27 June 2010
A lovely few days we have just experienced at the Brisbane Mind Body Spirit Festival culminated today in a special guest performer joining us on stage. Though some wonderful synchronicity, we have been blessed to meet and play with Brisbane-based erhu player, Nicholas Ng. (An erhu is a chinese violin.) Nicholas' soulful playing brought another whole dimension to the stage and it was beyond a delight. The instruments really go well together. There are already some lovely ideas brewing for us all to play together again. Watch this space! It was also a special day on Sunday, performing as samjjana on the very stage at the same event where we met two years prior...I had just left the stage (after performing with the hang), while Sahayak was waiting to go on stage with his flute!
14 June 2010
If you're in the Noosa area, tune in to 101.3 FM tomorrow (Tuesday) night from just after the 6pm news through till 8pm - Simonne has invited us into the studio for her program, 'Stepping into the Light'. Interviews, playing tracks from our CDs, and including some live music. It is bound to be a cruisy couple of hours!
11 June 2010
The wheels are back in motion for our performances! We are back at the markets and all seems to be on track for our next major event - the Brisbane Mind Body Spirit Festival 25-27 June
The process of putting things right will take several weeks, and within that Sahayak will undergo minor heart surgery to rectify the electrical misfiring in his heart. The cardiologist has given him the all clear in the meantime to resume a light schedule. He's feeling fine.
Sincere thanks to all who have sent love and light.
4 June 2010
Unexpected developments have inspired me to offer another variation on the saying I offered in my last entry..."Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans" (John Lennon).
Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control and resulting medical intervention we have temporarily suspended our regular participation at the markets and our performances at Brisbane Yoga Fest (6 June) and Melbourne Mind Body Spirit Festival (11-14 June). We are confident that, all being well, all will be back on track in time for Brisbane Mind Body Spirit Festival.
Sahayak is the one who is not doing particularly well at staying out of trouble (!), but he is in good hands and the the solution is known and relatively straightforward.
We'll let you all know via this news blog when we are back in the swing. Meanwhile, we'll just keep on flowing as this interesting adventure of life unfolds in its own perfect way!
2 June 2010
I like the saying, "How to make God laugh...make a plan!" Plans for us to perform with Sacred Earth on the Gold Coast June 26 have been thwarted by lack of availability of a suitable venue. The intention is to arrange it for another time, though it probably won't be for a while. Meanwhile, Prem and Jethro will still be having a concert that afternoon in a smaller venue (Ecovillage at Currumbin - lovely, lovely place) so if you are on the Gold Coast and can possibly get there, it is sure to be wonderful. Check their website for details.
The update for the Sunshine Coast Sacred Earth/samjjana concerts are that the Maleny concert (2 July) will be held at the Maleny Community Centre. The second Sunshine Coast concert (3 July) will now be held at the Anahata Temple in Eumundi. Details will be posted on our events page very soon.
We're off to Brisbane's Yoga Fest this Sunday, both with a stall and a performance, then off to Melbourne the following (long) weekend for the Mind Body Spirit Festival...Melbourne in the winter is a scary thought though!
7 May 2010
Just to hand today, I can now pass on the Queensland dates for our performances in concert with Sacred Earth. It will be our privilege to contribute to magical nights of stillness and peace, June 26 (Gold Coast) and July 2 & 3 (Sunshine Coast). Details will be posted soon.
19 April 2010
We're delighted to be able to contribute to the raising of some charity funds for Haiti by offering an email auction of two VIP tickets to Deepak Chopra's April 27 Brisbane event. We'll be performing at the event, and we really appreciate the generosity of the organizers in offering these tickets to us as part of that. All bids welcome, no reserve price, click here for all the details.
The other news I'd like to share is that my swarmandel (Indian harp) has just days ago arrived from India and I'm having a lovely time getting to know it. It has a very special vibe - quite angellic - and it is bound to contribute its fair share of beautiful, soothing, healing vibrations. I'll arrange some photos of it soon for the website...and eventually, also some video. What a joy it is to be surrounded by so many divine instruments!
