The hope of the hopeless
I don't tend to follow the news so much just because it is just so heavy. I hear it through my husband,
he does follow it. We know there is so much tragedy out there, all things imaginable, and yet sometimes
it does not seem real because we are not experiencing it first hand or seeing it right in front of us. Some
things that pop out though, with the teens and the children and all of these things that are happening in
schools, violence and shootings, and depression, suicide, its just unreal, it feels like "how did we get to
this place? what is driving our youth to this place of such deep suffering, what are we doing wrong?"
It is not their fault, especially the young ones, they are just born into this world. They are shown what they
are shown, they have the life that they have. Some are less fortunate than others, some may have some
emotional imbalance. We need to really give more attention to the youth and their internal struggles, and
look at what we are doing as adults in our society that is for children. It was really hitting me hard, thinking
we just can't continue like this. The album COMPASSION came from that place, caring for others, looking
out for our children, looking out for the youth. For me, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is someone very special,
everything for him is about love and compassion. Just recently he had announced this new program where
they want to bring curriculum into the schools called Seeing Learning (https://seelearning.emory.edu) where
they can teach about compassion, and empathy, and relationships with one another, teaching how to
communicate to one another, understanding our feelings. You know, this whole new curriculum for some
schools being added, teaching kids to connect to their feelings, and to other kids with feelings, and you
know we really need that!
It is not their fault, especially the young ones, they are just born into this world. They are shown what they
are shown, they have the life that they have. Some are less fortunate than others, some may have some
emotional imbalance. We need to really give more attention to the youth and their internal struggles, and
look at what we are doing as adults in our society that is for children. It was really hitting me hard, thinking
we just can't continue like this. The album COMPASSION came from that place, caring for others, looking
out for our children, looking out for the youth. For me, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is someone very special,
everything for him is about love and compassion. Just recently he had announced this new program where
they want to bring curriculum into the schools called Seeing Learning (https://seelearning.emory.edu) where
they can teach about compassion, and empathy, and relationships with one another, teaching how to
communicate to one another, understanding our feelings. You know, this whole new curriculum for some
schools being added, teaching kids to connect to their feelings, and to other kids with feelings, and you
know we really need that!
We are teaching our kids math and science and technology and history and all of that, but we are not
teaching them to connect to who they are, and to each other. We are not teaching them compassion.
And that is actually human nature, we want to connect. So this album really reflects all of these ideas
and feelings that I had for a long time and it was really a dedication to His Holiness and the dedication
and the work that he is doing, and to all people, all beings. Just trying to collect more of that into our
consciousness.
Music is the connection to the source, it is the sound vibration, it is the direct connection to source, the
direct connection to God, the direct connection to your higher self. It is the sweetness in everything. It is
like dessert after dinner (laughter), music is sweetness!
For me what it means to be an artist really finding what your message is, and in the beginning when we
are so young we are just creating something innate, something natural just happens, you kind of go with
what you are loving and feeling connected to. For me when I was younger I just loved music, I just loved
it! I was drawn to it and I loved the human voice, I loved hearing all the nuances of what the voice does to
create such beauty. Eventually I felt like I can see the mechanism inside the body, the throat and the
mouth and the breath. For me that was something I became very fascinated with. As I grew up and had
my own life experiences, and went through all that I went through, when I finally kind of woke up and had
a stronger consciousness I knew that being an artist was a huge responsibility, if I wanted to take it
seriously and really go forth with it, because as we see music, visuals, film, all of these sensory
stimulating things, it is powerful. It affects our emotions, our thoughts, our ideas about beings, we are so
sensitive to all of these. Being an artist is a big responsibility. What we decide to put out in the world will
somehow affect one person, or many people. I really try to be clear about what my message is, and
really focus on having an impactful message, one that can really affect someone positively, bring some
light into their world, inspiration, upliftment. That is just MY goal in the work that I do. As an artist I feel
like when we get to that point we ask ourselves what is our message, what do we want to say to the
world and ask ourselves does our message help others? And if it doesn't, how do we feel about that?
Is it just for us, or for others, and do we want to choose a message that will impact the world in a positive
way, because we have to know that it will impact at least just one person in this world that will hear it or see it or experience it. So, as an artist I think it is important just to really be responsible, and clear.
way, because we have to know that it will impact at least just one person in this world that will hear it or see it or experience it. So, as an artist I think it is important just to really be responsible, and clear.
When I look back at my childhood there were no accidents, everything was perfection up to this point, all
the positive aspects, all the negative aspects were all good at the end. I am Vietnamese and coming from
a Vietnamese family, you don't, especially from my parent's generation, immigrating from Vietnam after
the war, you know, their idea was not "Let's raise musician children." No, we need to have better foundations,
stability, we don't want our children to suffer and struggle like we did, all out of love. But even though that was
their feeling initially and for many years, when I was really young one day my dad came home from work,
and he brought home a VHS and he said "Oh, my co-workers said that I should bring this home and let you
kids watch this. His kids really loved it” He popped it in, and I must have been about six, and he pops it in
and it was "The Sound of Music!" And you know, if my little soul came into this world to become a musician
and a singer, then that was like heaven to my ears and heart and mind, I watched that VHS over and over
nonstop for days and weeks and learned every song and every nuance and every gesture. I really absorbed
that music, and it was the first time I heard the voice used in that way. I was so drawn to it, and I think that
was really the beginning, the beginning of the whole world of music and discovery. From that point on I
remember going to school and just wanting to sing and get people together to sing. I was probably trying
to copy "The Sound of Music" with the kids. I asked my parents and enrolled in violin and singing and choir,
since I was six years old through to adulthood, I was in and never left, I was so so so inspired by music.
