Elika Mahony's Blog

For this festive season: This Earthly Plane

Elika — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:54:45 +0000

It has been a long time since I have been able to post to my blog with all the final decisions I’ve had to make for my new CD Birds of Love.

I’ve been thinking of the holiday season upon us and was thinking about how many listen to certain kinds of music during this festive, almost magical time of year. It seems people’s attitudes change and they become almost more spiritual, compassionate, and generous in their nature. Pretty lights come out, and the landscape changes. But for many, it is also a reminder of destitution and loss experienced through the hardships of life.

The song I composed from Fire and Gold ‘This Earthly Plane’ came to mind when thinking about this because of it’s magical music style and ethereal lyrics. The words assure us of “days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight” in the realms beyond this earthly plane, despite whatever earthly disappointments we experience.
You can listen to it below while you read:

I wrote it originally on the piano, but we wanted to use the harp on some of our songs, and my producer Jarome felt this one would be perfect for harp. He suggested an internationally renown Baha’i harpist, Caroline Mackay, to take the piano melodies and embellish them using celtic harp to give the piece that other worldly feeling the words evoke. Despite the challenges of harp tuning when there is a key change in the song, Caroline did an amazing job. From there, Jarome added layers of voices and some synthesizer and flute parts to take the other worldly feeling even further (it does after all mention other ‘worlds’ in the lyrics…).
At one point there was so much going on, I told Jarome to remove the flute at the end as I felt it was getting too busy. But then, I missed it so much, we added it back again. If you have a good speaker system, you will even hear low celtic drum percussion in the song!

So that is a little insight as to how this song came about. I hope this is a wonderful time of year for you all and you enjoy some good food and heavenly music!

Very soon I will be posting about my family reunion in Africa, and the launch of my new CD and website.

or this one:

Thought Of The Day:

“Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you. Worlds, holy and spiritually glorious, will be unveiled to your eyes. You are destined by Him, in this world and hereafter, to partake of their benefits, to share in their joys, and to obtain a portion of their sustaining grace. To each and every one of them you will, no doubt, attain.”

- Bahá’u’lláh

Chinese Childrens Songs

Elika — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:58:56 +0000

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.

Click here to download the songs.

Thought of the Day:

“Wherefore, rest ye neither day nor night and seek no ease. Tell ye the secrets of servitude, follow the pathway of service…” - Abdu’l-Baha

An Inspiring Conference in Manila

Elika — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 13:49:48 +0000

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!

Birds of Love

Elika — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 14:54:13 +0000

With all the excitement that I shared with you in my last blog about all the talented musicians, I neglected to tell you about some of the other exciting projects that I worked on with Jarome while he was in China. I’m thrilled to inform you that I plan to release the love and marriage themed CD mid to end of January 2009 (if all goes smoothly)! It is entitled, ‘Birds of Love’. The vocals have all been recorded and Jarome is now working on mixing each of the songs. The music will sound incredible as the instrumentation includes live oboe, cello, french horn, flute, guitar and piano.

We have already chosen all the quotations from different sources that will be included in the package in a special booklet that will be covered with Chinese gold silk. So we’re in the process now of designing the layout of the booklet in a modern Chinese style. This project is unlike any other that I have seen in that it will be a product with music and a booklet with beautiful Chinese illustrations and inspirational quotations. I will share more with you as the project progresses.

I may not have mentioned to you that I am also working on an instrumental CD. We recorded two of the pieces on the piano while Jarome was here and edited them together. It was lots of fun coming up with titles for the songs and trying to hear what the pieces portrayed as there are no lyrics! I will be practising the instrumentals daily so that I can record more pieces very soon.

It is so enjoyable juggling several projects at the same time (there is another music project we’re working on that I haven’t mentioned yet). I hope to share several of these projects with you very soon and will blog in more detail about each of them as they progress. I look forward to showing you a sneek peek of a part of the marriage booklet soon.

Thought of the Day:

“What greater thing is there for two human souls that to feel that they are joined… to strengthen each other… to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.” - George Eliot

All the Talented Musicians

Elika — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:58:40 +0000

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!

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A New Video Gift - The Bird Which Soareth

Elika — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:15:20 +0000

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.”

-Baha’u'llah

A World in Turmoil

Elika — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:57:40 +0000

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.”

Click here for your free download.

Please feel free to share the link with your friends. I hope you enjoy it.

A Chinese CD!

Elika — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:37:05 +0000

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.

A Unique Musician

Elika — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:46:27 +0000

Recently I came across the music of an independent artist – India.Arie. My niece, who was visiting from the US, introduced me to her music. What fascinates me about her are the themes she chooses to explore and her bold lyrics. India.Arie writes a lot about growth, positive change, respecting yourself and others. In Wings of Forgiveness, she writes,
I’m only human,
let’s shake free this gravity of resentment
And fly high.
You’re only human,
let’s shake free this gravity of judgement
And fly high on the winds of forgiveness.

These lyrics are so powerful and meaningful. Here are some titles of her songs, There’s Hope, I see God in you, Growth, This Too Shall Pass and Wings of Forgiveness. She also writes about racism and prejudice in her songs, Brown Skin and I Am Not my Hair.

One of my favorite songs of hers is Slow Down. In her chorus she writes,
Slow down baby, you’re going too fast
You’ve got your hands in the air, but your feet on the gas
You’re about to wreck your future
Running from the past
You need to slow down

In today’s music world, lyrics are most often about love, passion or sex. One seldom finds songs with lyrics that are empowering and inspiring. Even India.Arie’s love songs are unique in that they are enriching and meaningful. In Complicated Melody, her first verse starts:

If he were a color, he’d be deep dark forest green
If here were a car, he’d be a long stretched limousine
With room for all of humanity inside
Cos he is so giving and he is so wise

In one of her shortest songs, Outro: Learning, India.Arie reveals what the highest expression of love is:

The highest expression of love is to give without expecting
The highest expression of love is to accept without exception
I have so much to learn

These few sentences are the complete lyrics of her song. I can’t help but smile and get goosebumps when I hear her songs. I love her courage to be different and to break away from the normal trends in music lyrics. I am inspired.

Quotations on Love

Elika — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:44:19 +0000

The marriage CD project is now in full swing and almost all the vocals have been recorded. We are now working on adding live instrumentation to the pieces. I look forward to going over all the songs with Jarome, hearing the different live instruments that were recently recorded and choosing the best parts. I did not have the opportunity to do that in person with Jarome for the ‘Fire and Gold’ CD and am cherishing the chance to do so this time. As I had written in a previous blog, this next CD will be accompanied by a special booklet which will include quotations on love and marriage. I am compiling quotations and am including quotes and lovely sayings from different sources that are inspirational and enchanting. If you come across any favorite quotes on this theme or have written your own poems/quotes on the subject, please send them. Thanks! Below are a few of my favorite quotes that will be printed in the booklet:

“Love is the poetry of the senses.” - Honore de Balzac

“Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years.” - Simone Signoret

“…Marriage is the commitment of the two parties one to the other, and their mutual attachment of mind and heart. Each must, however, exercise the utmost care to become thoroughly acquainted with the character of the other, that the binding covenant between them may be a tie that will endure forever. Their purpose must be this: to become loving companions and comrades and at one with each other for time and eternity…” - Abdu’l-Baha

Thought of the Day:

“Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of the seasons.”

- Kahlil Gibran