This week’s RockOm Featured Tracks of the Week are by the much heralded Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits. Their songs, “Surrender” and “Sleeping Soul (Jiv Jago)” are but tiny glimpses into the multi-faceted ensemble lead by Gaura Vani. Their latest release on Mantralogy Records is entitled Ten Million Moons.
Not only has Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits been featured at the sold-out Obama Presidential Inaugural event Chant4Change, they have also recently been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered and seen in the CBS Television Special, "Faith, Music and Culture."
Catch their songs “Surrender” as well as “Sleeping Soul (Jiv Jago)” all this week on the homepage at RockOm.net.
Also, be sure to catch Gaura Vani & As Kindred Spirits on the first Mantralogy Tour ever! The tour has just begun in New York, continues to Toronto, Canada and then proceeds to LA for their tour of the West Coast ending with the BhaktiFest September 11.
This Thursday we’ll be featuring the entire audio of our interview with Gaura Vani in a new edition of the RockOm.net Podcast.
In addition we’d like to keep you abreast of some RockOm related websites where you can explore videos and connect with us as well. We have a new video of excerpts from RockOm’s interview with Gaura Vani up at our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rockomrocks as well as at our YouTube page at www.youtube.com/user/rockomrocks where you can see other compelling video excerpts from archived interviews with the likes of Ricky Skaggs, Ms. Odetta, Krishna Das, Zakir Hussain and Brain “Head” Welch of Korn. Or you can also see the new video promo right below.
Finally, this week RockOm begins experimenting with a couple of new daily features including a "daily quote meditation" and some other surprises. Stay tuned for some additional new blog posts and please let us know your thoughts and feedback!
We couldn’t let the week go by without briefly mentioning that it’s RockOm’s first anniversary. A year ago we set out with an intention to serve others through music and along the way we discovered something extraordinary - the music we were presenting began serving us, changing us for the better in ways far beyond our wildest expectations.
Our very first interview was with bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs wherein he spoke about the power of music to change people. There is no other force like music that can reach out, create unity among different people and cultures, and heal souls as music does. In that way, music is quite literally prayer. Thousands of years ago prayers were sung so they would be remembered and passed along to future generations. The music we’ve been fortunate enough to present to you over the last year has found its way into our being and has become part of our prayer and our meditation.
We want to thank the many gifted musicians and artists we’ve worked with over the past year. To those artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Zakir Hussain, Abigail Washburn, Ram Dass, Krishna Das, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Steven Halpern, Futureman (Roy Wooten), Chuck Leavell of The Rolling Stones, Trevor Hall, Jai Uttal, David Newman (Durga Das), the late Ms. Odetta, The Wailers’ Aston "Family Man" Barrett and so many others who have opened their homes and their hearts to us we say thank you. To each of the "break-out" artists we've help introduce in our Featured Track of the Week spot, we say thank you. We also want to acknowledge the support and management as well as the PR people behind the artists who allow us to connect and bring each new feature and interview to you. Finally, we can’t leave out the many guest writers who have lent us their reviews, interviews and stories making for compelling reading on matters of music and spirituality each week. We want to thank our families as well for supporting our many long hours of work and believing in our love of the power of music.
Lastly, we want to thank you - you who are reading these words right now. We created RockOm for you and we hope, perhaps in some small way, you have been blessed and changed for the better through the power of music.
RockOm is the crossroads of music and spirituality, in its many and various expressions and faiths for the artists and listeners who are moved by those expressions. Our goal is to be the premiere entertainment, sharing and networking web site for spiritually-inclined musical artists and music fans. The RockOm team has been inspired by many diverse artists and performers since our inception and we’re proud to have featured interviews with five 2009 Grammy nominees and past award winners (an interview with Buddy Guy will be upcoming in the near future) and to share their inspirations and interviews with you.
