Series with ribbon type aliens

[jimmaclean]

Back in the 80s I read a series of books set on an alien planet where humans co-habited with ribbon like aliens. I seem to remember that only certain people could communicate with the aliens through the use of song and/or wind.

 

[Rodders]

It's probably not it, but Greg Bear's "The Anvil Of Stars" had a race of Aggregate snake like aliens. On their own, the "Cords" were just animals, but when they joined together to form a "Braid" they became hugely intelligent and communicated to humans by the movement of air between the individual cord bodies. (They aliens themselves communicated by smell.)

 

[jimmaclean]

I say ribbons but they were probably more substantial than that, perhaps more like sheets ( or towels) or maybe I'm totally misremembering their appearance. I seem to remember that humans had to climb to a certain altitude on mountains to reach them.

 

[jimmaclean]

I must apologise. A long trawl through the Fantastic Fiction database has solved this. It's a series by Sydney J Van Scyoc - Darkchild, Bluesong and Starsilk. I was getting elements of all 3 books mixed up. Just need to get copies now.