indian Classical Music with renowned vocalist Rajyasree Ghosh in Kolkata, India and Falu Shah in New York City. She currently lives, teaches and performs between Asheville, NC and Brooklyn, NY.
ABOUT CHRIS ROSSER
Chris Rosser is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, composer and producer. As a solo performer, he has opened shows for folk and pop luminaries such as John Mayer, Tom Rush, David Wilcox, Shawn Mullins, John Gorka, Nickel Creek, and more. He has released four solo singer-songwriter recordings, Archaeology (1998), The Holy Fool (2000), Hidden Everywhere (2006) and A Thousand Hands (2014).
Rosser illustrates his talent as an instrumentalist and composer in the world fusion trio Free Planet Radio. He plays the Indian dotar, sarod, Turkish cumbus oud, melodica, piano and guitar on their two CD releases New Bedouin Dance (2004) and The Unraveling (2008). He also tours internationally as the keyboardist with master Turkish musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek, and plays piano, guitar and oud in Grammy-winning flute virtuoso Rhonda Larson's ensemble, Ventus. In 2014, he toured with Ventus for 35 shows in the top concert halls of the People's Republic of China. In 2015, he began touring as the guitarist for renowned singer Lizz Wright's band.
Rosser has won songwriting contests at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival and the Merle Watson Festival, has showcased twice at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and was a New Folk finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival. As a recipient of the 1999 WNC Regional Artists grant, he continued his studies of Hindustani classical music and the sarod (a 25-string fretless Indian lute) with world famous Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan in San Rafael, CA. In 2003, he was awarded a prestigious songwriter/composer fellowship from the NC Arts Council. Chamber Music America awarded him and Free Planet Radio a grant in 2014 to compose and perform a three movement piece for the trio plus string quartet. Rosser earned a Bachelor of Music from the University of Miami School of Music where he studied jazz piano and studio recording.
In addition to performing, Rosser has produced and engineered over 200 CD projects for other artists in his Hollow Reed Arts recording studio in Asheville, NC. He has composed music for national commercial spots, and TV shows on Animal Planet, TLC, Oprah Winfrey Network, PBS and more. His song "Make A Wish" was featured in the TLC show "Jon & Kate + 8" during an episode with 12 million viewers. He composed the score for the pilot and eight episodes of the TLC TV show "United Bates of America." He produced and engineered the album "Unity" for Sean Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band which debuted at #1 on the iTunes World Music Chart.