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The Story Behind The CD
The main reason behind this CD is simple: the build-up of quality
music Martin Izsak had created in his library demanded it!
"The individual songs each came about as a matter of pure personal
pleasure and self-expression. I always had in mind that they should
one day be shared with a larger audience via CD or what-have-you,
but in the beginning they were just for me, my family, and friends.
"The title track, Harmonic Odyssey, has become something of a
signature tune in my musical works. Inspired by an experience of
spiritual realization, I originally composed it in the summer
of 1991 and slowly revised it over the years. This instrumental song
provides the major thematic unity for the album, presenting itself
in its original pop/rock pseudo-classical style in the opening track,
while the Odyssey theme recurs in a softer, grander, more new age style in
the final track: Odyssey 2 - Ethereal. Additionally, one can listen
for elements of this song and the Odyssey theme making their way into
Rolling Boulder Fanfare,
The Peak of Forever, and Nebula of Wonder.
"The Dawnflower is one of my earliest compositions, and it too
lends itself to the interconnectedness of the album by being
reworked into the bridges of The Peak of Forever.
"In its own way, each song has its own story behind it; I will limit
myself to telling just a few.
The Muckafoura
"I grew up hearing ambiguous remarks about `Muckafouras' for years
from the Jamaican side of my family, chiefly my mother. I thought
it must refer to a four-legged creature that plays about in the muck
a lot, because if you did something similar, you got compared to one.
I also became convinced that I had seen a Muckafoura amongst the
various aliens in the infamous cantina scene in Star Wars.
"The quirky seventh track of this CD had stood in its present form
for a long time, defying many of my attempts to name it. When the
thought of the Muckafouras came back to me at virtually the last
minute, I knew at once it was a perfect match. The song is as
wierd, silly, and four-legged as the Muckafouras themselves.
The Haunting of Mars
"Martian Lullaby derives from some very bizarre dreams
I had about visiting haunted nuclear holocaust shelters on Mars
(amongst other freakish sites in the Cydonia region
like the face on Mars and the nearby pyramids),
and eventually the Martian ghosts arose, keen to tell me about their
personal survival stories and how they were coping with the planetary
war they were engaged in. It got even more bizarre when I found myself
in their past as a less-than-willing footsoldier in the struggle.
"Keen to capture something of the essence of these dreams artistically,
I composed this short piece, in memory of a little Martian girl
in the shelter, recently orphaned, who sang as she tucked her doll in for
the night and comforted its fears with peaceful, starry poetry and
brave words about how everything will turn out right in the end.
How To Make A Galactic Tapestry
"Galactic Tapestry was in part inspired by the film
How To Make An American Quilt, the intricate yet simple
tying together of its emotional themes, and its wonderful music
by Thomas Newman. In titling my own musical `quilt' here, I felt
compelled to look beyond nationality to the level I feel
a personal connection to, and thus `American' became `Galactic',
and `Quilt' became `Tapestry'. Inspirational thanks are also
due to Germane, Sasha, and the channelings of Lyssa Royal,
who seem to often use the phrase `Galactic Tapestry' in the
vein in which I intend to represent it here."
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Proudly Canadian!