theVoyage Soundtrack

This CD is part of a multimedia theater piece theVoyage, a mystical healing journey created in response to the war in Bosnia. The piece was premiered at the Sarajevo International Arts Festival in 1998. theVoyage blends indigenous rhythms and percussion, symphonic textures, soothing harmonies, sounds of nature and male/female vocals.

Part I is the entire story with narration. Part II contains music and soundscapes only. theVoyage encompasses elements of American minimalism, classical music and ethnic music intertwined in a unique story of union, separation and reunion

theVoyage tells the story of Shjaba and Bahtu who journey across the planet Hetra, an ancient world. Shjaba is traveling through light years of space in search of her ancestors and her forgotten home. She soon encounters Bahtu, a being of the forest who lives near Hetra's Great Western Sea.

Bahtu falls in love and offers to assist Shjaba in her quest. Along the way, they face the Darkwind, an evil force which separates them and turns the planet to ice. Each must travel inward to reclaim their power. Only then do they emerge and reunite, revealing the Sacred Mountain by the Great Eastern Sea, opening a bridge to forgotten worlds.

Svjetlana Bukvich-Nichols is a composer working with electro-acoustic sound, video, and voice. Born in Sarajevo she studied piano and performed as a soloist with the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra by the age of fifteen. As a young artist Svjetlana also lived in Scotland and Ethiopia, an experience that influenced her early writing. Svjetlana has performed extensively, composed music for television and theater, and is a lecturer and teacher.

Rick Nichols is a musician, producer, and teacher. He has built and managed five recording studios and has been producing music for 15 years. Rick performs on guitar, drums and percussion, flute, bass, synthesizer, and voice. His recent teachings center on the power of music and sound as a vehicle for self-realization.