I’ve changed the name of the blog to Finding My Voice because that is what the journey has become.  When I last wrote… a year ago now, I was still searching.  Now the search has become the journey and it is the most beautiful part. 

Finding My Voice.  Why would a singer need to find her voice?  Well, think of your voice not just as something you use for singing or speaking.  Your voice can also be your role in your community.  Your voice can be your opinion of your position about something.  You voice can be a talent or a gift that you have to share with the world, something that will make this world a better place.  I it all of these voices that I have set-off to discover,  so that I can bring them all into my work as a singer.    

In April of this year, I realized that if I really wanted to find my voice, I needed to make some big changes.  I looked at my day-to-day life and realized that it did not look like the life I dreamt of.  It wasn’t that I was discontent, really.  It just felt like it was in a comfortably small version of my life and it didn’t inspire me.  I felt like I was playing it safe to fit in.  But the call to find your voice requires that you move beyond safe and comfortable.   Finding your voice is about discovering who you are.  For me, self-discovery is most powerful when I am traveling.  There is something about traveling to parts unknown that really opens me up to life and to myself.  I re-establish my trust with myself and with the Divine.  Who I am becomes crystal clear when I am in the process of discovering new cultures, new languages, and new landscapes.  Perhaps that is because you can only analyze, process and understand those experiences through the filter of your own culture, beliefs, language and landscapes.   So, I now knew the first step to take.  I needed to travel to a place I had never been and start the process of discovery- both inner and outer. 

The next step came in quite a magical way.  Some years ago, two musicians from different countries, cultures, religions and musical traditions had a spontaneous jam session.  This jam session became an album and then a touring show. I saw their show in Los Angeles.  On stage, these musicians were blending their individual traditions into a new musical language.  I was inspired, transfixed and transformed.  As I watched them play and I knew that they were showing me my own path.  I understood that I needed to collaborate with artists from different countries and cultures to create new musical languages, using my instrument- my voice.  Afterwards, I went to speak to the artists and to thank them.  I felt a very strong connection with one of the artists and could see us working together in the future.  Then, as often happens when we have these life-changing epiphanies, time passed and I forgot all about it. 

Fast forward to April of 2018 and me in the midst of the realization that I needed to make some big changes in my personal and artistic life.   I was going through my playlists and suddenly a song by the artist I had met and connected with years ago, at that show in Los Angeles, started playing.  It stopped me in my tracks.  All of the magic of that night, the conversation and connection with this artist and most importantly the epiphany that I needed to collaborate with artists from around the world to create my own musical language, it all returned to me in an instant and my eyes filled up with tears.  I Googled the artist to see what he had been doing in the 6 years since I had seen his show.  There were more collaborations- each one creating a new musical language.  And while each song created a new language, each was distinctively his voice.  That’s when I knew the second step.  I would travel to this artist’s country to meet him.  Again. 

P.S.  I am posting videos for this Finding My Voice series on Youtube.  Here’s the link to the first one, here: Finding My Voice Part !