Music will always be about communication. Every musical piece written and performed is done so on the premise that the artist is giving something of himself which, in turn, provoques some kind of reaction in the audience. The artist can just be showing off his dedication and experience, or he can be pouring his entire soul into a piece, just the same as the result can be people's claps and smiles or an entire audience shedding tears in silence. They all fill a specific role. They're all necessary. They're all about people connecting with each other. Traditional songs, or music rooted in traditional forms wherever they originated from, are born from that same desire to communicate but always tempered by real life, communal experiences: love, work, longing... Things that will always survive cultural changes, passing time or popularity. What I have come to find out over the years is that this is also the kind of music that people recognize instantly, no matter where they're from, as something deep, ancient and powerful. It's a place where they recognize themselves, all the way to their forefathers. That is why I choose these songs for this particular CD: they all reminded me of something personal that sounds like home. One way or the other, these are our roots: From the Atlantic Coast in Thomas Walsh's "Inisheer" to the Fado of my Hometown Coimbra in "Canção de Alcipe", from the planes and hot temperatures of Alentejo in "Regresso a Casa - Going Home" to the sheer definition of Western Music that is Bach's Prelude #1 beneath Gounod's Ave Maria... It's all ours: the sounds, feelings and landscapes that make up the music of the place we come from. On top of it, there is also love of course, but love... well, it's everywhere, is timeless, doesn't belong to anyone's culture, geographic location, let alone language. What we can do, however, is translate it in a way that shows everyone how it would be written for a Portuguese Fado - thus "I Hereby Give You my Life", English version of the first song in the album. Finally, about the instrument: It's called a Chapman Stick. For so many of us it's a dream come true, something we've been waiting for decades, fulfilling a role no other could. The work of a genius and the tool he created for us to expose our music... to you! It's the missing link that allows for this music to be what it was always meant to be: communication, something shared between me and you.