For a reference point, be sure to revisit RockOm’s interviews with these 2009 Grammy winners, nominees and artists featured In Memoriam:
13 time Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder for the album Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 And 1947- 2009 Grammy Winner for Best Bluegrass Album
Four time Grammy Award winner Futureman of Bela Feck and The Flecktones for the album Jingle All the Way- 2009 Grammy Winner for Best Pop Instrumental Album (Bela Fleck and The Flecktones)
Five time Grammy Award winner The Blind Boys of Alabama for the album Down In New Orleans- 2009 Grammy Winner for Best Traditional Gospel Album
2009 nominee Debashish Bhattacharya, for the album Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey for Best Traditional World Music Album
Two time Grammy Award winner Zakir Hussain (along with Mickey Hart, Sikiru Adepoju & Giovanni Hidalgo) with The Global Drum Project for the album Shout- 2009 Grammy Winner for Best Contemporary World Music Album
Five time Grammy Award winner Buddy Guy for the album Skin Deep- for Best Traditional Blues Album (concert review next week and interview upcoming in the spring)
Three time Grammy nominee, The great Odetta, passed away in 2008 and was featured in the special "In Memoriam." RockOm had the awesome opportunity to sit down with Ms. Odetta just months before she passed away.
Ms. Odetta, one of the 20th century’s most endearing blues, gospel and folk singers as well as actress and prominent civil rights activist died yesterday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. With a career spanning more than 60 years, Odetta was credited with influencing some of music’s biggest performers including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin and Tracy Chapman. She was with Dr. Martin Luther King singing at the March on Washington in 1963 and also sang for Presidents Kennedy and Clinton. In 1999, Odetta was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Clinton and in 2004 was a Kennedy Center honoree. Her Odetta Sings Folk Songs was nominated for a 1963 Grammy Award with two more Grammy nominations in recent years, for 1999's Blues Everywhere I Go and 2005's Gonna Let It Shine.
In August 2008, RockOm had the extraordinary opportunity to have an exclusive, one-on-one with Ms. Odetta (read the interview or hear the podcast audio). “It’s one of those once in a lifetime events," said RockOm’s Tom Crenshaw. “There are those, 'If only I could speak with' interviews one hopes to land in one’s lifetime. I had always wanted to speak with Ms. Odetta because, like millions of others, was a huge fan and have been inspired and moved by her music and activism. There is nothing passé about Ms. Odetta; her music, her work and words are still very much relevant and in need today! We learn from those who have shined their light on the pathway before us and there is so much we can still learn from Ms. Odetta.”
Odetta will be truly missed. Her work, words, and vision still need to be nurtured and carried on by each person who recognizes the light emanating from within all beings. May Ms. Odetta be at peace, may her family and friends be at peace, and may we all remember her - her voice, presence, and being for what it was and still is - extraordinary love, incarnate and present in all things.
Today RockOm is bringing a huge dumptruck load of new content for you to check out!
To kick things off, we have two new featured articles including Part II to last month's Zakir Hussain interview as well as a new piece called Social Change and the Power of Music (w/ Ram Dass, Odetta and Christine Stevens).
Secondly, this week's Track of the Week and podcast are with singer/musician Larkin Grimm. Larkin's dark and sensual music breaks the genre mold and her life story (which includes a religious cult, an Ivy League school, psychedelics and spiritual experiences) is quite unique and fascinating. Check out her track "Ride That Cyclone" on the homepage this week as well as our 20-minute interview on the most recent RockOm podcast episode.
Lastly, the week ahead is going to be an intense one here at RockOm. You can come along for the wild ride and join us as we prep in-depth features and interview a dizzying array of stellar musicians and artists in the South Carolina / Georgia area. This week’s feast includes Platinum-selling emo rockers Hawthorne Heights, Vans Warped Tour alum and Fellow South Carolinian-to-West Coast transplants Emery and four-time Grammy-Award winners, The Blind Boys of Alabama. Both Hawthorne Heights and Emery will be appearing in Hilton Head Island, SC at The Shoreline Ballroom this week. The Blind Boys of Alabama will be appearing at Café Loco on Tybee Island, GA. Originally, The Blind Boys Of Alabama were scheduled to appear at The Shoreline Ballroom, but the show has been rescheduled courtesy of the great folks at Café Loco, as promoter Robert Marzbanian of Lighthouse Entertainment, the promoter for the Shoreline Ballroom was recently hospitalized and is being treated for cancer. The entire RockOm team sends our best wishes for healing to Robert, his family and the entire Shoreline Ballroom Family.
