After the breakup of Dead Can Dance, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Brendan Perry collaborated with friends like Hector Zazou (on his 1998 Lights in the Dark album) and former bandmate Peter Ulrich (whose Pathways and Dawns Perry co-produced and arranged). During the late '90s he began teaching percussion workshops in Afro-Cuban and African Manding styles out of his Quivvy Church home and studio in Belturbet, County Cavan (Perry's mother's home county), Ireland. These workshops culminated in the creation of a community-based samba school called the Salamanders. His first solo album, Eye of the Hunter, was released in 1999 on 4AD, his longtime label. In 2003, Perry oversaw the creation of an international samba festival in Belturbet. In 2005, he and Lisa Gerrard briefly re-formed Dead Can Dance for a limited-run farewell tour with a 40-piece orchestra. While they performed their classic material, they also premiered two new songs, "Babylon" and "Crescent." Both of these selections were later recorded for Ark, Perry's 2010 solo album; it was released in the United States in mid-2011.