There is this animated series that was out a few years back called, Avatar: The Last Airbender. You may think that being inspired by a seeming children’s anime a little weird, especially for a musician who had been doing Celtic, World, Classical, and every other type of music in between.  However, I tend to go with whatever happens to creatively inspire me. If you have had the fortune to see the series, then you probably know why it is great.

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Avatar: The Last Airbender was a series aired in 2005-2008. It was organized into three books (seasons) and told a complete story from start to end.  To summarize, the show was about a civilization or people whose belief system derived from the four elements (five elements if you count “spirit”) and the fantastic creatures and spirits who inhabited their world.  The humans are divided into four nations based on their inherent magical abilities to “bend” a said element; Air, Water, Earth, and Fire. Ultimately, the main characters’ lives are infinitely changed while on a tumultuous adventure to save their world from an evil overbalance of power.  The inner struggle and spiritual journey of the main character, the “Avatar” (who was destined to save the world), turned out to be the crux of the show. From the introspection of the individual characters to Uncle Iroh’s witty and sometimes profound “Confucianisms,” the entire series was creatively and personally inspiring. More recently, director/writer M.Night Shayamalan is bringing a live-action flair of this story to the big screen, The Last Airbender .  It is my hope that Shyamalan’s film will capture the beauty and intense story from the original.

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You can listen to a few of my new music samples from Suzanna Reeves: The Five Elements