In Southern China, within the boundaries of Yunnan (province where Jie-Song's father was born) lies a natural landmark that the locals named The Stone Forest. The geological creation turned national park consists of a vast expanse of limestone pillars, sculpted and smoothed throughout the years by the fingertips of flood into such dynamic and forceful poses that the collection of rock resembles a forest of stone.
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Human intelligence is merely an extension of Natures intelligence; thus human artistry, a consequence of natures artistry.
Stone is fortified with a hardened flesh, governing an impenetrable character; the forest stands and sways in unison, at once gesturing emotion and philosophy. Nature has built them so.
Within the Spirit of Man also exists the capability of hardness, as well as the bleeding of passion and a sense of timelessness. Thus, it may be said that the Spirit of Man also contains a vigor as stone, and a philosophy as the forest. Nature has made Him so.
Of Mans inventions, there are those that fulfill the needs of the body, those that fulfill the needs of the mind, and those that fulfill the needs of the Spirit. As Man found grain to feed the body, and logic to build the mind, He found music to undress the Spirit. He devised the drum to speak that part of His Spirit that is hard like stone - the part pounding as footsteps against the Earth in search of survival and freedom. He made string instruments to sing that part of His Spirit that is as the forest at once tender and ferocious, standing in measurement of the pain, beauty, and eternity that sleep amidst all things.
In the end, it may be recognized that stone and drum embody a similar essence in Natures persona; the same can be said of the forest and string instruments.
For the Stone Forest Ensemble, as for each trace of human existence, the nature of the universe and the Spirit of Man breathe through identical lungs.