I would like to share a link of Chinese Children’s songs from the Ruhi Series. What distinguishes these songs from other Book 3 songs is that half of them are new and have very catchy melodies. The new songs also have some Chinese instrumentation on a few of them and the lyrics are different too. Several wonderful musicians and a talented producer worked on this project and sacrificed their time to make it available within a short period of time.
On the link provided below, you can download the songs for free as well as the instrumentals so that the children can sing along too. The notes for all the pieces are also available for download. Please enjoy and share them with your friends.
A few days ago I returned from a wonderful regional Baha’i conference in the city of Manila - the capital of the Philippines. There were over 1,000 Baha’is attending from 8 different countries in Asia to celebrate achievements that have been made and to consult about how to be more effective in our service to humanity. The conference was a short and intense 2 days, yet very inspiring as there were talks and workshops to enable the participants to plan and set goals for the upcoming months.
I had the bounty of being asked to sing at the conference so I chose a piece from my CD, Fire and Gold which I sang in English and Arabic. I was informed the day before the conference began that I would have that blessing and realized how important it is for a musician to be prepared to perform at any given time. I had a couple of hours to think about which piece I wanted to sing and managed to practice it several times. Luckily I brought a CD of backtracks for the pieces just in case I needed them. The performance went very well and I felt extremely blessed to be able to sing at the conference.
I had an unexpected gift during those 2 special days - and that was knowing how many new friends I met at the conference appreciate my music. I had no idea that ‘Melodies of the Nightingale’ and ‘Fire and Gold’ have spread so far and to so many countries. I met one woman who mentioned that she has tears in her eyes when she listens to ‘Fire and Gold’ every morning. Another lady recounted that her daughter has memorized and can sing all the pieces on ‘Fire and Gold’ word for word! This brings me so much joy as my goal for my music has always been to bring upliftment and inspiration to the listener!
What an amazing last couple of weeks I have had! Jarome Matthew, my producer, and his lovely wife Felisha were here visiting from Vancouver to help out with a Chinese CD project that we are working on. We accomplished all that we set out to do and recorded several incredibly talented musicians in the studio. The first artist we recorded was talented musician, Jin R, on her beautiful Yang Qin. The Yang Qin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer originally from Persia and resembles the Persian Santur (I have included a photo of her playing it in the slideshow below). Jin R played her own spontaneous composition with such fluidity and emotion. It was so inspiring and moving to watch. After the recording (which lasted over 10 minutes and was practically flawless), she confessed that she didn’t want to end playing for the recording. It was definitely a magical session listening to her play and create music on the spot.
A couple of days later, we had the privilege of recording Phil Morrison and Keith Williams, two extremely accomplished jazz musicians. What a pleasure and a joy it was to spend time with them and Jarome in my studio. So much talent all in one little room was quite overwhelming! They recorded Blessed is the Spot (I had composed the music for this piece for the CD, Melodies of the Nightingale for the Family. They also recorded God is sufficient Unto Me and their arrangement for these two pieces in a jazz style was amazing. They play a lovely style that has not yet been heard on these devotional pieces. I so look forward to sharing them with you when they’re ready.
We were also very blessed to record Cheng Lin who graciously accepted to sing the vocals for Blessed is the Spot in Chinese for the album. Her vocals were simply stunning and so smooth. What a gift it was to watch her singing with such emotion and talent and with such consistency. I was so touched that despite Lin’s busy schedule, she was able to make time for recording for this album. Her contribution to this CD is truly a gift.
One of Lin’s dear friends, Lily, is another talented vocalist on the project. Lily will be singing several of the songs from my most recent album, Fire and Gold, in Chinese for this CD. Her voice is so suited to the style of the music as it is heavenly and angelic. I’m so excited to be able to share a few of the Fire and Gold songs in Chinese as many of the friends have requested it.
