The Sacredness of Music

I believe music can and will unite the world. Music already does connect the people of this world. Music is created by all cultures of people around the globe and to share a song with someone of another culture is always a bonding experience. I remember singing a Hawaiian song to some young people on the Crow reservation in Montana. They loved it! And then they shared with me one of their native songs and even pulled up videos on their phones of their most respected Crow ceremonial dancers.
How amazing it is that we have the ability to hear the music of so many different cultures of the world because with the internet. For instance, If I want to hear a folk song of the Sami people (from Lapland) I can google it and listen to it now. If I would like to hear the healing songs of a Shipibo shaman of Peru, there it is on You Tube! Terence McKenna said in his Evolving Times : The way in which [the internet] will dissolve boundaries is by making us transparent. To each other. I mean, I can imagine a child of the future, we all bring home our drawings to stick on refrigerators, and things like that—in the future we won’t stick them on refrigerators, we will stick them in our website.“ The same goes for music. Songs used to be shared from person to person. Nowadays songs are shared via the internet, instantaneously connecting people in very different places! I could point a camera at myself, record myself singing a song and then share it to the world.
I think it’s a very provocative question to ask where Music comes from in the first place. For instance, what is the difference (other than language and content) between a song being sung by a pop star about their personal romantic hardships and then the icaro song being sung by a Shipibo shaman while in ceremony? Are these two songs coming from the same place of inspiration and Imagination? What is inspiration and Where does it come from? From the beginning of humanity as far as we can go back the musical element has been there. You cannot talk about Music and Art without talking about the Imagination. Albert Einstein said “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” It is our imaginations that birth new culture, through our visions and our dreams and our desires. It is our imagination that drives social evolution.
We have the choice whether to consume something which has already been imagined and brought to our physical reality, or we have the choice to create something of our own heart and mind to feed the human community with….Its a dance and delicate balance of Creating and Consuming. In a sense we “consume” what inspires us. We take it in and it may somehow influence what we then create. Our imagination and creativity is also how culture and art is birthed in the first place. Some like to give this creative force a name. Saraswati, the Goddess of Art, Music, higher knowledge, wisdom. We as conscious beings have the capacity to create culture from chaos of the cosmic soup we are all swimming in. “Civilized Society” however works to promote ideas that would keep us encaged in certain modes of thinking and acting that are predictable and controlled and this is just to keep “The System” going. It keeps people as consumers of culture. What is truly important in our lives is the truth of our own souls, our lives and our loved ones, the songs that spring from the imagination of our minds and the sacred poetry that flows from our hearts. The Truth never goes out of style. Even though each person has their own truth (if they seek within and donʻt consume someone elseʻs truth) when that truth is shared through song, it will be beautiful. It will make a soul impression. This is because no matter how many different versions of truth there is, they are different rays coming from the same original source of light.
Even though you may be “consuming” these words I have formulated for you to read, it is my hope that it inspires you in some way. I also wished to share my own experience of how the influential and inspirational role of music has evolved in my life thus far, just because I like to reflect through my writing.
Growing up in America in the 1980ʻs, in Santa Cruz California, I definitely had my fair share of media influence from TV and Radio as far as music goes. Until my late teen years I was still pretty influenced by mainstream pop music, although my preferred flavor was in the more “alternative genre.” Yet I can say that from the beginning I have always had a keenness for world music (music from other cultures other than my own). 
My mother tells me that from a very young age, before I used words, I would sing and bob my head in beat to music. Then when I did start talking I began making up my own songs while playing in my room with my older brother and toys (my favorite being “my little ponies” and all my stuffed animals). Being born in the year 1980, my first musical influence I can remember was Cyndi Lauper. Her album, “Sheʻs so Unusual” was my first cassette tape. I had the coolest cassette tape player too, which I was also able to record with. Oh how I loved recording myself! I remember fantasizing being a punky pop rock star like Cyndi Lauper. I would belt out her songs and dance around like I was in my own music video. I should also add that I loved Classical music and listened to plenty of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. I remember when I would go to my grandparents house, MTV would seem to be the only station on and I remember loving to play in my uncleʻs room because he had so many instruments, mainly guitars. He also had an awesome CD selection, once CDʻs became the new media for music. One of the first CDʻs I remember borrowing from him was Whitney Houstonʻs first self titled album, from 1985. I remember belting out “Im saving all my love for you…..” It was listening to and singing along with Whitney Houston that taught me to refine my vocals. You can imagine I was pretty sad to hear about her unfortunate death a couple of years ago. I was pretty into pop music for my early years (the 80ʻs): Along with Whitney it was Olivia Newton John, Linda Ronstadt, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, Huey Lewis and the News, INXS, Sting/The Police, U2…In my pre-teen to teen years I got into Mariah Carey (only her first couple albums), Janet Jackson, Alanis Morisette, Bjork. I also got into more “heavier” and alternative music: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Metalicca, Smashing Pumpkins. I also got very into reggae music, which may have been the result of moving to Hawaii as age 12.
