The Mirrors of the Life (Los Espejos De La Vida) is an eclectic mix of Jazz, Latin American Folk, Classical and Soul music enrapt with Ray's innate sense of melody on the guitar.

Come home, breathe deep Away from the cry of false alarms Heartfelt expression Walking at the edge Of a cement encased river Longing to breakout and flow free All at once

The Mirrors of the Life (Los Espejos De La Vida) is an eclectic mix of Jazz, Latin American Folk, Classical and Soul music enrapt with Ray's innate sense of melody on the guitar.

Come home, breathe deep Away from the cry of false alarms Heartfelt expression Walking at the edge Of a cement encased river Longing to breakout and flow free All at once

La música de Ray Sandoval... by María Elena Gaitán

Like an endangered *saguaro in the urban sunset, braided between los freeways and the city lights, making our way through the rubble of deceptive commercial stages, we desert walkers who prefer to sing heartfelt into the howling electric wilderness, are Chicano musicians.

Son of a Japanese mother and the Arizona desert, guitarist composer Ray Sandoval is such a musician, an accomplished artistic voice, sencillo y pasional. Like urban graffiti, las canciones de Ray Sandoval spray themselves across our consciousness marking us with his melancholic brew, at once familiar and unknown. His melodies are undeniable, as if he were waiting for us fondly al voltear la esquina, just 'round the bend...

Breathe Deep

We who are strangers in our own land We who inhabit At the intersection of pain and tenderness Offer up These canciones sencillas, Deceptive in their unpretentious cloak Casting coral purple shadows On the ancient scorched sands between the freeways, Away from the cry of false alarms. Heartfelt expressions Walking at the edge Of a cement encased river Longing to break free and overflow All at once.

From the silence Esa canción surprises us kindly Written in the crosswinds Against the current But always with the flow Sangre y sueños Los espejos de la vida Waiting for things yet to come In the mystery of the obsidian night.

Take me there To the place where you are without pretense To the place where no words are necessary To the place where you can cry and moan At the edge between the worlds. Take me to that crossroads Where you conjure up las voces From wood and nylon strings From the fire of chile And the nectar of a cactus bloom, Where you make all From nothing at all Creating the path One step at a time In the moment Rupturing the silence Reaching for el recuerdo
De un beso endulzado Emerging from the shadows Of the mystery of **Nepantla, The place in-between, The world between worlds.

In the war for hearts and minds Among the battles for recognition Let me ramble loose and easy In a minor key In that unfamiliar place Perdida en una lágrima de cristal Where your fingers glide instinctively Without effort Melting down the tensions Like the whisper of an Earthmother's lullabye Calming the cry of the cosmic child Alma infinita Bathed in clear waters Come home Breathe deep

About Chola Con Cello... East L.A. native María Elena Gaitán , also known as 'La Chola Con Cello' is Chicana musician, performance artist and writer, and a friend of Ray Sandoval. www.cholaconcello.com

Footnotes:

*The Saguaro is the tree of the Sonoran desert, a giant cactus that lives in desert slopes and flats, especially in the rocky bajadas. The magnificent saguaro wraps its roots around rocks to anchor itself from the blowing winds and grows very slowly, -- perhaps an inch a year -- to a great height of up to 50 feet. The largest plants, with more than 5 arms, are estimated to be over 200 years old and can only be fertilized by cross-pollination - pollen from a different cactus. The creamy white saguaro flowers bloom in the mystery of the night, secreting nectar into their tubes, awaiting pollination.

**"Nepantla" is a word used by Nahuatl-speaking Aztec people in the sixteenth century to define their own situation in relationship to the Spanish colonizers. Dominican missionary Diego Durán wrote an ethnographic history of the Nahuatl speakers from the Valley of Mexico. He asked one of his Indian informants what he thought about the difficult cultural situation that had been created for his people by the Spanish invasion. The indian responded, "estamos nepantla."

