The Mirrors Of The Life (Imported Enhanced CD) by Ray Sandoval

Breathe Deep

We who are strangers in our own land

We who inhabit

At the intersection of pain and tenderness

Offer up

These canciones sencillas,

Deceptive in their unpretentious cloak

Casting coral purple shadows

On the ancient scorched sands between the freeways,

Away from the cry of false alarms.

Heartfelt expressions

Walking at the edge

Of a cement encased river

Longing to break free and overflow

All at once.

From the silence

Esa canción surprises us kindly

Written in the crosswinds

Against the current

But always with the flow

Sangre y sueños

Los espejos de la vida

Waiting for things yet to come

In the mystery of the obsidian night.

Take me there

To the place where you are without pretense

To the place where no words are necessary

To the place where you can cry and moan

At the edge between the worlds.

Take me to that crossroads

Where you conjure up las voces

From wood and nylon strings

From the fire of chile

And the nectar of a cactus bloom,

Where you make all

From nothing at all

Creating the path

One step at a time

In the moment

Rupturing the silence

Reaching for el recuerdo

De un beso endulzado

Emerging from the shadows

Of the mystery of **Nepantla,

The place in-between,

The world between worlds.

In the war for hearts and minds

Among the battles for recognition

Let me ramble loose and easy

In a minor key

In that unfamiliar place

Perdida en una lágrima de cristal

Where your fingers glide instinctively

Without effort

Melting down the tensions

Like the whisper of an Earthmother's lullabye

Calming the cry of the cosmic child

Alma infinita

Bathed in clear waters

Come home

Breathe deep

About Chola Con Cello...

East L.A. native María Elena Gaitán , also known as 'La Chola Con Cello' is Chicana musician, performance artist and writer, and a friend of Ray Sandoval.

www.cholaconcello.com

Footnotes:

*The Saguaro is the tree of the Sonoran desert, a giant cactus that lives in desert slopes and flats, especially in the rocky bajadas. The magnificent saguaro wraps its roots around rocks to anchor itself from the blowing winds and grows very slowly, -- perhaps an inch a year -- to a great height of up to 50 feet. The largest plants, with more than 5 arms, are estimated to be over 200 years old and can only be fertilized by cross-pollination - pollen from a different cactus. The creamy white saguaro flowers bloom in the mystery of the night, secreting nectar into their tubes, awaiting pollination.

**"Nepantla" is a word used by Nahuatl-speaking Aztec people in the sixteenth century to define their own situation in relationship to the Spanish colonizers. Dominican missionary Diego Durán wrote an ethnographic history of the Nahuatl speakers from the Valley of Mexico. He asked one of his Indian informants what he thought about the difficult cultural situation that had been created for his people by the Spanish invasion. The indian responded, "estamos nepantla."

This pre-Columbian concept of nepantla has been described as "the crack in the world" by Chicana poet and writer Gloria Anzaldúa. It is a place of transition, the world in-between in which we move from the familiar to the unknown in order to reach a new understanding. Nepantla is the uncertain terrain we sometimes enter willingly. Other times nepantla is forced upon us by the circumstances of our lives. Nepantla has been interpreted by Chicano scholars as "a state of resisting the mainstream, in order to reinterpret and redefine cultural difference as a place of power." Nepantla can also represent the process of people who do creative work, who must enter the realm of the unknown in order to emerge by creating their own understanding of the world.

Breathe Deep: The Music of Ray Sandoval

© María Elena Gaitán 2004

The Mirrors Of The Life

Waiting For Things Yet To Come

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Art Hirahara - Piano

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Tony Austin - Djembe

Mira La Que Chevere

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Ray Sandoval - Guitar, Tres

Joey De Leon - Congas, Timbales, Guiro

Rocio Marron - Violin

Gabriel Gonzalez - Vocals

Eastside Sunset

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Joey De Leon - Congas

Recuerdos De Isabel

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Ray Sandoval - Guitar, Handclaps

Joey De Leon - Congas, Guiro, Cowbell

Kiko Cornejo - Maracas

Cristina Nava - Handclaps

Dream Etude

Rene Camacho - Bass

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Piensalo *

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Art Hirahara - Piano

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Joey De Leon - Congas, Guiro

Gabriel Gonzalez - Vocals

Pat Me

Bryon Holley - Drums, Brushes

Rene Camacho - Bass

Art Hirahara - Piano

Ray Sandoval - Guitar, Guitar Synth

Joey De Leon - Congas

Brad Dutz - Tan Tan

At The Edge Between The Worlds

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Art Hirahara - Piano, Rhodes Piano

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Joey De Leon - Chekere

Brad Dutz - Triangle

Rocio Marron - Violin, Viola

John Krovoza - Cello

Tranquilo **

Bryon Holley - Drums

Rene Camacho - Bass

Ray Sandoval - Tres

Joey De Leon - Congas

Brad Dutz- Agogo, Tan Tan, Caxixi

Destani Wolf - Vocals

Fussa Lullaby

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Alma Infinita

Bryon Holley - Drums, Tambourine

Rene Camacho - Bass

Art Hirahara - Rhodes Piano

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

All music and arrangements by Ray Sandoval Music (ASCAP)

except where noted

*Music and Lyrics by Gabriel Gonzalez and Ray Sandoval

Bikabur Publishing, ASCAP, Ray Sandoval Music, ASCAP

**Music and Lyrics by Destani Wolf and Ray Sandoval

Destani Wolf Music BMI, Ray Sandoval Music ASCAP

Thanks to: My mother Tatsue Hasegawa, Dad and Margaret Sandoval, Maria Elena Gaitan, MH3, Chiyoko Tanaka and Allan Moyle, Mika Akao, Jason Kennedy, Tomoko Kiriishi and Gloria Anzaldua R.I.P., Gabriel Tennorio for use of his guitar in the video, Tony Austin for getting tones on the Drum Kit, La Gente en Echo Parque.

Special thanks to: all the musicians who contributed their talents on this record. Shin, Miho, Shusaku, at Music Camp.

Recuerdos de Isabel was written for Las Isabelas, a cancer survivor group

A Phocus Music Production

Produced by Ray Sandoval

Recorded at Phocus Studios, Los Angeles, CA, March 2004

Additional tracks recorded at Akao's Studio in Tokyo, Japan, May 2004

Mixed in Tokyo, Japan at Akao's Studio, May 2004

Recorded and Engineered by Ray Sandoval

Mixed and Mastered by Ray Sandoval

Remasterd by Tucky at JVC, June 2004

All Compositions and Arrangements by Ray Sandoval, except where noted

*Music and Lyrics by Gabriel Gonzalez and Ray Sandoval

**Music and Lyrics by Destani Wolf and Ray Sandoval

Gabriel Gonzalez appears courtesy of Vanguard Records, a Welk Music Group Company

Ray Sandoval uses Groove Tubes Pre-amps and La Bella Strings

Copyright 2004 Ray Sandoval

All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

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