ShAnLi’ was created when Linda Khandro, Shiho Kurauchi and Ann Lindquist decided to capture the essence of our musical energies in a recording. This organic process became our Tethys project.

It seemed appropriate to name our project Tethys because of all the water imagery that emerged.

In Classical Greek mythology, Tethys, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, was a Sea Goddess and mother of rivers. It is also the name of an ancient sea and a moon of Uranus.

The way we work as a group is to choose a key, a time signature, perhaps a landscape of imagery and/or emotion, then focus on listening. Our combined sense of attention, being in the moment, stepping into the music and trusting each other is what you hear.

In the beginning…

Wave Form

Linda suggested that we improvise an introduction to her piece called La Playa. She recorded the ocean at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and that was our inspiration for improvising. That, and knowing it was an introductory piece for La Playa. We played ocean music.

La Playa

Linda’s piece.

Sanga

Shiho’s piece

Island Spring

"The mode was chosen and flute began this journey. Originally, we were not going to use it but there was something there… it haunted me until I added more parts. There is something ancient here being brought forth, like a spring bubbling up from somewhere. For me there was a definite Celtic feel to what we created."

Sombra de la Aparique

Ann's piece.
"This means "Shadow of the Trout" in Spanish. The story begins in the Cascade mountains of Washington at Black Pine Lake. There was a gathering of Artists and Scientists collaborating on how to preserve that wilderness area. I was at the edge of the lake playing my bass flute with the fabric of life around me. At that moment, one of the Biologists at the other end of the lake was watching the shadow of a trout dancing with my music. It seemed to be synchronistic. Fast forward years later and I meet Joe Tomelleri, a Biologist/Artist who is searching for the lost Golden Trout. His journey takes him to Mexico where he finds perhaps the last remaining Golden Trout on the planet. He and others are working together to preserve the wilderness area where the Golden Trout are. You can learn more about his work by visiting www.americanfishes.com. It seemed to be a full circle connecting around that experience and I wanted to feature the bass flute so I added this to the project."

Lotus

Ann and Linda's piece.
"My vision was to do something in 7/8 time with the tamboura as a drone. This was well suited for the bass flute and the harp and besides the loose structure it was all improvised. I think we did this in the first take."

Slip Stream

Linda’s piece

Kujira

Ann and Shiho's piece.
"Kujira means "Whale" in Japanese. This name came through my daughter Rachel as she listened to it. She said it felt like a whale swimming deep in the ocean. This piece has the melody written as well as improvisation with the flute and koto."

Harmonic Wind

Linda had recorded one of her harps in Mexico with the wind vibrating the strings until they resonated music. In essence we were playing with the wind and improvised over the recording with the bass, contrabass flutes and harp. This is definitely atmospheric.

Shizuku

Shiho’s piece.

Tethys

The tunings were set, the harp would start, and the rest you can hear. We rode the wave entwining our energies and created this piece.

Salmon Arm

Linda’s piece

Ichie

Shiho’s piece

Rain

Ann's piece
"I listen for patterns in the rain and this one became quite clear one evening. I began experimenting with the sounds and wondered, what if the instruments were rain drops? Not in time and in time. What if they played the symbolic rain pattern randomly? What started with that premise became the Rain improvisation you hear."

Yemaya

Ann and Linda's piece
"This piece was originally going to be a lullaby for my grandson, Tavus. I love the earthy gentle sounds of the dousongoni (instrument from Africa) and I wanted to hear what combining the gentle sounds of the contrabass flute would do. When we stepped into the energy of those instruments they created a sound unto themselves. The music took me deep into the earth or the womb. Then my husband Jesse found more water names and Yemaya was amongst them. Yemaya is a Goddess in African belief systems and she represents the ocean, the essence of motherhood, and a protector of children. Closer than I thought."