ENG/ Earth Chants CD

Marina Trisic & Sharon Stewart

Vocal Soundscapes with Drums, ASMR, and Nature Sounds

I dedicated this album to our deep connection with and love for Mother Earth.
My intention was to create sounds that help us breathe more deeply, relax our bodies, and calm our minds. This album is meant to awaken a visceral memory of wholeness.

Most of us are unaware of how sensitive we are to sound. Our refined biological response to sound is deeply tied to how our brain and nervous system are connected to our ears.
Sound can make us ill — but it can also help us relax, calm the nervous system, and bring our health into balance.

Another key focus while making this album was tapping into and stimulating alpha brainwaves. Most of us function in beta brainwaves nowadays, which are linked to stress.
To restore and maintain our health, the brain needs to shift into alpha daily.
Alpha brainwaves can be stimulated by gentle, non-invasive sounds and rhythms, natural sounds like ASMR, and — most importantly — the sounds of nature.

Our bodies and minds need relaxation every day, and alpha states make that possible. Sound can support that process. I deliberately chose not to use any instruments other than drums and nature sounds, because I wanted to return as much as possible to the essence. As always, indigenous and folk music were my inspiration.

Each recording of the main vocal track — about 15 minutes long — was done in one take. The compositions for my voice were born out of improvisations and intuitive meditative singing, which I had worked on for months before the recordings. Because we wanted to stay within that spirit of relaxed meditative focus, we applied the same approach in how we recorded the sounds in the studio. We used meditation as preparation before each studio session, before beginning the actual work. That made a huge difference for me in how I sang and connected with my voice, body, and breath. It gave me more space to breathe and allowed me to work with the lyrics and melodies from a more holistic place.


I made this CD in collaboration with Sharon Stewart.


Sharon Stewart ~ foto door David Berg 2016,
alle rechten voorbehouden


Sharon Stewart studied piano at the Utrecht School of the Arts, Faculty of Music, and later earned a Master’s degree in Music Education from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where she focused on feminism, improvisation, and technology within a music pedagogical practice.
She runs a private piano practice in Arnhem, creates (electroacoustic) sound works and installations, collaborates as a sound artist with various dancers, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Sonic Studies.

Sharon studied with Pauline Oliveros and is currently one of the core teachers in the online Deep Listening certification program at the Center for Deep Listening, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Her collaborative works with dancers have been performed at festivals and on stages in Arnhem, Nijmegen, Amsterdam, The Hague (NL), Copenhagen (DK), and Marseille (FR).

Attention to dreams forms a rich source for understanding her underlying and transformative emotional states, and sometimes offers surprising raw material.
Field recordings are a key inspiration for many of her compositions.
Her underlying motivation is to share the wonder of opening to the sounds around us, in a conscious and playful way.




Marina Trisic Martris CD Earth Chants

1. Earth Chants

This recording begins with powerful and energizing vocal expression inspired by Balkan folk music and shamanic chants, symbolizing the energy of the sun and daytime. As the piece progresses, it gradually shifts into relaxation, symbolizing the energy of night, the moon, and restoration, to guide the listener into alpha brainwave states.

Lead vocals and compositions on the album Earth Chants by Marina Trisic Martris

Backing vocals and nature soundscape for Earth Chants:

  • Insect sounds recorded on the slopes of Sixt Vagny, France, on August 8, 2014, by Sharon Stewart

  • Background vocals by Sharon Stewart

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Sharon Stewart at SRS Recording Studio, Arnhem, NL, 2022

2. Calling the Water Fairies

Inspired by Balkan folktales about water fairies and their mystical underwater world. Water symbolizes the subconscious, intuition, and the dream realm. The aim of this piece is to help the listener relax more deeply and gain access to alpha brainwaves, which connect us to our inner worlds of intuition, dreams, and creativity.

Lead vocals and compositions on the album Earth Chants by Marina Trisic Martris

Backing vocals and nature soundscape for Calling the Water Fairies:

  • Water sounds recorded at the flowing water fountain in Sonsbeek Park, Arnhem, NL, on April 5, 2020, by Sharon Stewart

  • Background vocals, rhythmic cymbal, and spoken word by Sharon Stewart

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Sharon Stewart at SRS Recording Studio, Arnhem, NL, 2022

3. Deep Forest Chant

Also inspired by Balkan folktales about the invisible world of fairies dancing in the forests, visible only to a few. Those who can see them are the ones able to cross the boundary between our world and theirs. This recording is intended to bring the listener into deeper states of relaxation and stillness.

Lead vocals and compositions on the album Earth Chants by Marina Trisic Martris

Backing vocals and nature soundscape for Deep Forest:

  • Frogs recorded in the ditches near farms in Wedde, NL, on May 4, 2020, by Sharon Stewart

  • Thanks to Freesound user Benboncan for the recording of a forest owl

  • Background vocals by Sharon Stewart

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Sharon Stewart at SRS Recording Studio, Arnhem, NL, 2022

4. Whale Song

Inspired by whales — the magnificent beings who guard our oceans. Whales possess extraordinary ways of creating sound and communicating, and scientists are still trying to decode their messages. We are concerned about their extinction and are deeply inspired by their healing sounds and frequencies. We created this recording with the intention of guiding the listener further into sleep, relaxation, and calm, inviting access to theta and delta brainwaves — into the deep worlds beneath the oceans and dreams.

Lead vocals and compositions on the album Earth Chants by Marina Trisic Martris

Backing vocals and nature soundscape for Whale Song:

  • We are grateful for the whales who were singing on this planet long before humans existed, and whose songs touch our hearts so deeply. May we protect their habitats and continue to learn from their culture and language. We used royalty-free whale sounds from Videvo as a basis and inspiration for our own vocalizations.

  • Exploratory recordings made at the water reservoir near the Water Tower in Delft, NL, were also used in the background

  • Background vocals by Sharon Stewart

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Sharon Stewart at SRS Recording Studio, Arnhem, NL, 2022








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