We will do some more recording for the CD in the next couple of months and hope to complete it early next year. I will definitely keep you posted. Even with all the recording that we did, Felisha, Jarome and I managed to fit in some site-seeing in between sessions and had a fantastic day celebrating dear Felisha’s birthday in China! I’m so grateful to Jarome and Felisha for coming all this way to assist with the recording of the CD!
I would like to share a gift of a video that we just completed for one of the songs on my most recent album, Fire and Gold. The song is titled, ‘The Bird Which Soareth’ and we thought it would make a perfect video because of the evocative imagery in the words by Baha’u'llah. The words, used in Book 1 of the Ruhi series, describe the relationship between the material and the spiritual world through the metaphor of a bird. Despite its freedom the bird struggles in its longing for the things of the earth and finds itself so trapped by its desires that it is unable to resume its flight.
Although it is simple compared to many music videos, we wanted to create something special. My producer, Jarome who also does videos, produced it using various original and unique video clips and combined them with photos to reflect the meaning of the words.
There are two versions - one with the lyrics of the song in the video (Windows media format) and another high quality Quicktime version without the lyrics. There is also a youtube version which is poorer quality than the versions on the gifts page.
The video is my gift to you so please feel free to use it in your devotionals and other functions and share it with friends using this link: http://www.elikamahony.com/emlist_gifts.html
Thought of the Day:
“Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust. Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My divine knowledge.”
Reading the news these days can be very depressing. It seems that every corner of the globe is being battered by economic problems, environmental problems, social problems… And even all the experts and leaders, who used to talk with such conviction, all throw up their hands and say they don’t know what to do! But as a Baha’i I believe this is part of the process of the birth of a new kind of world, one global in scope and fundamentally spiritual in nature. These tests and this suffering is necessary so that we begin to think less about ourselves and more about others, and less about the material and more about the spiritual. Baha’u'llah says that the “world is in travail”, but also tells us that out of the process a new world will be born. The process won’t be easy, but I believe this is the time that we must begin to look at the world with new eyes, with the eyes of faith, and work for this goal. It is also a time when we can look within ourselves to see how we can create positive change. For my part I wanted to share a gift of a song, Should Prosperity Befall Thee, which seems particularly appropriate for this time (the guitar is performed by Jason Cohen and produced by Jarome Matthew). The words come from the Hidden Words of Baha’u'llah and say “Should prosperity befall thee, rejoice not, and should abasement come upon thee, grieve not, for both shall pass away and be no more.”
My next project that I have been waiting to share with you (and have worked on in tandem with the love and marriage project) is a Chinese CD! Many of my friends have often asked me when I would do one as there is such a need for inspirational Chinese material. I am excited that it is beginning to come together and Jarome will be coming to assist with the recording and production of the CD in November!
We will be using several of the ‘Fire and Gold‘ songs and translating them into Chinese. So far, it has worked out quite smoothly and we’re still in the process of making final adjustments to make sure the words flow well with the music. We will also have a couple of Chinese instrumental pieces which will be accompanied by some recited quotations. And then there will be a few other pieces - some that you may recognize and others that are new. We have some incredibly talented musicians participating on this project and I’m thrilled to mention that Phil Morrison and Keith Williams will be contributing their talent to the CD as well. I will share more about the performers in another blog.
I made the decision not to sing the primary vocals on this CD as I felt that the singer should be a Chinese vocalist so as not to distract the audience with any accent whatsoever. However, I will try and get away with some background vocals in Chinese as I would love to participate. Looking forward to sharing more with you as the project progresses.
Now I must tell you about the second part of our blissful Sunday - the gorgeous wedding we attended. Youlia and Jose - the bride and groom to be - had invited me to sing one of the pieces from my upcoming CD on love and marriage. Up till now, I have sung the same piece for 5 weddings this year (love is definitely in the air)! For all the previous weddings, I had sung the marriage prayer with Martin Kerr as a duet on the original recording so I felt it was time for a change. Youlia and some of the guests had already heard that piece at Varya and Sarmad’s wedding (another dear couple whose wedding was held in our home a few months ago-what a blessing that was for us).
