Ross Daly's journey in the music of the world is inseparable from the course of his life. Of Irish descent, born in England, he traveled as a child with his family around the world and soon his deep interest in music emerged. His first instrument was the cello, which he studied in his childhood years in America. He later began studying the classical guitar in Japan at the age of eleven. The late sixties found him in San Francisco, where having experienced both the classical discipline and the air of freedom and experimentation of the time, he first encountered Eastern musical tradition which completely changed his life. Of particular interest to him was Indian Classical music which was destined to be the first non-western tradition that he actively studied. The ensueing years found him travelling extensively studying a variety of instruments and traditions. At that time his main emphasis was on Indian and Afghani music.

In 1975 he travelled to Crete which he had previously visitied for a short time in 1970 and 1972 where he had been greatly impressed by the lyra (a small pear-shaped upright fiddle which is the primary folk instrument of the island). After a six month period of wandering from village to village encountering local musicians, He settled in the town of Hania on the west of the island and began studying the Cretan Lyra with it's great master Kostas Mountakis. This apprenticeship was to last for many years. During this same time he frequently visited in Turkey where he studied Ottoman classical music as well as Turkish folk music. After many years of intensive training in a variety of musical traditions, Ross Daly turned his attention largely to composition drawing heavily on the various sources that he had studied. Today he has released more than twenty five records of his own compositions as well as of his own versions of traditional melodies that he collected during his travels. The island of Crete in Greece still provides a base for his personal and musical research as he travels around the world performing his music.

A master multi-instrumentalist himself, Ross Daly has repeatedly teamed with master musicians from all over the world working within the musical discipline of the Eastern traditions while at the same time freely exploring new forms and creative improvisation. A virtouoso of Eastern musical instruments, he plays the Cretan lyra, Afghan rabab, laouto, kemence, sarangi, oud, saz and tanbur. A unique composer, Ross Daly, builds his compositions around the subtle but powerful interaction between the sound textures of the various traditions which he has studied. His close personal relationship with the musicians he works with is of paramount interest to Ross Daly himself as he believes that it is this inner connection which brings music alive. The unique sound of his music reflects his personal philosophy, influenced by the Sufi tradition which stresses the sacred nature of music itself, the enormous power contained within it, and the necessity for those who concern themselves with it to unreservedly and selflessly give themselves to it. This process results in an experience of music of a transcendental and spiritual nature, equally shared by musicians and audience alike, which has nothing to do with the fashions of "World Music" or "Ethnic". Ross Daly's music provides something that is increasingly difficult to find in modern times: a sense of continuity and unity. Sharing in the essence of a music that really has no physical boundaries is a magical experience that stands outside of time and space, connecting the natural flow of ancient traditions with the most complex needs of today's audiences.

Ross Daly has performed in several countries and venues including : Theatre de la Ville, Paris (1992-93, 2002), The Athens Concert Hall, Athens,(1993),Festival of Jerusalem (1995), Luxembourg(1994), Passionskirche, Berlin (1994,95,96),Aarhus, Denmark(1997), Huset theatre,Ahlborg, Denmark (1995-97),Copanhagen, Denmark (1995-97), Archaeological Museum Madrid 1998-99, 2001, Festival of Murcia, Spain (1999), Cemal Resit Rey Conser Salonu, Istanbul (1997), Lycabettus Theatre, Athens 1987,91,93,98). Queen Elizabeth Hall, London (1998-2000-2), WDR, Munich (1999), WDR Wupperial (1992),Luxembourg (1992), Nuremberg (1992), Frankfurt (1992).

Today,Ross Daly continues travelling and performing in Greece and abroad whilst simultaneously directing the Musical Workshop "Labyrinth" in the village of Houdetsi on Crete. (www.labyrinthmusic.gr)

Official Web Site: www.rossdalymusic.com

By Ross Daly

Labyrinth is perhaps more a musical way of life than it is merely a group of musicians.It started on Crete in 1982 simply as a group of friends dedicated to the exploration of the various modal musical traditions from around the world and the possibilities for creative interaction within and between them. Labyrinth has included at various times musicians from a very wide range of different ethnic backgrounds, each of whom brings to it the world from which he has come, through the medium of his own personal creativity. The members of Labyrinth do not necessarily share a common ideology or philosophy, rather they are united in a common spirit and, of course, love for music.

The term "modal music" usually refers to a specific genre of music which is quite clearly defined by equally specific technical characteristics, and which is frequently identified geographically with the Middle East and the Orient.

