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.  

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.

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.

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.

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

One of my highlights last week was having Phil and Keith over to our home.  They are both such talented, sweet, charming and humble gentleman!  It is truly hard to find musicians of such caliber who remain down to earth, friendly and so open to working with other musicians.

Before they came over, Phil had encouraged me to find some jazz songs that I wanted to learn and sing so I started searching for my favorites to rehearse together.  When they arrived, we spent several hours singing, rehearsing and enjoying one another’s company.  Phil kindly wrote down the chords for the songs as Keith played them so fluidly on the piano.  They wanted to enable me to sing these songs wherever I have the opportunity in the future.  Such kindness and thoughtfulness!  I was amazed at how Keith so naturally transposed the keys to suit my vocal range.  We practised three of my favorite songs, I’ve never been in love before, Unforgettable and Autumn Leaves.  Phil and Keith also taught me one of Phil’s original songs called The Martyr’s Rose which is on their CD, China Skies.   It is such a beautiful song with a lovely melody and moving lyrics.

Phil gave me a treasured gift - a huge book of all the songs he has composed (some of Keith’s are in there too as well as a few other musicians).  I was amazed at how many songs are in there.  At the end of the book are some articles of Keith and Phil performing in different places around the world.  I was excited to learn that Phil and Keith had performed with Dizzy Gillespie in South Carolina in 1989 and Phil even composed a song about Dizzy called Remembering Dizzy.  I am very touched by their humility.  What is so unique about their music is that they take the sounds of a jazz combo and smooth vocals and blend it with traditional music instruments of China and Japan.  Truly inspiring and extremely creative!

Yesterday evening I had another treasured opportunity to watch Phil, Keith and Viva perform at the Hilton Hotel in Beijing.  I sang the three songs above that we had practised and it was such a joy to be accompanied by such accomplished and talented musicians.  Phil and Keith, we are honored that you are here in Beijing and look forward to many more opportunities to hear your wonderful music.  Thank you for sharing your talents with the world.  For more information about their beautiful music, please click here.

What a moving experience watching the Paralympics in the Birds Nest this morning! I wasn’t expecting to be so touched by the athletic games. We watched several events - the discuss throw, shot put, 200m mens and womens wheelchair tricycle races were among several of the events (by the way, China won all the races I just mentioned)! What brought me to tears was watching the men’s 400m running race. All the competitors had to run with guides by their sides as they were all blind. Being a witness to how far they have come and what they were achieving was so inspiring.

We arrived at the Bird’s Nest at 9am this morning. What a stunning site seeing it in person and up close. By the time we got through the security lines and up to our seats, it was about 9:30am. The stadium was half empty but by 11am, most of the 160,000 seats were occupied. Hearing the whole crowd cheering was so energizing and amazing!

We watched several of the medal award ceremonies but the most moving of all was observing the 100m men gold finalist from Canada. The men all ran with one prosthetic leg in that particular race. As the National Anthem was played and the flag raised, the Canadian athlete was sobbing and covering his face and many in the crowd wept with him. In that moment I realized that receiving a gold medal in the Paralympics meant even more than any other medal because of all the loss, struggle and hardship they have had to endure. It was a joy to witness the triumph of the human spirit.

Thought of the Day: “In all things God loveth the highest excellence.” - Baha’u'llah

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

You know how once in awhile you have one of those blissful days that is rich in seeing nature, being with dear friends, tasting great food and celebrating a wedding?! Well - it doesn’t happen very often… but last Sunday was one of those days. I will have to write about it in two blogs as there is too much share and too many photos to view.

I will start in chronological order… I’ll begin by describing the color of the sky! I know that’s an unusual place to start (and an odd topic) but I have to tell you that in the ten years that I’ve lived in Beijing, I have not seen such a beautiful, crisp colored clear blue sky!

We were visiting some dear friends of ours in their countryside home and when we awoke on Sunday morning, it was such a gift to see the color of the sky. What a dreamy site! We were up at 6:30am and our host took us to a beautiful part of the Great Wall which was only 10 mins from their country home. I have also seldom been on the Great Wall where it is completely quiet with no one else in sight. We climbed hundreds of steps and were planning on sliding down the mountain on a toboggan (except that instead of sliding down snow or ice, one would slide down a metal sheet which is a 10 minute ride all the way down)! Because we arrived so early it was closed so we took the cable car down instead. Viewing the Great Wall from the cable car was extraordinary and relaxing after the wonderful hike.

We finally returned to our friends countryside home in time for breakfast with traditional Chinese prepared tea. After a delicious lunch of freshly made jiaozi (Chinese dumplings), we drove home to prepare for a wedding I sang at which I will write about in my next blog… I have included a slide show of our blissful morning (I’m sure you can tell I’m enjoying experimenting with my new camera).

“Good luck Beijing!” is the title of one of the 30 songs chosen for the Beijing Olympics. It is a song written by two talented and professional musicians from Georgia, USA - Phil Morrison and Keith Williams. They are now performing almost nightly at the Hilton Hotel Wangfujing in Beijing and are a definite must-see! Phil and Keith were inverviewed by a news agency about their song for the Olympics. You can view the video below.

I had been in touch with Phil before he came to Beijing and was so looking forward to meeting the gifted duo. So a few nights ago I invited some friends to watch them perform and what a delightful evening it was! From the moment we met, there was such a warm connection! Phil was playing bass and Keith played a beautiful grand piano. They make such a wonderful combination. Viva, their vocalist, also a very talented musician, charmed us with her voice. Before the start of the performance, Keith and Phil had encouraged me to sing a song with them but I felt completely unprepared as we hadn’t rehearsed anything together. But after listening to Viva sing and watching them perform in such unison and spirit, I couldn’t help but acquiesce when Viva requested that I sing! I’m so glad that I did because it was one of the highlights of my evening. Performing with such talent is not a common occurrence in my life so I’m thrilled that I seized that opportunity.

At the end of the evening, the three of us agreed that we should definitely get together and perform again. I look forward to learning some new songs and exploring this new side of music that I haven’t experienced too much of before. I know I will love it!