It's enough to cast a look at the cover of the CD by Steven Feld RAINFOREST SOUNDWALKS to be immediately immersed in a special world. The opposite of commonness is not some kind of mystic dream. It is something very simple and probably accessible - land, forests, in other words, just the nature itself and the CD tells a story exactly about nature. It doesn't tell its story using human language, instead making use of that of birds, transmitting the hypnotic "Ambiences of Bosavi, Papua New Guinea" (the subtitle of the CD). This is a far cry from the fussy chirping of city birds. Beginning in 1976, Steven Feld traveled a lot to the exotic place in order to bring the alluring "acoustic depths of Bosavi" to us, listeners, on a convenient one-hour compact disc.

The imagination and mastery of an artist together with sensitiveness and knowledge of a naturalist resulted in RAINFOREST SOUNDWALKS. The four compositions, three of them being united in one series called "The Ambient Soundwalks", make up the sizable picture of this exotic corner of the world, where people still believe in migration of souls and hear the voices of ancestors in the birds singing. Seyak - the local species of butcherbird not only became the title, but also the main and only ingredient of the first composition. Here we can hear its voice in all its beauty, unassisted by other artificial or natural sound sources. In the triptych "The Ambient Soundwalks" the sound is captured in the state of movement both in space and time. "Keafo, morning", "Galo, afternoon", "Nulu, nigh" is the unique mirror of the sound dimension of Oceania, a split twenty-four hours seen through the prism of singing dwellers of Bosavi.

Steven Feld himself appears in several stances. As a scientist he has thoroughly studied the ornithological fauna of Bosavi. As an engineer he has brilliantly recorded, mixed and mastered the breathtaking ?vocal parts? of cicadas, frogs, pigeons, cacadou and other birds. As a composer he has integrated these to a light and colorful musical pastiche. As a photographer he has taken wonderful pictures of Papua New Guinea's landscapes. As a writer he has provided his work with the explanation of his motivations, letting us take a look at the source and meaning of his works.

Cheer up, if you have to stay at home or work, unable to take a trip overseas. RAINFOREST SOUNDWALKS quenches the thirst for changes, gives food to imagination and lets you touch that "feeling of a place" that is mentioned in the introductory text of the CD. Every one of us may feel his affinity to the world of this faraway island, because all income from this record goes to Bosavi People's Fund and The Music Department of the Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies.