GRB AEF & OSC Biography:

Gary Robert Buchanan has been with the Andean Explorers Foundation & Ocean Sailing Club since its inception in 1988, currently serving as Vice-President & Director of Research. Committees on which he serves include Cartography, Education, Motion Picture & Video. Further, he serves as the Foundation’s Musicologist and Director of Epigraphic Studies.

Buchanan has participated on several expeditions to the Amazonas region of Peru, the Middle East, Britain, Japan, Oceania, and Australia, recording and collecting epigraphic and ethnomusicological materials in all areas. In 1989 he and AEF&OSC made public replicas of three inscribed tablets, weighing tons each, found in the Chachapoyas area of Peru, these indicating proto-Sinaitic epigraphic traces. Such would indicate pre-Columbian contacts with the Middle East dated to 600 B.C.E. These epigraphic samples were analyzed and confirmed by Semitics departments and scholars at several institutions.

Other contributions by Buchanan include editorial assistance and cartographic artwork for articles in Time-Life Books and other media.

Founded by the world famous explorer and author, Gene Savoy (1927 – 2007), the AEF & OSC has mounted numerous expeditions around the globe --- primarily in northeastern Peru, home of the legendary Chachapoyas civilization. Of the seven fabled cities of the Chachas, Savoy and his team (as of 2015) have documented six of these seven long-lost metropolises.

Buchanan worked beside Gene Savoy for over twenty years in these endeavors, accompanying him on numerous expeditions, creating maps and schematics; researching the epigraphy and inscribed glyphs found; recording and transcribing music attributed to the Chachapoyas and Incas; helping produce documentary films with scripts, narration, and original music; and, presenting annual reports and publications at AEF & OSC conferences.

Savoy’s son, Christopher Sean Savoy, became President of AEF & OSC following his father’s passing in 2007. Sean continues to lead the expeditions in his father’s stead.

Documentaries

Gary Buchanan has composed original music for all of the films produced by AEF & OSC. Moreover, documentaries on Gene Savoy and the work of AEF & OSC have been produced by numerous other companies and networks, e.g., Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, BBC, etc.

AEF & OSC Contact Info:

The Foundation Orchestra

Gary Robert Buchanan assumed his position as Founding Conductor with The Foundation Orchestra (Foundation Orchestra Association – F.O.A.) in 1988. Since that time he has remained at the helm as Principal Conductor, Composer & Arranger, presenting concerts each year and supervising recording sessions of
the orchestra, not only for documentary films produced by the AEF & OSC, but as well for annual conferences and banquets, CDs, DVDs, and related media. Buchanan has also been instrumental in obtaining the Foundation Orchestra Association’s regular grants from the Sierra Arts Council, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowments for the Arts, and in associating F.O.A. with the American Symphony League, ASCAP, and BMI.

His concerts with The Foundation Orchestra over the years have been extremely well-received by audiences and critics alike in northern Nevada - as well as among AEF & OSC members and supporters around the globe. DVDs and CDs of The Foundation Orchestra have been globally distributed and are sought after.

Foundation Orchestra Association

P.O. Box 3279, Reno, Nevada 89505 - U.S.A.

[email protected]

Phone: 775-348-1818 - FAX: 775-332-3086

To contact Maestro Buchanan directly, please email:

[email protected]

The Feathered Serpent III – Ophir Expeditions:

In 1995 Buchanan assisted Gene Savoy in the initial designs for a 73-feet double-hulled catamaran based upon ancient Peruvian and Chinese models. These were then adapted by the noted British designer James Wharram for schematic rendering. The concept was for members of AEF & OSC to eventually sail this vessel from Peru to the Hawaiian Isles (a voyage attributed to the Incas), thence to the South Pacific and around the globe, back to South America and up the Amazon River to the Chachapoyas region of northeastern Peru.

Then, in 1997-98 GRB helped build in Lima, Peru the ancient replicate vessel, named the Feathered Serpent III-Ophir, serving as navigator on its voyages to Hawaii and the South pacific.

While the maiden voyage to from Callao-Lima to Hilo was accomplished in forty-two days, its second leg (from Hawaii to Samoa) made international headlines when the FS III-Ophir broke up in hurricane waters south of the equator and left the crew ship-wrecked for almost two days in shark-infested waters. (See: The Christian Science Monitor, “Tracing King Solomon’s Gold To Lands of the Ancient Americas,” Robin Engel, 3-26-98 and Associated Press Releases, @ August 27, 1998)

https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1P2-32561488/tracing-king-solomon-s-gold-to-lands-of-the-ancient