When I play my harmonium for meditation, listening deeply to the bellows pushing their air through the reeds, there is a place I go inside... a serene world that I named "Harmonia." Harmonia is a vast expanse of beauty, peace, and unending bliss. I wanted to try a sound experiment, to test how easy or challenging it would be to enter this state of mind in two extremely different environments. But the results were the opposite of my expectations!

My first recording location was the parking lot of a grocery store in the city on the day before Thanksgiving 2020. In the midst of a pandemic, there was certainly an added layer of complex emotions to what is typically a very busy shopping day for groceries. The adjacent road was rich with motorist activity & even though there were less shoppers, I was pleased with the level of hustle & bustle.

The second location was as far removed as I thought I could get, a quiet state park away from major towns on Thanksgiving Day. I set up a hammock & tried to soak in those Natural State vibes. Even though it was peaceful, it was hard to forget that I'm not the only person on the planet.

In the place where I anticipated the most chaos & pollution, I found the ever-present waves of traffic to be terrifically tranquil. The creaking wheels on the shopping trollies, the wind scraping dead leaves across the asphalt... it was easy to meditate amongst this & go right into my inner place of pure beauty. I wanted to pump the bellows of my harmonium for hours with the cityscape as the background. That track is called "Discordia."

When I was bathing in the splendour of the forest, I felt as though I had to fight every disruption of the natural wonders around me, no matter how minute. Loud planes soaring through the sky overhead, children of campers screaming in the distance, the occasional excitement of a kennel of dogs, the awkward conversations of hikers wondering what kind of creature I was... and then there was random cell phone signal interference which almost ruined the whole experience for me. There were still beautiful sounds abound. Trilling katydids, a purling stream, birds chirping, autumn leaving rustling... my mind was always on defense with anything I perceived as not belonging with these things. The distractions seemed more present due to the innate peacefulness of the forest. I still made it to Harmonia, but I had to work harder for it. Surprisingly, on subsequent listens I have come to love all these invasive human sounds & how the natural world is communicating with them. I learned that perhaps there are no accidents & every sound that enters our field has some value. Balance is key. This track is called "Concordia."

So that was my experiment. I'm publishing the results because I fell in love with this little project & I wondered if there may be a few others out there who would enjoy visiting Harmonia.

Sending out infinite love & light,
Daman

Concordia

Discordia

Ambient chamber music with sweeping harmonium, singing bowls, chanting, and wordless vocals amid the lush textures of nature, from Arkansas with love.

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