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At Mt. Shasta's Flying Lotus, Bastian, Marlis and Rasa sat in meditation for thirty minutes as people came in, found their places on pillows and floor chairs, and joined the group in silence. Softly in the background the sound system played a recording of Bastian on synthesizers and Marlis singing her composition, "God Within." At eight p.m. the recording faded and Marlis softly said "universum," the German word for universe. The three musicians brought their hands together, moving from the third eye to the heart chakra, in the Indian hand gesture representing "Namaste," sometimes translated as "I pay my respects to the divinity within you with all the divine charms of my mind and all the cordiality of my heart."
Rasa then ran a long nailed finger along the sitar's sympathetic strings and began a five minute solo, introducing Starseed's first piece of the evening, Lakshmi Smiles.
The printed program for the event requested everyone observe silence throughout the performance. Without the usual patter, shuffling and applause, the evening offered the audience an opportunity for an inward journey with the uncommon occasion of a group listening attentively. Starseed attempts a performance without the usual musician's ego delivering a scripted effort and asking for approval. As in the Indian classical tradition, Starseed's pieces explore through improvisation simple medlodic inventions guided by a modal structure, and influenced by a chosen ideation. Indian music will often choose a theme from an Indian legend as a guide for musicians and listeners. For that October 1st, 2005 performance, Starseed drew from our modern legends, and chose the idea of the conscious nourishment of the universe.
"Universum - We pay our respects to the universe..."
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