At 14 I was introduced to Tori Amosʻs music with her second album Under the Pink. Tori Amos became my favorite artist, her more abstract lyrics and very original sound and music struck a chord in my soul, like no other artist has. She is the only artist that I have purchased every released album , including singles. Toriʻs music was with me through all my tumultuous years of adolescence. Her songs were a personal safe haven for me to find refuge in and I loved how she would layer her vocals and the interesting sounds in her songs. I also admired her artistry in her photos and videos. There was always this apparent originality and authenticity to her that made her stand out as a very independent and strong female artist that could not be put into any musical genre “box.” Other artists that made positive influences on me vocally and musically since her in no particular order: Loreena McKennit, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Erykah Badu, Natalie Merchant, Tracey Chapman, Joss Stone, Sade, Joni Mitchel & Carol King (I know, way before my own generation!) Alicia Keys, Sinead Oʻconnor, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow and Feist.
In my late teens to early twenties I began to sing kirtan as well as participate in ceremonies, which involved singing spiritual hymns and my musical perception radically changed and My own songs began to come through.

When I began writing and recording my own songs I kind of stopped paying attention to mainstream pop music. This was because I was delving into my own soul to see what it had to say. This all goes hand in hand with my expansion and exploration of consciousness, my continuous shamanic journey of self-realization and questioning who I really am. Even now I feel pretty “out of touch” with it (with the exception of Tori Amos). It seems that now the only music I really listen to is either music of my friends or more classical compositions of world music as well as Sacred Devotional music. To me, Engaging in playing music and singing is always the best!
My music has become an integral part of my spiritual path. In bringing forth songs to share to the world it is done with much care and consideration and most of all earnest prayer that the song will help raise consciousness and vibration. New songs are always coming to me and I can never record them fast enough.
My ever evolving passion as a singer, musician, and producer of Sacred Music has brought me into contact with so many amazing people. Currently I find myself in Australia with my partner. We embarked on our travels nearly seven months ago on a “Sacred Music and Healing Arts Pilgramage.” In the beginning of our trip we didnʻt know we were going to come to Australia, but it was definitely all part of Our Plan Ultimately. We connected with a wonderful spiritual community here called Shanti Mission. They are like a modern day mystery school that offers workshops and courses in various pranic healing techniques, which work to heal the energetic centers of the body (chakras). Their meditations involve music, chanting mantra and speaking powerful affirmations which work to clear out old patterning, old prisons of consciousness that would hold a person back from progressing in their spiritual growth and path of peace. I am very grateful for this alignment with Shanti Mission, especially Shakti Durga, hthe founder and main “Guru” who also has the voice of an angel. Being in the presence of her when she is singing is truly beautiful for she has the amazing capacity to align herself as a clear channel and let truth flow through her, essentially “free styling” beautiful melodic healing words. The practical spiritual practices that Shanti Mission offer are needed so much in todayʻs world. Im absolutely sure that because their mediations and satsangs are so interwoven with music, that they are so successful with raising the vibrations of all who participate. In this day and age, people need something to focus on to in a sense quiet their mind chatter. Meditation, which involves sitting in silence is not an easy practice, and that’s because our lives in this day and age are inundated with sounds. I donʻt mean that sitting in silent meditation is not beneficial. Bhakti Yoga, which involves the devotional singing, is thought to be the easiest way to connect to the Divine.
Sacred Music is universal. Every country has a form of sacred music. It could be songs that are played or sung for healing, for praising the Divine Power that Is, Songs that honor life and creation and the Source of all Life. Let us sing together the many sacred songs of Earth and bring peace. If people are singing together, it is impossible to fight.