Flight on Light

Manos' collaborators on this album are New Zealand musicians David Downes, Steve Garden, Tim Prebble and John Psathas.

Manos Achalinotopoulos on Flight on Light...
The poetry of light. My light - inside and beyond. Spirit. Breath. Inspiration. I flew the uncharted territories of the unconscious, one clarinet narrating seven stories, each in a continuous stream - in one breath. Not limited by the barriers of pattern, form or style, this journey was a flight on light, with no predetermined or conventionalcourse. My teachers were whispers, lulls and silence, as were the diffractions, reflections, colourations, and luminance of light, which I tasted, created, touched and was touched by.

In the ocean of my childhood I imagined horizons from above, with clouds below and the air light and sparse. Here, at night, the galaxy lowers, the wind comes close, and the stars are like an endless river. All is translucent, penetrated by splendour and sweet flesh, where we become light, open and real.

In that translucent silence, everything is delightful and humble, but wild at the same time. Nothing artificial or false echoes there; it drowns. Only that which has breath - has spirit - survives, like a flute, a clarinet, a fife, or whatever is uniquely itself. Here, the wind is your teacher, and silence is harmony.

This fragrance of light, this breath from beyond, this is what my lonely clarinet seeks to taste. This is the truth it carries, that it struggles to colour and sculpt, out of the belief that everything related to the inner world and to the beyond communicates, that the worlds outside and inside us function for each other, that each is an expression of the other. So may my blemishes be forgiven, and may any flood of light or iridescence that radiates here be considered a shared offering.

From my heart, I thank all the important composers, musicians and sonic artists who, I acknowledge, have complimented my performances with creativity and precision. Special thanks to John Psathas - a great champion for music.