My parents thought "Oh, she just loves music, and it is one of her hobbies, great! At least she is happy,
but she is going to be a doctor or a lawyer." And so I did, I went to college and I was a biology major and
I was minoring in music, and I took voice lessons for the first time when I was 18, and my teacher looked
at me and said "Look, you have something, if you really want to pursue it, it is one or the other." And so for
a year I just kept minoring in music and then finally I couldn't resist it, I dropped out of biology and went
straight into music, and my parents, you know it took them a while to really accept it. I ended up getting
my master's degree in voice performance, and they finally said "Okay, this is what she wants to do."
Now they are completely supportive and have been so happy and there is nothing else in the world that
I should be doing, so it is all good! And it brought them joy, and it brought a lot of other people joy, they
see that "she has been called to do it."
It is the hardest thing to do, to pursue a career in the arts.
I teach Yoga as well, I teach Kundalini Yoga, a very powerful practice, a very beautiful practice, life changing.
It really changed my life and brought me a new perspective, it made things very clear to me. I could not NOT
share it with others. So in the midst of the world of music I share Kundalini Yoga especially with the
Vietnamese community since the last almost ten years now.
My father's side, they are Buddhists, my mother's side they are Catholic. Both sides are not just sort of
dabbling in it, they are hard core in their beliefs and their practice. So honestly, I am really grateful for that
because I grew up going to the temple on one day and then the church the next day. You know it is written
and taught, it is really important that children up to the age of eleven are extremely sensitive and open, no
matter what they choose in their adult life, whatever spirituality they choose it doesn't matter, as long as we
nurture them in their young life, expose them to spirituality, open them up to it. I really had that growing up,
I really didn't follow any of it at all until I became an adult, I didn't feel that it was really "it" yet, until I
discovered Tibetan Buddhism. I remember sitting in my first meditation class, it was that moment when
everything you are hearing, you have been trying to find those words to say, to explain, I really felt like I
came home to something that my heart knew, my soul knew, it resonated so deeply, it made so much
sense to me, and then I just could not stop wanting to learn more and more and more.
Sound Bath Meditation
Nowadays a sound bath is so popular, it is as available as a Yoga class now. It is the most healing, most
beautiful experience. You basically are in a room, and lying down, and nowadays it has evolved a bit since
a decade ago that I remember from when I first started going. Basically you are in a beautiful space, you
are asked to relax and the instruments that can be used are gongs, from large sizes to small and it could
be crystal singing bowls, Tibetan bowls, these beautiful sound creating instruments of all different shapes
and sizes, even a vocalist can be there. The people who are playing these instruments are usually trained
and they are hypersensitive to sound, creating sound therapy. When they play it, it is like a deep meditative
experience, bringing these sounds to stimulate the cells of your body, your energy points, really bringing
you to a state of neutrality and relaxation, and we know that when we come to that place of neutrality and
relaxation things can actually move, energy can flow, balance can happen. Some of the scientific things
are for example the gongs, we tend to use the pasi gongs, they are tuned to certain frequencies, a high
frequency and low frequency. It is said that the sound of the gong is the replication of the sound of the
universe. It is like our innate music, it is like the sound that our body and soul is vibrating in all the time.
When we bring that sound onto planet earth, it is like we are coming home again, in that sound current,
which really helps to release a lot of toxicity and stress in the body, it brings a lot of balance. It is a great
thing if you have a busy life and you are super stressed, in a crazy environment all the time. Just surrender
and let someone play these sounds for your body to heal, and your mind to heal. It is guided through
sound, it does not have to have words, although if the practitioner decides to sing or make sound or say
inspiring words. The human voice is an instrument in itself, and it can bring a lot of healing when the
intention of the singer is in the right place and there is that purity.
Actually you will find a lot of recordings of the crystal singing bowls, you will find the gongs, you will find recordings of all sorts of sound elements. It still works, the frequency is much more powerful with it live, but with recordings the frequency is still there if it is recorded properly, and it still is very effective.
With my album Compassion I wanted to create that experience, it was inspired by "sound bath." That is
why we brought in crystal singing bowls heard in a lot of the songs, it is very subtle but it does not need
to be loud, just subtly there. I wanted to bring in a choir, and explore rhythmic elements and vocal sounds
that are used for sound healing as well. So all the songs are basically created with the intent of making a
sound bath with these elements of the voice and the crystal singing bowls.
I feel really proud about the album, because it is my fourth album in the last four years. When I recorded
Niguma, where Ardas Bhaee originated from, it was the first album I had recorded in four years, since
my first solo album, Yoga is Love, I needed that break to develop more, to grow, to go deeper in my
spiritual practice. It popped out four years later and now I am making an album a year, I can't stop.
So for the last four albums, for me it felt like growing and finding a sound, finding my voice, finding the
sonic feeling to it. With Compassion I feel like I arrived in a place that feels like home.
The video "Ardas Bhaee"
It is such a great space, the whole production was such a beautiful experience, with the collaborators,
other composers, the orchestra, the choir, it was really really big and at the same time everyone who
was on the production were amazing people, very kind, loving, talented, it was a fun and very rewarding
experience. I feel like the sound, the music really reflects that, so I am really happy with it, it has gotten
a lot of amazing reviews and several rewards already, and you know, just sitting with it now, and living
with it, sharing it as much as possible, getting it out there, letting people experience it, has been great!
