Album

This is my fifth album of Antarctic music and fourth collaboration with Michael Stibor.  It continues an interest in and affection for Antarctica that began with my first visit in 1993 as a tourist and continued through four more trips to the Antarctic Peninsula, the Ross Sea area and along the coast of Western Antarctica.  The music on the previous albums was largely New Age, cinematic or orchestral in sound.  For this album, we chose a fusion of rock, dance and world sounds, with plenty of electric guitar solos.  The music portrays various Antarctic themes based on the realities of past eras, and myths about the continent, including a few from our own artistic licence.  These are more fully described in the album notes that follow.

I am indebted to the compositional, arrangement, keyboard and guitar skills of my musical collaborator, Michael Stibor – thank you, Mike.

–  Valmar Kurol, Montreal, Canada, September 2022

What does Antarctica sound like?  If asked, most people would probably envision sweeping cinematic strings, and slow but authoritative brass lines that capture the grandiose nature of what Antarctica looks like.  And it’s certainly ground we’ve covered in past musical efforts.

But the reality is that Antarctica, arguably more than any place on Earth, is a true melting pot of different people, cultures, and backgrounds.

In these modern times, it’s safe to assume that the people who live, work, and study there, however temporarily, all listen to a variety of music on their iPhones, iPods, and speakers.  So the reality is that Antarctica can sound like anything.  And this is what we’ve really tried to explore on this album.  To broaden people’s perspective of what Antarctica is, who stays there, and what they listen to.  We hope you enjoy it.

–  Michael Stibor, Montreal, Canada, September 2022