Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #176

08-13-15  Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour #176 begins with truly a high watermark of our work this summer, the stately, evocative, enchanting “Picking Roses In The Rain” which features a lovely vocal duet from Mariam Massaro and Sondra Lewis and fine rhythm work from Mariam, Dameron Midgett, Craig Harris and Robert Sherwood on ukelele, acoustic guitar, congas and piano respectively.  “Adonaway- Open The Way” follows, a lushly mysterious, eastern-tinged piece that flows from minor to major in time-honored Gaea Star Crystal Radio Hour tradition.  The song opens panoramically into a mesmerizing groove that frames another fine vocal dance from Mariam and Sondra before drifting away on celestial washes of backwards piano.  “Michikaiyo” is alternately playful and plaintive, featuring a chord scheme from Mariam that invites the extremes.  Hawaiian, Jamaican, and Afro-Cuban rhythm schemes form the architecture of this charming chant and dancing ukelele and inventive, fiery piano provide texture and interest.  The Andes meet the Serengeti on “Widikukamaya”, featuring excellent marimba from Craig Harris and soaring native flute from Mariam.  We return from the break with the drifting, bluesy “Freedom To Be Who We Are” a song of true independence from Mariam featuring some interesting commentary both lyrical and musical.  A surreal labyrinth of treated piano forms a bridge directly into the gorgeous, contemplative second section, an unusual theme that veers between majors and minors, simple consonances and on-the-edge dissonances, all held together by an inspiring lyric from Mariam to self-sufficiency and self-empowerment.