"Free-Life" Shashana & Rolando

"FREE-LIFE" is the improvisational husband and wife team?SHASHANA & ROLANDO (aka The Antonelli Duo)?keyboard/synthesizer and guitar/guitar synth hailing from Richmond, VA, USA. They perform in a Classically based SMOOTH JAZZ, WORLD BEAT, and NEW AGE style. Utilizing this style, they have created with their CD entitled "GARDEN MUSIC", original "energy compositions" for plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees to help them grow and flourish more productively.

But more importantly, their music can also be enjoyed by everyone who appreciates soothing, meditative melodies as well as up-beat rhythms and smooth, mellow jazz.

The guitar playing technique is in the tradition of PAT METHENY and ACOUSTIC ALCHEMY; the classical violin/cello synth sound is in the style of YO YO MA; and the overall ambient world/earth music sound is in the style of SECRET GARDEN. It's as if Pat Metheny and Acoustic Alchemy met Yo Yo Ma who met Secret Garden and then all four decided to include in their music, the exotic melodies and rhythms of World Beat--all ready to heal and up-lift the sometimes restless, wandering, and meditative soul-searching spirit of both you and all of your "organic" garden friends.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
SHASHANA plays keyboards and keyboard synthesizer and began her musical studies on the piano and organ at the age of six. She has studied classical music as well as jazz, and composes most of the music for "FREE-LIFE."

SHASHANA creates original melodies and rhythms inspired by her African-American and Native American heritage while drawing upon her shaman-energies to communicate with the plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees within nature to determine the type of music and rhythms Nature wishes to hear and respond to. She lets her intuition guide her as if she were in a dream-like trance as she maneuvers through the complexities of writing her music. Inside this dual world of practicality and imagination, Shashana allows herself to marvel at, and be open to, all the possibilities of communicating with the human and the organic at the deepest possible level.

Whether SHASHANA is writing for the plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees in your garden, or for the interconnectedness of your body, mind, and spirit, SHASHANA'S inspiration is always radiantly transcendent, and at the same time, grounded in the ever present NOW of our earthly existence.

ROLANDO has been a musician (as a guitarist and cellist) for over twenty-five years with advanced degrees not only in music but also in psychology, literature, and world religions. He has had experience both as a music therapist and as a practitioner of Sacred Sound Healing, and has presented healing and participatory workshops for over twenty years. In the late 1980's, Rolando became involved with the then burgeoning Men's Movement. He wrote original songs and poetry that dealt specifically with the themes and concerns of this movement including the emotional, spiritual, and psychological dynamics of inner child issues, father-son relationships, and male creativity and self-expression. He then integrated this material into a concert format followed by a "hands-on" experiential workshop based upon the music, lyrics, and poetry from his musical performance.

ROLANDO creates and performs his music in a manner that continually brings together the organic world of nature and the human dynamics of a higher state of awareness.


ABOUT "FREE-LIFE":
SHASHANA & ROLANDO formed "FREE-LIFE" in the early 1990's when they recognized the need for a musical group specializing in Earth-World Music that could easily and effectively present and translate the complex rhythms and melodies of this music to a western audience. They have consistently sought out new and exciting ways of presenting their music to make it more compatible for western listeners by adding New Age and Smooth Jazz elements?but without compromising the origin, integrity, and authentic style of World Music itself.

Through their music, SHASHANA & ROLANDO wish to offer all living creatures?both human and organic?the gift of an "enlivened compassion." Their ultimate desire is for everyone to recognize that we are all on a continuous and heart-felt adventure?a journey toward a planet filled with interdependent wholeness, peace, harmony, wisdom, and love. Namaste.