"WHAT IS ESSENTIAL IS INVISIBLE TO THE EYE"

About Joan Galanti

When lightning struck I was suspended between two great loves, music and art. There was no parachute, I had jumped from the plane, the world spread out beneath me.

I had recently quit my job as senior designer of a major New York chidren's wear manufacturer.
I quit the money, the security, the trips to Paris, the visible means of support.

What was truly essential in my life was still missing. I was not whole. I had always done both music and art, and I missed my music. In college I developed design and graphic skills at Carnegie Mellon but left much happier to graduate cum laude from American University with a dual major in music and art. After earning a graduate degree in voice from the Mannes College of Music, I spent the next few years doing solo concerts and performing opera freelance in New York, while teaching music privately. Again something was missing. I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology to pursue children's fashion design. After a year or so of running my own cottage clothing company, I landed a series of industry dream jobs -- or so I thought. The inevitable happened. I was done, but hadn't a clue what was next. Music, Art, Children, Paris were swirling around me... how did they fit together?

AND THEN I SAW IT as I put down my daily "cup of courage" -- cappuccino at a favorite neighborhood cafe. Pasted in decoupage on the table top was a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's children's classic, The Little Prince:

"What is Essential is Invisible to the Eye."

Suddenly I knew what to do. In an electrifying instant, Star Child was born.

At a feverish pitch, and simultaneously, story boards came to me, melodies and lyrics poured out. I could scarcely keep up with all the ideas. At night I studied animation at the School of Visual Arts with Don Duga, former Disney artist. What was essential had exploded into the visible, audible world.

Inspired by a story that lived in my heart since high school French days, I imagined it newly inhabited
by the kaleidoscopic sights, outrageously diverse personalities and world music sounds of my
beloved New York. My vision went a step further: It culminated in a rousing finale, We Are One, about
the essential unity of all people, cultures, arts, longings. Lo and behold, it was the same wholeness
for which I had struggled in my professional life, the spiritual lesson New Yorkers had been teaching
all along.

Early in the process, I was very fortunate to team up with a talented sound engineer, music arranger and composer, Reed Robins. He helped take my songs to places I never dreamed they could fly.

So for our children, who have the imagination to fly over troubled times into a hopeful future, here is Star Child.