This pre-Columbian concept of nepantla has been described as "the crack in the world" by Chicana poet and writer Gloria Anzaldúa. It is a place of transition, the world in-between in which we move from the familiar to the unknown in order to reach a new understanding. Nepantla is the uncertain terrain we sometimes enter willingly. Other times nepantla is forced upon us by the circumstances of our lives. Nepantla has been interpreted by Chicano scholars as "a state of resisting the mainstream, in order to reinterpret and redefine cultural difference as a place of power." Nepantla can also represent the process of people who do creative work, who must enter the realm of the unknown in order to emerge by creating their own understanding of the world.

Breathe Deep: The Music of Ray Sandoval © María Elena Gaitán 2004

The Mirrors Of The Life

Waiting For Things Yet To Come

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Art Hirahara - Piano Ray Sandoval - Guitar Tony Austin - Djembe

Mira La Que Chevere

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Ray Sandoval - Guitar, Tres Joey De Leon - Congas, Timbales, Guiro Rocio Marron - Violin Gabriel Gonzalez - Vocals

Eastside Sunset

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Ray Sandoval - Guitar Joey De Leon - Congas

Recuerdos De Isabel

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Ray Sandoval - Guitar, Handclaps Joey De Leon - Congas, Guiro, Cowbell Kiko Cornejo - Maracas Cristina Nava - Handclaps

Dream Etude

Rene Camacho - Bass Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Piensalo *

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Art Hirahara - Piano Ray Sandoval - Guitar Joey De Leon - Congas, Guiro Gabriel Gonzalez - Vocals

Pat Me

Bryon Holley - Drums, Brushes Rene Camacho - Bass Art Hirahara - Piano Ray Sandoval - Guitar, Guitar Synth Joey De Leon - Congas Brad Dutz - Tan Tan

At The Edge Between The Worlds

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Art Hirahara - Piano, Rhodes Piano Ray Sandoval - Guitar Joey De Leon - Chekere Brad Dutz - Triangle Rocio Marron - Violin, Viola John Krovoza - Cello

Tranquilo **

Bryon Holley - Drums Rene Camacho - Bass Ray Sandoval - Tres Joey De Leon - Congas Brad Dutz- Agogo, Tan Tan, Caxixi Destani Wolf - Vocals

Fussa Lullaby

Ray Sandoval - Guitar

Alma Infinita

Bryon Holley - Drums, Tambourine Rene Camacho - Bass Art Hirahara - Rhodes Piano Ray Sandoval - Guitar

All music and arrangements by Ray Sandoval Music (ASCAP) except where noted *Music and Lyrics by Gabriel Gonzalez and Ray Sandoval Bikabur Publishing, ASCAP, Ray Sandoval Music, ASCAP **Music and Lyrics by Destani Wolf and Ray Sandoval Destani Wolf Music BMI, Ray Sandoval Music ASCAP

Thanks to: My mother Tatsue Hasegawa, Dad and Margaret Sandoval, Maria Elena Gaitan, MH3, Chiyoko Tanaka and Allan Moyle, Mika Akao, Jason Kennedy, Tomoko Kiriishi and Gloria Anzaldua R.I.P., Gabriel Tennorio for use of his guitar in the video, Tony Austin for getting tones on the Drum Kit, La Gente en Echo Parque.

Special thanks to: all the musicians who contributed their talents on this record. Shin, Miho, Shusaku, at Music Camp.

Recuerdos de Isabel was written for Las Isabelas, a cancer survivor group.

Produced by Ray Sandoval

Recorded at Phocus Studios, Los Angeles, CA, March 2004

Additional tracks recorded at Akao's Studio in Tokyo, Japan, May 2004

Mixed in Tokyo, Japan at Akao's Studio, May 2004

Recorded and Engineered by Ray Sandoval

Mixed and Mastered by Ray Sandoval

Remasterd by Tucky at JVC, June 2004

All Compositions and Arrangements by Ray Sandoval, except where noted

*Music and Lyrics by Gabriel Gonzalez and Ray Sandoval

**Music and Lyrics by Destani Wolf and Ray Sandoval

Gabriel Gonzalez appears courtesy of Vanguard Records, a Welk Music Group Company

Ray Sandoval uses Groove Tubes Pre-amps and La Bella Strings

Copyright 2004 Ray Sandoval

All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.