Jarome was just finishing up one of the new pieces for the CD called ‘Where there is love‘ so we set a goal of finishing it in time for the wedding (we only had 2-3 weeks). He made a backtrack so that I could use it for Youlia and Jose’s wedding. Let me tell you a little about this piece… It consists of a quotation by Abdu’l-Baha on love, an Apache (Native American) wedding blessing and a quote about love by Henri Matisse. The three quotes are intertwined in the same piece and sung together in parts. Naturally I wouldn’t be able to sing all the parts together live for the wedding so it took a little time working with Jarome on choosing how best to sing the song and which parts to sing live and which to leave out. So after a few trials, we finally made it work really well.
What I love about this song is that it has lots of rhythm. That is something that I haven’t used too much of before in my music but with some encouragement from my producer and an open mind, I have grown to love it and am feeling the need for more of it in my compositions from now on! Needless to say, there were a few surprised faces in the audience once the African djembe and the drums starting playing on the song!
The wedding was held outside in a beautiful garden and what a glorious and joyous wedding it was. These wonderful occasions are always such a delight to attend especially with Tarry as it brings memories of our own special day!
I am including the wedding invitation that Youlia and Jose put up on youtube (beautifully made by Sarmad in consultation with Youlia). I felt it was such a unique way of inviting guests to a wedding!
Thought of the Day:
“Now you will feel no rain,
for each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
for each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now you are two persons but there is one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling-place to enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.”
-Traditional Apache (American Indian) Wedding Blessing
Yesterday I had a conversation with a dear friend of mine who shared her experiences of meeting one of her relatives who had come from Iran for a reunion with their family. Her relative had recounted some of the stories of hardship, suffering and persecution that the Baha’is had endured in prison. I came away feeling deeply moved by the strength, courage and attitude through all they have endured. Their steadfastness in their beliefs and their faith are such wonderful examples of courage and sacrifice.
So last night I felt very inspired to write a song about the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran. Writing lyrics doesn’t come easily to me, but for some reason, the words flowed quickly and some of them were truly inspired! When it came to singing the vocals for the demo, I was overcome with emotion halfway through the song as it was a reminder of the suffering my own family has endured in Iran. My grandparents were also imprisoned for being Baha’is and on many occasions were pressured to recant their faith. They were steadfast and were fortunate that they were finally released after several years in prison. My great uncle suffered a different fate - he was tortured, blinded in one eye, beaten and finally martyred for his beliefs.
Sadly, this pattern of persecution still continues. Just a few months ago 7 Baha’i leaders were suddenly taken captive and imprisoned in the notorious Evin Prison in Tehran, yet another part of the on-going campaign to attempt to eliminate the Baha’i community. Their current condition is unknown.
I plan to dedicate this new song to all those in Iran who have suffered and are suffering as a result of such persecution. The current draft of the chorus goes:
“Why do you think you can stop the world from knowing, prevent the truth from showing? You can’t block the sun from shining.” I’m very excited about how the song is developing.
“Not everything that a man knoweth can be disclosed, nor can everything that he can disclose be regarded as timely, nor can every timely utterance be considered as suited to the capacity of those who hear it.”
-Baha’u'llah
I love this quotation and wanted to share with you. It has helped me on several occasions to find balance and moderation in what I say and what I do.
Since I’m on the theme of guitars, I wanted to share with you a video that I came across today on youtube. Eric Harper is the lead guitarist (in the middle) and his brother, Kristian, is accompanying him. Kristian’s wife, Zinnia, has an enchanting voice and joins Eric on the vocals. Eric and Kristian lead a talented new ‘flamenco rock’ group called MimosA.
I love what Eric does with the guitar at 0:59 - it gives me such pleasure listening and watching his impressive skills. I feel inspired… Enjoy!
