The release of this Compact Disc is supported by the Lithuanian Fund for Music Publishing
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SPIRITS OF THE SAND
is a LIVING TEMPLES’ collaboration with the five locations on the Curonian Spit, south-west of Nida, Lithuania:
* The shore of the Curonian Lagoon along the Parnidis dune.
This ever-changing coastline is a creation of elemental magic. Trees that have been washed away by water, thrown back ashore and then buried by the sand re-appear regularly here. They emerge transformed into wonderful surreal shapes that stimulate wild mythical imagination.
* The Valley of Death.
This mysterious valley separates the Parnidis and Gliders’ Dunes. This is the supposed location of the infamous French prisoner camp from the 1870-1871 Franco-Prussian war. The climate of the Curonian Spit used to be so harsh back then that the Prussian government saw it fit for a retaliatory prisoner camp created in response to German P.O.W. imprisonment in the Sahara Desert of Algeria. The prisoners worked on greening the dunes around Nida.
* The Neolithic village of Nida.
The neolithic settlement explored by the great archaeologist Ramutė Rimantienė in 1974 turned out to be at least 4000 years old. Fishers and farmers inhabited this place for many centuries. Decoration on their ceramics proves that they were of the Indo-European Corded Ware culture. These people were our oldest ancestors – the forerunners of the Curonian tribe.
* The location of the Pre-WW2 gliding school of Nida.
“Ready! Strain! Go!!” Back in 1933-1939 these commands were repeated many times at the top of the Great Dune (today – the Gliders’ Dune). Students at the gliding school of the Lithuanian Aero Club used to hunt for the favourable headwind above the dunes. This headwind rises off the massive eastern sand wall of the dune and can hold a light glider up in the air for many hours.
* The sundial of the Parnidis dune.
The summit of the Parnidis Dune is a unique place in Lithuania. The full astronomical horizon opens to the viewer standing here which makes this spot an ideal location for the sundial. Or perhaps this is a portal above time and space through which one can see not only what is, but also what once was and what is yet to come.
Our creative method is that the music is made in collaboration with the landscape, regarding it as a living being (genius loci) and allowing it to play its part. 
These locations have gained special meaning, symbolising four cardinal elements of our inner universe – 
Water (Emotions), 
Earth (Body), 
Air (Intellect) , Fire-Sun (Spirit). With the alchemy of contemporary technology, we join these elements into the magical unity of an artistic piece and invite you on a spiritual journey from the dark depths of the lagoon through the windy shifting sands into the endless sun-blazed skies.
On our way we meet the spirits emerging from the past of the Curonian Spit – the shipwreck of the mythic fisher Kastytis, settlements buried by sand, the oldest of which is nearly 4000 years old, French prisoners of war greening the sands, and Pre-WW2 gliders hunting for favourable winds. Eventually we arrive near the sundial of the Parnidis dune which counts cosmic time and connects it all somewhere up in a higher dimension.
Augustinas Našlėnas 