31 March 2010
We've just returned from a beautiful experience with the New Earth Festival in Perth - a concept in total alignment with everything we do and all the reasons we do it. Lots of lovely people, lots of lovely experiences. We feel overwhelmed with how much our music was embraced and all the heartfelt comments we received. The Sacred Sound concert on the Saturday night was soooooo special, and it was such a privilege to be a support act for Sacred Earth, and in turn to feel so supported and inspired by Prem and Jethro. A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to making the festival special.
Meanwhile, lots of wonderful developments brewing, though too early to share...watch this space!
4 February 2010
The new year is well underway - powering along and keeping us very busy already! We've been to the Health Harmony Soul Expo, the Night of Light, the High Summer Festival and also been very busily playing at the Eumundi markets (lower market, 'Eumundi Square'). Our CDs are selling very well and after only picking them up in September we're already needing to re-order. We have been deeply appreciating all the wonderful feedback we have been receiving, and we feel so very blessed and privileged to touch people's lives so deeply.
The latest delight (in a long list of them), news came to us today that we will be the support act for Sacred Earth at the New Earth Festival in Perth in March. It's a great honour, as we just love Prem and Jethro's beautiful, soulful music. I've been listening to it for years and it's always been among my favourite Sacred music. We took one of their CDs with us on our overseas travels to play it to anyone who would listen!
We look forward to what will, no doubt, be a very special night...what a wonderful double whammy for the audience!
10 November 2009
Wow - the Mind Body Spirit Festival was a wonderful experience and full of synchronicity and lovely connections. More seeds sown and interesting developments that it is too soon to share, but that I look forward to the day I can announce amazing things that have come out of our performances and attendance at the festival. (See photos in the Gallery)
I've also booked in for a four-day Earth Woman retreat with Peruquois - incredible sacred songstress - in early December. There will be lots of chanting and singing from deep in the belly, so I look forward to birthing a new voice that I feel wants to arise, and I also look forward to incorporating that into our performances.
So much is richly unfolding, and I have no doubt that in a few months time when we look back we will be beyond amazed. I am loving the adventure and feel very blessed!
28 October 2009
We're delighted to announce that our CDs are now available as MP3s at CD Baby...our actual CDs are also available through the same website but that's in the U.S.A. and therefore for the overseas market - in Australia you can buy them from us, and we are looking into distribution channels for sales through retail outlets. We'll keep you posted!
We've also been invited to perform at the Mind Body Spirit Festival in Sydney 5, 6 and 8 November and we are looking forward to that. We've also been invited to perform at the Health, Harmony and Soul Festival on the Gold Coast in January.
There are other interesting developments and we look forward to sharing those here - when the time is right!!!
6 October 2009
Now ready for your listening pleasure a new piece of music - but not what you might expect! Would you like to hear it?
25 September 2009
We are settling back in Australia, and with three performances already behind us here things are moving along. A very significant development just yesterday - we have just acquired a harp and three absolutely incredible Alchemy crystal singing bowls - Emerald, Japanese Charcoal and Laughing Buddha. The harp was on our radar screen, but the bowls were a sudden and synchronistic development. We went to visit our dear friend and my soul sister Gabrielle Hart, and flowed with the unfolding of what was an extraordinary day...and we are still shaking our heads. This brings a whole new responsibility for us in our service work and a whole new element to what we can offer to audiences, and it certainly adds to the meditative and healing intentions of our music. Wow. Watch this space!
19 August 2009
Our 'A Celebration of Harmony' concert with Manuel Obregon, Tapado (Carlos Vargas) and Marianela and Juan Pablo from Yoga Lamat was WONDERFUL - we felt very, very blessed to be a part of it, and the standing ovation was a nice bonus. There were three professional film cameras getting some great footage so it will be interesting to see what happens with that. (We hope to get some of it onto YouTube soon.)
Our last Costa Rican performance is on Saturday, with Alba Molina (see events) and then we're on a plane back to Australia next Tuesday - after 12 months overseas! It will be sad to leave but I am also REALLY looking forward to getting home...
10 August 2009
We can happily report that our CDs, currently in post production, will be completed this coming week, after which we will organise digital distribution and CD production. not long now! To those who have been waiting patiently for some time, remember...'good things come to those who wait'...
