2021

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

Music: Windows of the Maloca

Written by Jim Casella

Arrangement by Adam Brosman

You find yourself in a foreign forest, as you move forward you notice a new object that you've never seen before. Maybe it's a new animal or plant that gets your attention, then over there - a different object catches your eye. In the distance you can hear a rolling river that gets louder as you approach it. The unbeaten path continues to unveil its terrain and resources to demonstrate a rich environment full of life. You then realize you don't feel lost anymore. You're where you need to be right now, off the beaten path.

After returning home from the Amazon jungle of Peru, Jim Casella wrote Windows of the Maloca as a testament to the spirit of connectedness he experienced and, as he wrote, how "individual components of an ecosystem exist together as a community. No matter how small the organism, it affects some other part of the whole, even if not immediately apparent."