Matthew Lien

           Matthew Lien (lee-ENN), a resident of Canada' Yukon Territory, has been composing, recording and producing music for most of his life. Singing traditional German and American folk songs as a child with his family, he graduated to the guitar and piano by the age of 10. With formal music lessons leaving him uninspired, he abandoned them after a few weeks and proceeded to teach himself piano and music theory, drawing inspiration and knowledge from friends and family.

Matthew draws considerable inspiration from the natural world. In an effort to create a moving and inspiring experience for live audiences, and out of a strong desire to raise awareness about endangered wilderness, Matthew and renowned photographer and white-water paddler Ken Madsen developed the Yukon Wildlands Project. The pair have traveled rivers of the Yukon, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Alaska, coordinating other musicians and artists in an effort to interpret these areas through music, visual images and sound design. Matthew has recorded peregrine falcons attacking grizzly bears, calving glaciers, squeaking furry picas, rolling icebergs and much more. Edited into six-channel surround sound, the material is then woven into original music composition and set ablaze in thrilling live performances with stunning photographic projection, dramatic sets and lighting design. 

 

Picture & Info taken frm www.matthewlien.com 

        

             The latest and most ambitious of these collaborations between Madsen and Lien is the Caribou Commons Project, which has grown into a coalition of environmental and aboriginal representatives dedicated to the protection of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Canadian range of the Porcupine River caribou herd which calve in the Arctic Refuge each year. The Caribou Commons Project has completed several international efforts including a live concert tour which crossed Canada and the United States (including such renowned venues as the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.), as well as smaller multimedia presentations throughout North America. More recently, the "Walk To Washington, D.C. for the Arctic Refuge" completed a self-propelled journey of several thousand miles across the United States, with performances and events along the route climaxing at Capitol Hill in the United States.

The Caribou Commons Project continues to draw attention to the threat of oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the sensitive calving grounds of the Porcupine River caribou herd, and Matthew is currently at work on a new CD entitled "Arctic Refuge," dedicated to this issue.

  Matthew Lien - The Arctic Refuge ( 2003 )

01 Heart Of The Refuge
02 Among The Rafters Of The Earth
03 Currents
04 Under Mountain And Valley
05 Moon Over Crow Mountain - Intro 

     (Legend Of the Man Without Fire)
06 Moon Over Crow Mountain
07 A Perilous Trek
08 The Journey Home
09 Renewal 
10 One River To The Sea                                                 

                                                     11 Whales

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 Matthew Lien - Caribou Commons  ( 1999 )

01 A Mirror To The Past
02 The Gathering
03 The Calving Grounds
04 Wildflower Waltz, Sheep Creek Waltz, Dead Calf Lament
05 200 Days
06 The Swarm, The Herd
07 Just As It Should Be
08 Birds Of Prey
09 Blood From A Stone
10 The Land Of The Gwich'in

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