23 July 2009
We're delighted to be participating in 'A Celebration of Harmony' concert on August 17 with the musicians below, and with the addition of Manuel Obregon - another wonderful Costa Rican musician, well known and highly respected throughout Central America. He is most well known as a pianist (and will be playing a grand piano at the concert) but he also plays the Paraguayan harp. Both will be magical additions to all the other instruments. It has also fallen to me to organize the concert (even without speaking Spanish and without a car!) so let's just say things are busy. Following this concert will be our 'Sacred Sound Spa' concert with Alba Molina on August 22 at the Sat Yoga Institute, and then on August 25 we are on a plane back to Australia (after a year overseas!)
Hopefully by then our CDs will be finished - it's a bit of a race with time to finalize our recording. We're back in the studio next week.
5 July 2009
Last night's Expo Yoga 'Music for the Soul' concert in San Jose was a wonderful experience and once again was full of magic. It was with almost the same line up as our 'Music Alchemy' concert - Carlos 'Tapado' Vargas (percussion), Juan Pablo Barahona (didgeridoo) and Marianela Ortiz (raagini, harmonium and voice). It was videoed so we look forward to being able to add more videos to YouTube over the coming weeks. We have another concert in the planning 'a celebration of harmony' that is starting to shape up as something extra special - though we can't offer details just yet!
30 May 2009
Our new YouTube videos have been uploaded! Please enjoy our Music Alchemy concert, including the wonderful additions of four Costa Rican sound healing musicians, on our YouTube Channel. Enjoy!
24 May 2009
Recording is underway and going very well. We can't be sure at this stage whe we will having something ready, but as soon as we know, of course we will let everyone know. We are also in the process of concerting several of the performances in our last concert into YouTube format so hope to upload those soon.
Our Kapoli event last night went beautifully. We invited singer/songwriter Alba Molina to perforrm with us and it really came together quite magically (after a short rehearsal a couple of hours prior!)
We are in the process of planning our next events - there are a few in the pipeline. We look forward to locking in the arrangements and getting them onto the site. Watch this space!
16 May 2009
The Music Alchemy concert was beyond amazing. There is a little share about it along with some photos here. We look forward to adding the concert to our YouTube Channel...and speaking of YouTube, we've just added YouTube embedded links on 'our music'. We have also booked the recording studio for next week, so it all continues to roll along and we continue to feel awed by it and very blessed!
30 April 2009
We've been blessed with lots of wonderful, effortless flow...and this flow manifested yet again yesterday as we went to do some interviews (and playing the instruments of course) for national TV and radio. It's all part of promoting the May 12 concert. The TV piece was a short news item for the news bulletin, and the radio was some 20 minutes that will air in a two-hour program on Sunday and repeated on Sunday week. We feel blessed that our music is so embraced here, and that the combination of the instruments is fairly unique, and that we are from Australia. (Quite rare to find an Aussie here - we've only met three over the four months we've been here, and one of those lives in Canada!)
17 April 2009
Welcome to the launch of our samjjana website!
We met in mid-2008, so samjjana has evolved since then. We had a samjjana page on our 'Inspiration Unlimited' website, but it has evolved to the point where it needed its own website...so here it is!
We are currently in Costa Rica and the synchronicity and flow has been incredible for samjjana. We have had several performances, with more coming up soon, including an event we are calling 'Music Alchemy', at a 300 seat venue, at which we will be on stage with nationally famous and popular Grammy award winning (Costa Rican) percussionist, Carlos (Tapado) Vargas. We feel very awed and humbled by this, and at the same time excited and looking forward to the experience. Not only that, Carlos is a beautiful, humble and spiritual soul and we are all very much in synergy, which is essential for us and it is the only way it could work energetically. We've had one rehearsal that went beautifully, with another scheduled before the event.
We also intended to record an album when we return to Australia, but we have decided to record here. Partly because people keep asking for our music, and partly because it is cheaper here than back home. We also have time now, which is something to take advantage of. We will be getting all that underway very soon.
We also have uploaded some videos on YouTube - the links are through 'our music' page and 'the hang' page.
So, lots happening, and we are embracing and enjoying it all!
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