Merry Christmas 2015! 

Piano, vocals, and snowy owl photo by Diane Rains.
© 2015 by Diane Rains. All Rights Reserved.

White Christmas 2015

Ocean covers 70% of the Earth's surface. Life on this planet first sprang into being in the sea, and through its effects on climate and food webs, our global ocean sustains life still. The sea is, in every sense, our Mother. Thus proclaims the mermaids' siren song!

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A hauntingly lovely choral work by composer Diane Laura Rains, Mother Sea creates a mysterious, moving tableau of life in the open ocean. Each voice and instrument has a role to play in this lush, ancient drama. Embrace your inner ocean! 

Vocals by EastWest Symphonic Choir.
Words and music copyright © 2016 by Diane Rains. All Rights Reserved.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Lyrics ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Mother Sea,
restless and free,
hear your daughter
call to thee.

Hold your child
in wet embrace.
I can't forget
your loving face.

Mother Sea,
your waves unfurl
to reach out and cradle
all the world.

Ask the dolphins.
Ask the whales.
Ask all the fish
in jeweled scales.

Listen closely;
they all say
"We will love you
always."

Always.
Always.
Always.

Fae By Nature Choral Works

Mother Sea

This is what a Blue Whale song note sounds like at real time (1x speed). Turn on your Subwoofer - this is low frequency!

Blue Whales produce such a low frequency sound that a single singing whale, in the right environment, can be heard across hundreds and even thousands of ocean miles.

Keep in mind, the Blue Whales are the largest animals to have ever roamed the Earth. Their population was once thought to have peaked at 200,000. Now, following persistent hunting through the 1960s, the population has dwindled to near 10,000 World-wide.

This was recorded using a "pop-up" or Marine Autonomous Recording Unit (MARU) by the Bioacoustics Research Program (BRP) of Ithaca, NY. Visit http://www.birds.cornell.edu/brp/ for more information about BRP and other acoustic research we are doing.

Photo by Mike Johnson.

01 Blue Whale song notes at 1x speed

Our planet Earth rotates and revolves like a ballerina, pirouetting and leaping across the stage of Space in an endlessly repeating pas de deux with the Sun. And all the creatures of Earth dance along. Each species has its own unique role in the performance, but all dance the circle dance. Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. We start, we move, we come back around to where we began. 

Perhaps the most obvious and delicate symbol of life’s periodicity is the seasonal cycle of migratory birds. Migration, nesting, fledging, migration. To know where we are on the ever-turning Wheel of the Year, we need only listen to the voices of birds and look to the skies! 

COME, BIRDS OF SEASONS, an epic choral composition by composer Diane Laura Rains celebrates the mystery and joy of seasonal transformation and migratory birds.

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Words and music Copyright © 2018 by Diane Laura Rains.

All vocals by Diane Rains, One Woman Choir!  :-D Hammered dulcimer by Stu Janis. Frame drum and Shruti box by Diane Rains.

Recorded at Wild Sound Studios, Minneapolis, with Engineer Steve Kaul.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ LYRICS ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

Come, birds of Winter to me.
Come, Nuthatch and Crow from your tree.
Come, Blue Jay and Finch from the air.
With singing, these gifts for you I bear.

Sweet birds of Springtime, hear my call.
In friendship, I welcome you all
from faraway lands where you bided
‘til our blustering, cold winds had subsided.

Oh, Bluebirds of Summer in the nest.
And Swallows — swoop east and dart west!
Fecundity and growth be your gift.
May your children be airborne and swift.

Come, feathers of Autumn in the flock.
Now gather, attend Nature’s clock.
Your formations split the sky like an arrow.
Away, with the swan and the sparrow!

Come birds of seasons on The Wheel.
In your turning and returning, we feel
a quickening of hope as you fly
in tune with the rhythms of the sky.

Come, birds of Winter to me!

Come, Birds Of Seasons

After nesting on Punchinello Prairie this summer, our resident bluebirds disappeared for over a month. This morning they returned! In honor of the occasion, I opened the window and composed and sang this song on the spot. They liked it. :-D

Birds of Blue

As the sun rises on the morning of Winter Solstice, Punchinello Prairie gleams with hoarfrost and golden dawn. My flocks of Jays and Crows are gathering, and the Awen flows in me!

