Rocketing into the 4th Dimension… Ye-e-e-ow!!!!!!!

18th August 2005

Hello all –

What a journey! I am recently back from another trip to Scotland – called yet again to visit the Callanish Stones in the Outer Hebrides, way out in the North Atlantic. The experience has filled me with such joy and contentment it’s hard to know what to do with the feelings.

My travels over the past few years have moved me deeply and literally – to Chartres, France and the labyrinth there, to Glastonbury, England and South Wales, to Iona, to the neolithic playground of Rannoch Moor, the Isle of Skye with its Black Cuillins, the Torridon Mountains and Loch Maree… all exquisite landscapes connected to the Scottish Highlands.
 
Gradually, I have begun to notice the effects of these pilgrimages on my music. In the past months between trips to Scotland, I have revisited a compilation recording I originally produced in 1990 – Best of Margie Adam – and have remastered the whole project. With 21st century technology, it is now possible to present these favorite songs from my first four recordings with a sound quality that was not previously attainable.
 

For me, this remastering has been a reclaiming of music from the first part of my career – during the halcyon days of Women’s Music. I found myself driving down the freeway toward Sacramento, California when I first listened under headphones to Stephen Hart’s brilliant, clean and clear remastering of these songs from Songwriter, Naked Keys,
We Shall Go Forth! and Here Is A Love Song. I burst into tears for the sheer beauty of the shimmer and depth that Stephen has introduced to these historical documents of my earlier artistic efforts.
 
And at the same time – I am in the midst of releasing a new project called PORTAL. This work has quite literally pushed its way right up through the middle of my life when I least expected it. As it turns out, PORTAL is more than a music CD. It is a 2-disc set which includes a 7-minute meditation DVD integrating a subtle mix of photography taken at the Callanish Stones and surrounding Scottish landscape with an instrumental arrangement of “Avalon.” PORTAL also includes a CD compilation of 10 contemplative piano solos taken from Naked Keys, Soon & Again, and Avalon.

This hybrid musical and visual experience is a first attempt to give artistic expression to an on-going spiritual experience that is profoundly altering my perspective. My hope is that PORTAL will provide still space for you in this chaotic world in much the same way as the Callanish Stones have for me.

Wishing you strength for the journey –