In 2012 and 2013
concert guitarist and composer Susan McDonald traveled by canoe deep into the Ecuadorian Amazon, accompanied by her guitar and her Kichwa guide, in order to film wildlife and to compose music inspired by the sights and sounds of the world's most bio-diverse region.
The resulting creation is her new
Animal Ballet, Yasuni: Dances from the
Rainforest, in which the animals featured in the video, which is projected onto a big screen, are the "dancers"
and she is their "orchestra."
Combining folk rhythms with
themes taken from the sounds of birds, insects and amphibians, the music ranges from ethereal to boisterous and takes the listener into a rare and fragile world whose mysteries are hidden from modern
civilization.
