Bodhi Tree
Valhjim

It is not to wonder that Gautama 
found Enlightenment under 
the Bodhi Tree—all trees are living,

beautiful Bodhi Trees, living bridges
between heaven and earth, mind 
and spirit, body and soul.

All trees shine with inner light,
there's so much going on inside them
that is not visible to the eye: 

rivers of energy streaming 
through trunk, boughs, leaves,
flowers and fruits, complex 

networks of roots spreading 
underground, talking, connecting,
with other trees, plants, bushes,
and undergrowth;

trees provide shelter
from the heat of the sun,
home for birds and numberless
creatures;

trees bring down rain to fertilize 
the earth, give us delicious, 
nurturing fruit.

All trees are beautiful 
Bodhi Trees, bridges 

between 
worlds.

********
hope you like this poem
and music, friends.

Thanks for listening
and for your kind and thoughtful
words—they bring much joy
and inspiration.

Valhjim 


© 2025 Valhjim. All rights reserved. Original music by Valhjim.

Bodhi Tree

https://progettosonoro.bandcamp.com/follow_me
progettosonoro è Marco Mascia, accumulatore seriale (e parallelo) di strumenti musicali e oggetti sonori e (non)musicista. Dal 2007 fa parte (con Manuel Lain) del duo Le Pecorecaramellate che ha all'attivo un Cd (Una botte e via! edito da Sesto Esercizio Records) e ha partecipato (Cagliari, 10 Ottobre 2015, Nuovo Panificio) al Multiversal EXP-OFF. 
Il 1 Maggio 2016, sempre al al Nuovo Panificio, ha partecipato, con la Roaring Pianolas Orchestra, alla perfomance live "pianoltre"

I have played and recorded in international settings, a multitude of percussion instruments, guitar, bass, harmonica, some flutes, keyboard, and if you push me - a very fine jaw harp.

In fact, if I break it down.... I just love to offer-up music, in a living room, a bar, a concert hall or an intercontinental, interactive satellite coordinated concert. 
  
I became fascinated with percussive sounds from around the world… especially African and Latin American rhythms. I fanatically traveled the world collecting anything that you could bang, scrape or hit.
What I learned? Border customs people really don’t appreciate the true value of handmade African caxixi shakers or a Brazilian berimbau. They just want the serial number.
More importantly, a single clicking or ringing sound in a song can make or break that song.
  
I toured Canada, USA and Europe and recorded many “world music” albums (before it was called that), with my late, musical soul mate, Dario Domingues. We played in grand churches, the water reservoirs under Munich, on an island where 100,000 doves were released at the climax of our performance, the first-ever “simulcast”, live satellite, intercontinental concert and then, the humbling experience of being involved in Berlin, in front of 500,000 people, for a series of anti-apartheid concerts featuring ‘Sting’.  For our 'world music' efforts, we were awarded the Deutscher Schallplattenpreisan (1983) accolade by the Deutsche Phono-Akademie, an association of recording companies of Germany that recognizes outstanding achievement in the music industry.  
What I learned? Music is truly a universal language. Around the world people are drawn to music. Of course, different strokes for different folks! 
Whether you play in front of a half-million people in a field, or 10 people in a bar, your role as a musician never changes.  
 
“Dream of the Drum” – I was commissioned to compose and conduct a score for 40+ percussionists from all corners of the world... Jamaican fire dancers, Trinidadian steel drummers, Japanese kodo drummers, African djembe players, military drummers,... the list goes on.
What I learned? The language of music respects no geographic borders. 
Also, never start your outdoor concert, with a lone Native Elder's rain drum song. The drum's magic works!
 
I helped build three innovative recording studios plus, my current production studio. I academically taught musical acoustics and production for several years.
What I learned? All the mathematics and physics in the world can’t replace a good ear.
 
As a producer, I've had the wonderful opportunity to work in great studios in NYC and Nashville with amazing session musicians such as: Eric "Roscoe" Ambel - best known as lead guitarist of Steve Earle’s band the Dukes; Dan Baird of the chart-topping 'Georgia Satellites'; guitarist extraordinaire, Warner E. Hodges, founding member of 'Jason and the Scorchers'.
What I learned? Great musicians tend to be humble but they sure have opinions! In Nashville, I was bluntly told -"No, I won't raise the tom level - in country music, we use toms for holding our bourbon glass." I never did get the toms louder.
 
I spent many years as President of the Ottawa International Jazz Festival and met some of the greatest musical geniuses in the world.
What I learned? "Man, if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."
 
Music for jingles on radio and TV. Documentaries.
My personal favourite was coming up with suitable music for the mating rituals of pigs or, how to create 60 minutes of Arctic wind sounds for the movie 'Never Cry Wolf'.  
What I learned?  You can tell an entire story in a 29.5 second radio jingle and music is the glue that holds a great video together.

Valhjim is a music composer with an eclectic approach to different genres: rock, pop, folk, New Age, and experimental electronic music. Greatly driven by imagination and poetic imagery, he combines multiple instrumental textures to fire the imagination of his listeners. 

His more experimental ambience and electronic music is built with layers of suggestive sound textures, rhythms, and melodic lines that stir the imagination into suggestive imagery and worlds unseen, true architectures of sound that open up limitless spaces to explore. Often Valhjim's melodies sail through genre thresholds, crossing over from one genre to another, from neo classcal to electronic, or from jazz to rock or new age.

Back to making music since 2020.  If you like what you've heard here, check out my side project with my friend, Dubdelay, called The DAWHEADS https://on.soundcloud.com/M3fMDpkZP63A4e986