Masters of time

Humans are the masters of space - trees the masters of time. From the Germanic world tree to the apple tree on Merlin's island to the Elderberry tree in your garden. Some like the yew are immortal. They shape the landscape from the Arctic Circle to the tropics. These tree root giants are the largest living beings on earth. They communicate with fragrances, are socially networked - as a forest community they interlink their roots. Trees give humans and animals home and food. They scatter millions of seeds. Hundreds of insects and beetles live in the «Hotel Oak». Trees collect rainwater, allow us to breathe and co-exist with fungi to the mutual advantage of both.
Some sky-storming jungle giants become 100 meters high, others more than 4000 years old. They shut down their circulation in response to winter. When the climate warms they migrate towards to poles, during ice ages they move closer to the equator.

Trees have a character. Some species only thrive in isolation, others only in communities. Some need fire for their seeds to sprout, others need frost to germinate in spring. With their scent they attract insects and birds to pollinate their flowers. They float as parachutes across the width of the tundra. Or they let their seeds be transported to other parts of the jungle in the stomach of elephants.

The collector of myths

A forest is medicine for body and soul. Trees give us the stuff to breathe and the power to dream. Trees let beetles, monkeys and parrots live in their crown. The children of man build huts in the realm of fairies and nymphs. Trees were sacred to our ancestors – living beings with a soul.
In antiquity, gods transformed people into trees and the earth goddess Gaia her daughter into a laurel tree. In the shade of sacred trees, wise women blessed children and men found enlightenment: Buddha under the fig tree, St John eating the fruit of the carob tree.

Trees are air for us – we need them to breathe

They have played rainforest symphonies since time immemorial. They make the birds sing. They have given us the violin and the drum, flutes and guitars. And not least the air we breathe.
That's why this tree-lieder cycle, played using wooden instruments, is dedicated to our root siblings. Because we should never forget: our forests are the green lungs of the earth. They have a more ancient wisdom than has humanity. These stoic masters of time were there long before us. On their branches the birds will still be singing long after we are gone.

Let's sing a song to our children, and plant them a tree on every concert

The tree-songs are the essence of a life in nature. Because one thing is certain: only if we love the trees and let the forests be, will we continue to live on this planet. Listen to «Mother Earth» - not to «Father Commerce». Let's sing tree-songs and plant a tree with our children!

Banjan (Ficus virens), Mauritius 2017

The man with the trees

...as a 25-year-old built himself a home with a garden on a subtropical island. After the first tree (a cypress) hundreds of shoots followed, from seeds collected on tropical journeys. Tree after tree, year after year, he learned of the wisdom of the roots, their endurance, their power and adaptability. In the olive grove he found himself, sensed the fine lines of life. The heartbeat of nature. Later on he composed songs for the trees and wrote down his experiences in the book «The Island beyond the Moon» (English by Archibald McKenzie)