Garden Music by Free-Life Shashana & Rolando

I was struck how the music is how one might imagine the world of plants to inherently sound if they made a noise growing, extending their root tendrils, or opening their flowers.

As the album progresses the music generally moves away from the organic level to become more rhythmic and upbeat, though we also hear a few ambient synth based pieces -- like "Ode to the Flowers and Plants" where a reverbing synth delivers a reverential ode as gentle wave-like sounds lap across the soundscape.

Shashana and Rolando have created a very pleasing album that can perk humans up, and may well do the same for plants and flowers!

Dene Bebbington - Wind and Wire.com

REVIEW FROM AMAZON.COM

by Rebecca Johnson

"Delicately Soothing"

Created for plants, GARDEN MUSIC is also delicately soothing for humans and animals. The original music is created with a synthesizer and guitar. Garden Music is also designed to nourish and heal.

This beautiful music is performed by Rolando and Shashana. They specialize in a type of healing called "sacred sound healing." This helps to align and balance the body, mind and spirit of the individual listening to the music. You can feel the effect of the music almost immediately as it creates a soothing space to relax.

Rolando has been a musician for over twenty-five years and also knows a great deal about music therapy. Shashana, who loves Italy in the fall, has been playing the piano and organ since the age of six. Both musicians have studied music and also draw on their experience as musicians to create this beautiful escape which is a blending of exotic world music, classical meditations and jazz.

If you enjoy guitar, piano, organ, cello and violin, then I think you will enjoy the soothing comfort as you float away on rivers of melodious meditations. If you enjoy music by Yo Yo Ma, Secret Garden, Pat Metheny, and Acoustic Alchemy, as well as music by French Impressionist composers like Satie and Faure, then you will appreciate these smooth jazz sounds blended with a classical appeal.

Rebecca Johnson – Amazon.com and The Rebecca Review.com

THE SOUL IS NOURISHED

by Chic Katherman Rating: 10 out of 10

Avalon Services Network has had the pleasure of featuring "FREE-LIFE" SHASHANA & ROLANDO on several occasions for Avalon events. Not only did we receive many positive comments from our guests on the caliber of talent and professionalism of SHASHANA & ROLANDO, but also glowing feedback from many of our staff members. As our staff is comprised of holistic healers, many of these folks are especially sensitive to the quality, nature, and intention of music. SHASHANA & ROLANDO employ musical rhythms, tones, instruments, and vocalizations to interact with the physiological activity of the body. Their music seems to be almost intrinsic to our nature (and to the nature of plants and all growing, living things). SHASHANA & ROLANDO'S voices and instruments meld to create sacred sounds of healing for not only the plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees in the garden, but also for each (human) listener. THE SOUL IS NOURISHED, THE HEART EXPANDED, and CONSCIOUSNESS IS RAISED by the resonance of their music, which is drawn from both exotic cultures and the traditional sounds of nature (especially those found in the garden). I can wholeheartedly recommend to you both the music and the performance of the GARDEN MUSIC CD by "FREE-LIFE" as an asset to not only your own healing, but to the healing of the organic world of plants and flowers as well.

WHO WE ARE:

"FREE-LIFE" is an improvisational duo--SHASHANA & ROLANDO--keyboard/synthesizer and guitar/guitar synth. We perform in a Classically based New Age/Smooth Jazz and World Music style and specialize (especially with our current CD) in original "Garden Music"--composed for the plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees in your garden to help them grow and flourish more productively. OUR MUSIC CAN ALSO BE ENJOYED BY ANYONE WHO APPRECIATES SOOTHING, MEDITATIVE, AND SOMETIMES UP-BEAT RHYTHMS AND MELODIES. The guitar style 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:

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 NOW RELATES THESE SAME THERAPEUTIC PRINCIPLES AND TECHNIQUES TO THE HEALTHY GROWTH OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, SHRUBS, AND TREES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO CERTAIN TYPES OF MUSIC AND MUSICAL RHYTHMS. He creates his music in ways that continually intersect the organic world of nature and the human dynamics of a higher state of awareness.

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

ABOUT "FREE-LIFE":

SHASHANA & ROLANDO formed "FREE-LIFE" over ten years ago 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, they wish to offer all living creatures--both human and organic--the gift of an "enlivened compassion;" and their 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.

WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT "FREE-LIFE" SHASHANA & ROLANDO:

"If you enjoy guitar, piano, organ, cello and violin then I think you will enjoy the soothing comfort as you float away on rivers of melodious meditations."

-Rebecca Johnson, reviewer for Amazon.com

"When you hear 'Free-Life' think Pat Metheny meets Yo Yo Ma meets Secret Garden--they're that good."

-Jonathan Whitehead, Whole News Review

"Thank you for sending your new "Garden Music" CD...we've listened to it at the office and our struggling schefflera did perk up a bit, too!"

-Rebecca Kolls, host of Rebecca's Garden, HGTV and garden consultant for ABC's Good Morning America

"They are an incredible team of creativity...we encourage you to take/make the opportunity to hear them."

-Thelma Smith, Director of the Spiritual Mind Center of Richmond, VA

"The soul is nourished, the heart expanded, and consciousness is raised by the resonance of their music."

-Chic Katherman, Avalon Services Network

ABOUT THE "GARDEN MUSIC" CD:

The music on this CD is especially designed and created with you and your plants in mind. Scientific experiments have proven that certain musicals sounds and note combinations help plants and flowers thrive and grow more healthy and more successfully. And even if you provide your plants, herbs, flowers, trees, and shrubs with everything you think they need to remain healthy and happy, have you ever considered their musical needs? With the proper musical environment your plants and flowers respond in unique and special ways and grow more prosperously. The original melodies and soothing rhythms on this CD have been especially composed to offer you and your plants the latest proven techniques of Sacred Sound Healing. Sacred Sound Healing is the art of creating musical note combinations that offer a balance between body, mind, and spirit. Just as you are a living, breathing, and feeling organism, so too are your plants, flowers, vegetables, shrubs, and trees. And just as you need a balance between your body, mind, and spirit, your plants and vegetables need that same balance too. So don't pass up this opportunity to provide the musical nourishment your plants deserve. Check out this CD and give back to your "garden friends" something beautiful. After all, it's only natural.

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