Here is a song for this splendid Winter Solstice morn.

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Words, vocals, and music by Diane Laura Rains. 

Watch for a fully instrumented Neptune's Keep version of this song, emerging later in 2020!

Copyright © 2019 by Diane Laura Rains. All Rights Reserved.

Solstice Wings

Solstice Wings (a Capella)

In celebration of the bright and luscious gifts of June.

Words, music, vocal and deer photo by Diane Laura Rains.
Copyright © 2020 by Diane Laura Rains.
All Rights Reserved.

This song can be downloaded for free courtesy of Ornithovoyance by Bard Owl.

ornithovoyance.com/

www.facebook.com/Ornithovoyance/

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What is as bright as a day in June?
What could smell sweeter than clover in bloom?
What makes the Summertime air taste so pure?
What is this magical, Juney allure?

All I know is, the sun’s brimming over with light,
and it feels like a smile on my skin.
Flashy fireflies twinkling through warm, grassy nights
inspire lustrous days to begin.

Swooping swallows write poetry on the sky,
while dandelions’ fluffed tutu seeds
float up and twirl in a buoyant ballet.
This is everything my spirit needs!

I trill and I thrill at the burbling birds.
I waltz with the swaying wildflowers.
I sit quietly listening to the voices of trees.
And the bees! I could watch them for hours!

All this growing green life has me glowing inside.
In its sweetness I’m quite swept away!
It’s a Summertime feast, and I just have to say:
There is nothing quite like a June day!

No, there’s nothing as grand as a bright June day!

Song son A Bird Bard

A Day in June

A Day In June

A song for my beloved Druid grove, Northern Roots Grove.

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Vocals, piano, and MIDI cello by Diane Laura Rains.
Hammered dulcimer by Stu Janis.

Words and music Copyright © 2020 by Diane Laura Rains. 
All Rights Reserved.

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ LYRICS ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

NORTHERN ROOTS GROVE

Where rushing rivers run
into lakes wide and blue,
where lyrics of the loon
sound beneath a strawberry moon,

Where trembling aspen leaves
sparkle gold in a turquoise sky ––
I found my people there.
I found wings to fly!

We each walk our separate path
with its own Spirit song.
We lend each other our hand
to help us along.

The gift of community
keeps us all strong.
We’re a family;
a place to belong.

What does the future hold?
What’s on that far misty shore?
Will there be less of us?
Will there be more?

We carry the wisdom
of those who’ve gone before.
Together we walk unafraid
toward that open door.

All that you’ve meant to me.
All that you’ve done.
Those sweet times we stood beneath the trees
welcoming the sun.

Our bold diversity ––
the tapestry we wove ––
grows so deep and shines like rainbow leaves
in our Northern Roots Grove.

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Northern Roots Grove

Here's to new beginnings!

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Words and music by Leonard Cohen.
Vocals by Diane Rains.

Hallelujah

For millennia, reindeer have roamed the northern reaches of our planet, following ancient seasonal migration routes through the Arctic and sub-Arctic, boreal wilderness. Most reindeer birth their calves in the high Spring mountains, where lichens and other vegetation offer lush food. Then they retreat to the lowlands in Winter. They follow the tracks of their ancestors, navigating the same route year after year, century after century. It is the female reindeer who leads the herd. She retains her antlers through the Winter and into Spring, shedding them in the mountains after giving birth. Males drop their antlers in the fall. 

Humans have always had a vested interest in reindeer and their remarkable journeys. At least 2-3000 years ago, humans began shepherding reindeer. They followed the reindeer during their cyclical migrations and tamed them to some extent. These unique animals provided food, clothing, and shelter for circumpolar northern cultures in what is now Arctic Scandinavia and Russia.

The reindeer herders also derived spiritual sustenance from their furry companions in the form of an antlered goddess revered by reindeer people since Neolithic times. She was widely known as Reindeer Mother, and her people connected with her through the (mostly female) shamans of their tribes. Art, ceremonial burials, jewelry, and clothing of these ancient reindeer peoples tell Reindeer Mother’s story. These stories have passed down to modern day herders from their ancestors generation to generation, and today archaeologists study artifacts from those ancient cultures.

