The 997 Siren Islands of Bossa Paraiso

This is the second adventure of our guitar hero, in which he passes through the 997 islands of Bossa Paraiso. He’s left his home, the Island of Milonga. He’s on his way to the Last Island before he launches his tiny boat into the unknown of the Sea of Song.

I wrote a piece years ago called “Island Two,” which had a gently lapping bossa nova “tendency” to it. The sound of these chords made me feel like I was on a boat passing through a seascape full of islands, islands that were tempting me to stop and stay.

You can hear two versions of the full piece lower on this page.

It became clearer to me that the realm these sounds were drawing me into was a bit of a siren realm, not really dangerous, but where the music, climate and culture are so enticing that if you set foot on shore, you’ll be sorely tempted to forget about any other plans you might have had. The danger is that are you’ll decide to stay in what is a kind of paradise—rather than heed the call of adventure and discovery. Our hero managed to enjoy the islands and partake in the music, but without giving in and landing. If he didn’t, the adventure would have ended here!

Here’s a little visual and aural discussion of the process of discovery. Enjoy!

Here’s a runthrough of the piece from several months ago….

This is the original video of Island Two, from 2009. The sound is really low—you might have to turn it up a bit.