The Salamander Collective uses the jam as a vehicle of exploration and transformation, inviting its members to dive deep with one another and create music that is beyond the sum of its parts - as well as allowing witnesses to step into the experience as more than just audience members, but true participants. 

 

In the downtime between traveling, playing shows and facilitating spaces, we are producing our own music along with the music of our peers, furthering the web of collaboration among artists of all walks of life. For 7 years, our music has been entirely improvisational, cultivating a new sound at each showcase.

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Many of us knew this was the right path after deciding the 9-5 world we had inherited was more harmful than nourishing. To make a truly solid impact, we have all become part of a tribe -

a decentralized network of other artists that come together as necessary.

Through this network, we have support on our solo missions via the collective. 

 

In this way, we see our collective as one of many in an ever-growing web of individual hubs of artistry that, when the world goes through potent change, are available to lean on and into.

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Music has been an ever present force in our lives, shaping and shifting us through many eras of selfhood.  For most of us, joining the collective came unexpectedly, oftentimes as an audience member who jumped on stage during the jam, and felt the resonance of shared purpose. 

 

Through this purpose, collaboration has continued to become as natural as breathing.

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I like most that I get to deepen into the archetype of artist - to be a feeler and a creator - and to do this alongside my peers. Creating a container of expression, sharing this, bouncing ideas and concepts off one another, enriches my life. Being in a creative collective stretches me past my individual boundaries, while also challenging me to step in my own vision.

Who am I - and then, who are we together? — Sylvia

 

I love witnessing how music alchemizes healing into sound. As the walls fall down for me onstage and I feel free to be silly and play and sometimes cry in front of an audience, I often feel the entire room melt. I see our faces light up onstage and see shoulders softening, bodies expanding and relaxing into space. I see everyone breathing deeper, feeling alive together, like during one big ‘ohm’ in a group meditation. – Marissa 

 

I love the sense of greater connection to myself through my peers. As a group of interconnected individuals, we all have specific legends we wish to fulfill; and we are stronger hermits when we have a tribe to return to, and better tribe members when allowed to roam. – Benny

 

Being able to witness the ever growing ripple effect of love, joy, connection, and collaboration created through music continues to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of my life,

as well as a key driving force. -Cy

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The biggest obstacle for a dreamer is doubt. Uncertainty of whether this path is foolhardy or is actually serving a higher purpose…in overcoming doubt, we learn to need less assurance, as it was the excitement in not knowing what may happen next that brought us all together in the first place. 

 Learning to fully embody our unique expression and hone it into an offering requires both deep self compassion and a courageous amount of commitment. It mimics the whole challenge of life itself - namely, how to show up here in this existence with an attitude of grace towards every experience.

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We want people to remember that it is a gift,  

a true superpower, to feel the waves of this life deeply. 

Many of us have spent many years feeling it was a curse to know the impact of life with such depth, but through time it becomes undeniable that it is what makes us alive.

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If we prompted people to drop in, feel deeply and exuberantly, and experience joy - joy that subsequently shakes the stale dust off the surface of their lives - we would be incredibly satisfied.