Download Mp3s
of Rogelio Herrera's Flute Music (for Mac's control-click, PC's right-click)
High Tide
Song of Peace
Birdsong
The origin of the flute music on the Song
Of Peace video
Inabuyatan
Island, 1,105 feet high, at the entrance to Bacuit Bay in Palawan,
Philippines, resembles the profile of a woman’s head looking
up to the heaven. For years the locals called her the Princess,
 but she is also regarded as a Healing Goddess.
According to local folklore the Princess had gone into a deep long
sleep, being unhappy with the world -- she is patiently waiting
for the world to heal. Her tears created a huge underground cavern
inside the island with glistening crystal-like walls and a deep
freshwater lagoon.
I first visited this wet cavern in the summer of 2003. It is about
an hour of kayaking from Malapacao island where I was staying. This
cave is hardly ever visited, as the timing and tide must be just
right to safely enter. You need a boat and a guide to find the small
cave opening, and you must swim or snorkel to get through the narrow
tunnel entrance.
Once inside it is completely safe, and dark. Usually there are beautiful
small royal blue colored sea snakes resting in some of the nooks
and cranies inside the cavern. You can hear the sound of waves of
the ocean entering and retreating the small tunnel entrance.
I discovered that this cavern is an amazing echoic chamber - and
I was inspired to connect with the Great Mother with my flutes.
Under candle light, I recorded three of my flutes, using a pocket
sized minidisk recorder and a stereo mic.
A week later I was back in California, and attended the Summer Solstice
ceremony at the ocean cliffs of Bodega Head -- led by a great friend
and healer, Frank Hayhurst. This is where I met a native American
elder named Joseph Rael.
I offered him the use of my drum for his song. His powerful presence
combined with his loving and peaceful demeanor left a lasting impression
on me.
The next day I got a call from Frank. Frank and friends had taken
Joseph to a special place on the coast, a place where Joseph had
received a vision many years before. Frank said that Joseph had
asked him if I played the flute – because Joseph had heard
me play the flute in a cave across the Pacific Ocean during his
meditation.
Wow, I had not mentioned anything about the flute music I played
in the island cave in Philippines to anybody before then.
According to Frank, Joseph had also communed with the Grandfather
of the Ocean - and gave us some stones that he had hand picked,
along with instructions - to meditate and make tea with. I still
have that special stone in my altar.
The flute music that was recently mixed in (by Shamanzone) with
Joseph Rael’s Peace chant was one of the songs that I recorded
inside the Inabuyatan cave in the Philippines in 2003. I now offer
the 3 pieces that I recorded in that sacred cave as gift to the
world.
- Rogelio Herrera |
