Music for Meditation, Reflection or Therapy, Day or Night
An Interview with the NightDancers
By Mark Kirby

When you ask someone why he or she likes a band, performer or style of music, the usual response is either, "they're awesome," “they rock" or "it's fun stuff." And as for musicians, the reason they play music either involves "the call" to do so or the ego-driven need to stand in front of a crowd. But why do we even have music? Is it, as Shakespeare stated, "to soothe the savage beast"? It's not like it's life or death. Or is it? For Gera Clark and John Sarantos, who perform on Native American flutes as the NightDancers, music is that deep. Mr. Santos started with the simple desire to express himself musically, but discovered that the Native American flute takes one beyond pigeonholed functions, including new-age "meditation" music.

[Mark Kirby] What kind of music was played in your home when you were growing up?

[Gera Clark] My mother played classical music on the piano as an escape from her existence as an urban housewife raising four children. My father fancied himself as being Bing Crosby and I would catch him now and then trying to learn the cha cha. We also listened to some of my relatives' records, one being Seamus Ennis, my grand uncle who played the Uilleann pipes.

[Mark Kirby] How did you come to start playing the Native American flute?

[Gera Clark] After the death of my husband and a quick rebound marriage and divorce, followed by a prolonged critical illness, I began to put my life back together. I also began searching for beauty.

One day, I found myself about a hundred miles west of New York standing outside a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, when suddenly I heard the most beautiful sound. I discovered it [was] emanating from a Native American flute, played by Ed Callshim (Ponca Sioux). After this experience, I finally found a flute of my own. Later, a deep desire to connect with my earlier travels in the southwest was awakened. On one particular journey, I found myself exploring the canyons along the Rio Grande. Eventually I was led to the mountains and the Taos Pueblo, where I heard that haunting sound drifting through the air. I followed it to its source, a little adobe. Looking inside, I met a kind gentleman who encouraged me to play the native flute. That gentleman, unbeknownst to me at the time, is one of the finest Native American flute players in the world, John Rainer, Jr. (Taos/Creek).

On my birthday, I flew out to an R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo/Ute) concert with the San Francisco Symphony, where I learned about the Renaissance of the Native American Flute workshop in Montana. I came back to New York and booked myself a flight to Montana, which was where I met John Sarantos, and our musical partnership was born.

[John Sarantos] My mother, who was 84 years old at the time, introduced me to the Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai duo. I went to their concert in Chicago, where Nakai mentioned a week-long workshop in Helena, Montana. I had a choice of paying $1,200 for the flute workshop taught by Mr. Nakai, or going to Japan for two weeks, all expenses paid by the school where I was teaching. I chose Montana.

[Mark Kirby] What led you to play meditative music?

[John Sarantos] We don't think of it as only meditative music. We worked hard to stay away from falling into that stereotype. Although a lot of people use our record for meditation, they also use it for healing and relaxation. Several people who have cancer told me that they find inner peace while listening to ‘Montana Crossings'.

[Gera Clark] After John had his cancer surgery last year, we decided that 10% of the gross sales from ‘Montana Crossings' would be used to buy flutes for cancer patients. So far, we have donated flutes to cancer flute circles and individuals in New York City, Chicago, Lansing, Michigan and Jefferson City, Oregon.

[Mark Kirby] How did you arrive at the name of NightDancers?

[Gera Clark] One day John and I discovered that we both used to walk around our individual houses in the middle of the night without any lights on. We came up with the name Night Walkers.

[John Sarantos] However, most people we talked to thought that the name sounded too much like vampires or ladies of the evening.

[Gera Clark] After discussing a variety of names, we came up with NightDancers.

[Mark Kirby] How are your track titles indicative of what the music is supposed to evoke?

[John Sarantos] Hopefully, each person will have their own emotional response to the music depending on their own journey.

[Gera Clark] One of our goals is to help spread the beauty of the flute to others, whether it be playing our music or sharing our knowledge on how to play the flute.

[John Sarantos] We play in a variety of venues for all types of events. You can view our schedule at: NightDancers Music and MySpace.com - NightDancers Music - NEW YORK, New York - Acoustic / Folk / Healing & EasyListening - www.myspace.com/nightdancersmusic