And then there were four...

In our recently announced Sacred Sound Spa collaboration, Oriya, Tinaka and Gabrielle had the beautiful intention of bringing all their divine musical and healing gifts to exponentially expand Sacred Sound Spa. Just today we've received the news that Tinaka will not be joining us at this time. With a big swirl of happenings in her personal life and personal goals, she has come to the decision she is not in a position to commit fully to Sacred Sound Spa (it certainly needs a full commitment, especially given there will be a lot of travel involved). With love and hugs we wish her the best in her journey, and if it should be that she can return, with love and hugs we will welcome her back. (Spirit said people would be weaving in and out of the space!) Tinaka was and continues to be a solo artist, and I recommend that you catch her somewhere sometime. Keep an eye out for the very special musical offerings of Tinaka Vass. 

Oriya, Gabrielle, Sahayak and I continue to flow with the Sacred Sound Spa journey. The next offering will be at the Ananda Marga New Year's Gathering (27 Dec-2 Jan) and we will also be offering an evening event in Eumundi 27 January. (Details on our Events page.)

I'm delighted to report that our new album 'Peace Within' is now fully available as CDs and MP3s through our online retailers both here in Australia (Holistic Page) and for those overseas (CD Baby). Good timing - albeit accidental - for Christmas. More info...

Big news! The initial guidance from Spirit over two years ago for Sacred Sound Spa was to have other sound healers and sacred music performers weaving in and out of Sacred Sound Spa events. Very recently, the guidance has been for us to form a collaboration with Gabrielle Hart, Tinaka Vass and 'sacred voice' (Oriya) to create a Sacred Sound Spa event to take on tour. As we flow along this path, others will weave in and out of the space, though it seems it will initially be primarily the five of us. 

We are only in the early stages of creating this collaboration, but things are already moving quickly. We will be offering Sacred Sound Spa workshops together at the Ananda Marga New Year's Gathering at Yandina, plus there will be some collaboration in Gabrielle's concert and our samjjana concert at the same gathering. Gabe, Tinaka and Oriya will also be joining us in our trip to Denmark, W.A. for the New Earth Festival in early March, where we will all be offering workshops and performances. 

The unfolding of this divinely inspired tour is yet to reveal more details, but we know we'll be travelling a lot - including overseas.

It feels really special, and vibrationally it is huge. It will soon have its own website, but in the meantime, you can find out more here. I look forward to sharing the details as they unfold!

Our new CD 'Peace Within' arrived today! It looks/feels/sounds lovely, and now the scurry is on to post it off to the relevant online retailers for online purchases. Meanwhile it is available directly from us at markets and our performances.

And while this is wonderful news for us (and by the feedback we've received, for others as well!) there is some exciting news that we're not quite ready to share but will soon, that feels like even more of a highlight today (so it must be pretty amazing...)

Watch this space...

Wow...where does the time go! I'm surprised so much of it has slipped by since my last post here - just goes to show how busy we are! Our newsletters are a great way to keep up to date, but just to go on with, so much has been happening...our new CD will be out in the next couple of weeks and it's feeling great (and we are still working on the one that will come after this one), and our schedule is hectic but feeling good. Our Satsings have been lovely, we are looking forward to Yoga Aid on the 14th (Lake Kawana Community Centre) and our Sacred Sound Spa on the 20th (Yoga in Daily Life Centre, Maroochydore). We are also delighted to be performing the New Year's Eve concert at the Ananda Marga New Year's Gathering (Yandina, where we will also be offering a Sacred Sound Spa) and opening the Music By The Sea Festival at Sandgate on January 8 - plus looking forward to enjoying the great line up booked for that festival.

Before we know it, Christmas will be upon us and it will be 2011! We're also looking forward to the New Earth Festival in early March (Denmark, W.A.) where we will be offering workshops and performances.

We'll let you know once the new CD is available - just in time for Christmas too! (We'll share more about it here soon.)

We have just received news that we will be performing at the Brisbane Multi-Cultural Festival on October 17. We look forward to finding out the details - we'll share those with you once we have them.

We've just put in our order for our third batch of CDs, and we've booked the recording studio for next week to record a CD of the hang...by public demand! We've decided to produce that one while concurrently working on our next concept album.

Everything's chugging along really nicely :o)

Our first Satsing in Australia turned out very beautifully. We gathered together last night in the community hall here at Bellbunya (where we live) and it was delicious! It was lovely to sing some of the new chants that haven't had much of an airing yet, and they were well received. Next month it will be held at Eumundi (30 September).

The rehearsals for the 'Music of the Other' concert at the Brisbane Conservatorium are going well, and 'The Night Sky' themed performance will also be narrated and animated, to add to a really interesting mix of musicians and instruments. Not to be missed by anyone in Brisbane on September 1!

We have been invited to next year's 'New Earth Festival' in W.A. in early March and look forward to participating - it will be in Denmark this year (last year it was in Perth) with a changed format. We will post the details once that information is available.

Coming up September 3 is also Bellbunya's 'Music in the Raw' Acoustic Night. We will be performing a few pieces, including a colloboration with Delaney Delaney. If you're a Sunny Coaster, come along if you'd like to experience a lovely community night.

Just a quick update for those who have been been following Sahayak's health journey. He had his heart procedure today (day surgery) - it went well, and all should be back to normal after a few days taking it easy and a few more weeks  of monitoring. Our 'heartfelt' appreciation to all who have sent their best wishes and held him in their prayers. 

Two lovely developments to announce...

Nicholas Ng, who joined us on stage with his erhu at the recent Brisbane Mind Body Spirit Festival, has invited us and some BEMAC musicians to perform with him and fellow Doctor of Music, multi-instrumentalist Kim Cunio, at the Brisbane Conservatorium on Wednesday September 1. The concert, Music of the 'Other' promises to be a fascinating night!

Spirit has indicated that it is time to once again to offer 'Satsings' - delightful events I was guided to initiate and facilitate in Costa Rica that now we will be offering in Australia. We will start with a monthly evening gathering on the Sunshine Coast, and expand from there as needed. These evenings will, among other things, be a lovely opportunity to give voice to the numerous chants I have received from Spirit that rarely make it into our performances (because there are just too many of them!)

We are looking forward to sharing these inspirations with those who are meant to join us...

The month is running away already and with new events are being added to our 'to do' list the intended winter sojourn is beginning to look a bit like wistful thinking! There is a lovely development we can't quite announce yet which will also be added on our events page in the next week or two.

Plenty of folk turned up in spite of cold winter nights for the recent Maleny and Eumundi concerts with samjjana and Sacred Earth - very special, heart warming nights of blissful sound - as well as belly warming, with lovely hot chai and organic cake from our fellow Bellbunya community members.
 
Sahayak is exploring some new flutes (again!) and I have been receiving plenty more inspirations from Spirit for the next CDs (we have four lined up, though we can only do one at a time!)

With the winter solstice behind us now, I feel encouraged as each day takes us closer to summer again. Still warm woolies for a while yet though...