Reindeer Mother’s influence extended beyond Scandinavia and Mongolia into the British Isles. Her name is Elen or Helen in the old stories of Wales. To many she is now known as Elen of the Ways, for the straight track – the roadways, the deer trods, and the ancient migratory routes of reindeer – are her domain.  

With Elen, I too, follow the reindeer. I seek the straight track, the ancient pathways to help lead me beyond the things that bind me. For in my heart, I am a child of Reindeer Mother.  

And so I sing of Elen, of Reindeer Mother. It’s a very, very old and wondrous song.

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ELEN OF THE WAYS  

Words, music, vocals, frame drum, sleigh bells, and electric Celesta by Diane Laura Rains. Hammered dulcimer by Stu Janis.

Copyright © 2019 by Diane Laura Rains All Rights Reserved.

∞∞∞ LYRICS ∞∞∞

In northern lands of the Midnight Sun,
where boreal forests grow,
nomadic herds follow their heart’s path
through the still and ancient snow.

People there speak of Reindeer Mother’s
track across the sky.
She bears the sun out of darkness,
and she helps her children fly.

Elen of the Ways,
Elen of the Ways.
She who walks where reindeer graze,
Elen of the Ways.

The first nomadic humans
followed reindeer where they roamed
to verdant summer calving grounds,
then to find a Winter home.

They summoned Reindeer Mother
with the shaman’s magic art.
She taught her people patience
and the path to the animal heart.

Elen of the Ways,
Elen of the Ways
helped us in our early days.
Elen of the Ways.

Eons passed, and most forgot
what ancient people knew:
to love the Earth with a reindeer heart
is the best thing humans can do.

Deer still tread the ancient tracks,
and I walk them, too.
I hear the song of the winging stars
and the call of the caribou.

Elen walks there with me
at each hopeful journey’s start.
And the deer trods that I follow
lead inside the human heart.

Elen of the Ways,
Elen of the Ways
takes me where the reindeer graze,
Elen of the Ways.

Elen of the Ways.
Tracks of Mother Earth:
amaze me all my days!

The Singing Grove

Elen of the Ways

Buy the album

Elen Of The Ways

The wisdom of Crows is deep and sharp and quicksilver. Their hearts beat with the fearless bravery of the Warrior, a fierce devotion to Family, and the melt-into tenderness of steadfast True Love. Crows rollick with the crafty humor of the Trickster, and their feathers gleam with the stunning, sleek obsidian beauty of Nature’s artistic hand. Keenly perceptive and skillfully confident, they are masters of Air. Crows are fashionably modern and unfathomably Ancient. They are the Avian Dark Matter that knits together this world and Hidden Realms. They are magnificent. They are sacred. My heart beats with the delicious mystery of Corvidry. 

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Kråkedansen – The Crow Dance – is an old Swedish folksong. Its exact origins and meaning are lost to time, but it may have originated in the 17th century.

I learned the song – with delight! – from the teaching of Eva Tjörnebo. I have been in love with Crows since childhood, and I immediately fell in love with this song! I shared Kråkedansen with my local Crow family (of which I am an honorary member), and they were enchanted by the song, too!

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This track is my a cappella version of Kråkedansen. Singing and Kulning by Diane Laura Rains (human)and Brubeck (American Crow). Cover art: Brubeck, by Diane Laura Rains. 

Music and art Copyright © 2021 by Diane Laura Rains. All Rights Reserved.

Coming soon: A fully instrumented version of Kråkedansen by Neptune's Keep, with vocals by my Crow friends and I, along with harmonium, handpan, hammered dulcimer, and Celesta.

Watch for a spooky cool music video coming to our YouTube channel this Spring!

https://tinyurl.com/OrnithovoyanceYouTube

Kråkedansen A Capella With Crows

Original songs about the beauty and mystery of our precious planet and worlds beyond. We sing of the majesty of birds, the depth of sea, the passion of fire, and the rooted goodness of trees. We sing of the human heart.

Elen Of The Ways

Neptune's Keep

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