True though this may be, for us it is something much more. Inherent in all of the great modal traditions of the world (both of the East and the West) is a primordial,transcendental spirituality which is totally independent of religious dogmas or any other specific patterns of thought and feeling of a descriptive or presciptive nature. It is this aspect of modal music which draws us irresistably towards it, and which enables us to surrender ourselves to the transpersonal and transtemporal world which it opens for each and every one of us according to his or her individual nature.

When we started this work more than 20 years ago, there was no specific category into which our music neatly fell, and often the task of describing it to others was extremely difficult. What we do is not "traditional music" per se, but it does draw, almost exclusively, on elements of specific and, usually, closely related musical traditions which are continuously developing, each in its own way. The newly coined terms "Ethnic" or "World Music", if they do indeed have any real meaning at all, both refer to interests which are, in fact, the direct opposite of what concerns us.

The "Ethnic" dimension of any given musical tradition is of little if any relevance to the inherent ability of certain elements within it to transport us from personal to transpersonal levels, a characteristic of prime importance to us. That which is "Ethnic" certainly reflects a collectivity which simultaneously contains and supercedes individuality, but it does continue to produce dualities such as "us" and "them", whereas the transpersonal refers us to another realm of existence where there simply are no such divisions and the emphasis is on the revelation of inherent unity. "World Music", whatever that term might eventually come to mean in future genedrations, remains an extremely primitive organism, lacking both a backbone as well as a central nervous system, and would seem ill-equipped to pass the harsh tests of survival and evolution. The biggest weakness of both categories, probably, is in the fact that they are both the creations not of musicians themselves, but of the music industry in search of new forms of commerciality.

Since it has always been clear to me that what we have been attempting to do all of these years does not fit into any of the aforementioned readily available categories or genres usually used to descibe music, perhaps it would be more relevant if I were to emphasize more heavily the dimension of music which concerns us, and less its formal aspect. The following text was written by me in 1990 in an attempt merely to point, through the medium of words ( I would never dare an actual description), in the direction of what is essentially an archetypal dimension of music which has inspired and motivated me throughout my life. This music is experienced more as an inner presence than as a specific and recognizable sound. I include this text here in the hope that it will help our listeners to understand what music is for us, even if what we actually do will always remain far less than what is here described:

ABOUT MUSIC

by Ross Daly

Music exists everywhere in our world but, for the most part, we unfortunately don't hear it. This is perhaps because we think that music is but yet another language to be used in our dialogue with the world, a language which we employ for our everyday interactions with it. We describe our feelings, experiences, thoughts as well as our relationships with people, things, ideas, even states of being with this rather abstract language of melodies or, in the case of songs, lyrics. To put it concisely, we imagine that it is the events of our lives which give birth to music.

With regards to most of the music which we hear this is probably so. However, there exists another dimension to music in which none of this is relevant. The music of this dimension exists prior to our feelings, experiences or indeed any of our relationships with anything whatsoever. It is with this music that "our" lives begin and end, and with its sound we pass from the realm of individual existence that of the infinite in each and every moment, usually without being in any way consciously aware of such a cycle. This music does not belong to any given civilization, every sound of it simultaneously contains and transcends all of the civilisations of all peoples, of all places, of all times. Civilisation belongs to the realm of lived experience. Inspiration and initiation (which are our sole points of entry to the dimension I am discussing) do not belong to this realm. Instead, they merely leave imprints in the world of experience which serve as catalysts for the awakening of the search and the longing for the source of inspiration, of music, of experience.

It is through the awakening of this longing that we can see the primary and indeed fundamental difference between this music and any other expressive arts which utilize the medium of sound.

The music being discussed here is not any man's creation, it is not even the creation of mankind as a whole, rather it is a gift to mankind. Perhaps we don't really "know" anything about its source, but if ever we hear it, even for a fraction of a second, we want only to go there.

For this to happen, however, we must become instruments of this music. We must see the necessity of resigning from our "positions" as artists, creators, indeed as individuals, giving way to a re-defining and a re-discovery of ourselves as silent, still, and even given to the movement and sound of the music.

This silence, however, is not to be found in external manifestations. It is rather an internal state of being which removes all distance between the "musician" and the "listener", thus dissolving any false perceptions of the music belonging to the one or the other. It is this silence and stillness which ultimately show us its true source.

Synavgeia (libra)

Kin Kin (Seistron Music)

Iris (Protasis)

An Ki (Oriente)

Selected Works

Beyond the Horizon (Seistron Music)

Cross Current (Pan Records)

At The Kafe Aman

Eurasia

Elefthero Simeio

Me ti Fevga tou Kairou (Seistron Music)

Echo Of Time (Seistron Music)