Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour 399
Today on Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #399 we present an hour of improvised visionary music with the Gaea Star Band featuring Mariam Massaro on vocals, native flute, acoustic guitar and ukulele, Robin Rooney on vocals and percussion, Bob Sherwood on piano and Craig Harris on congas and native drums. Recorded live at Singing Brook Studio in Worthington, Massachusetts in July 2020, today’s show begins with the sprawling, ambitious “In The River”, an epic improvisation featuring an outstanding series of melodies by Mariam set to a shifting, imaginative musical soundscape that showcases all of the musicians in turn over it’s half hour length. The second half of the show features a lovely, deep song cycle that begins with the evocative, mesmerizing “Merrily We Sail Along”featuring a hypnotic, repeating, circular piano motif from Bob supporting a series of imaginative lyrics from Mariam. A lengthy instrumental passage yields to the shifting, alternately relaxed and driving “The Cauldron Of Life” and ultimately to the rocking, uptempo, afrocuban flavored “Never Give Up”, a song of resilience featuring lyrical native flute from Mariam and frenetic native drum figures from Craig and Robin.