Hawthorne Heights headlines the Never Sleep Again Tour of 2008 performing new cuts off their latest CD entitled Fragile Future on Victory Records. No stranger to the top of the Billboard’s charts and accustomed to MTV, VH1, and Fuse rotation as well as Platinum and Gold selling brackets of the record industry, Hawthorne Heights is pushing past, but by no means forgetting the untimely death of guitarist/ vocalist Casey Calvert just over a year ago. Fragile Future marks a new chapter in the band's story and there is, no doubt, much more to be written in the annals for the now quartet as the tracks from Fragile Future point toward bigger and more meaningful avenues waiting. Catch Hawthorne Heights on December 4th at The Shoreline Ballroom on Hilton Head Island, SC or at one of their other tour dates.
South Carolina’s own Emery got their start in the small up-state town of Rock Hill but in 2001 decided the West Coast was where they were destined to really kick it in to high gear and now call Seattle home. These guys have four albums out on Tooth & Nail records including their latest EP While Broken Hearts Prevail and are a part of the 2008 Never Sleep Again Tour featuring Hawthorne Heights, Tickle Me Pink, The Mile After and The Color Fred. Emery will be joining Hawthorne Heights on December 4 at The Shoreline Ballroom, Hilton Head Island, SC. For other tour dates, click here.
Since 1939 The Blind Boys of Alabama have been serving audiences near and far with their blend of Gospel music and have garnered four Grammy Awards along the way. Several members have come and gone since 1939 but the music is still the same crowd-pleasing, spirit moving mix they’ve perfected throughout their years of performing. The Blind Boys of Alabama have collaborated with a diverse assortment of artists including Ben Harper, Aaron Neville and Mavis Staples. They’ve even joined Tom Petty and Peter Gabriel on tour. Catch them live December 5th at at Cafe Loco on Tybee Island, GA., or at one of their other dates.
Watch for these featured interviews in December at RockOm.net.
It was while attending the Seva Foundation’s 30th Anniversary Concert in Oakland, CA on September 27, 2008 that the conversation began. The line-up for the evening included Ruthie Foster and Nina Gerber, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, David Crosby and Graham Nash, Elvis Costello, and Los Lobos. The night was filled with great music by some great artists, some of whom you could say have changed the world as we know it. Perched in our seats in Oakland's Paramount Theater at intermission, we began to discuss whether music does indeed have the power to change the world or if that is just a poetic, though inaccurate, perspective.
Then we remembered what the great folk singer Ms. Odetta said in an earlier interview with RockOm. When asked by Tom Crenshaw if she thought music still has the power to change the world, Odetta replied,
“Not the music, not the music… It’s people who are actually on the firing line that we’re supporting, that are doing the changing of the world. Person by person, there is some power there.”
The people Ms. Odetta were speaking of are the Seva workers and social activists in the field - the doctors, nurses, organizers, planners and support staff who are actually doing the changing. It’s really not about the music… or is it?
So we went to the top with this, asking Ram Dass, renowned author, spiritual teacher and board member of the Seva Foundation about the work of groups like Seva and music's transformational potential.
RockOm: Thinking back 30 years ago to the beginning of the Seva Foundation, what would you say was the driving force behind the founding members' aspirations and has Seva exceeded your expectations as to what the founders hoped to accomplish?
Ram Dass: The original purpose of Seva was two-fold: social action and using it for spiritual growth (Karma Yoga). Though the years the social action (relieving of suffering) has become more of the primary focus.
RockOm: What are your thoughts on how, year after year, music has helped Seva raise such awareness of its purpose and mission?
Ram Dass: Our music events led by Wavy Gravy have brought us money for our projects and publicity for the foundation.
RockOm: Do you believe music has the ability to heal and relieve suffering on a profound level as with other fields of service?
Ram Dass: I believe that the music itself at these events have healed the audiences, and we at Seva, who heal the blind, need music for our healing as well.
All of this from a man who, in his late 70s with a nearly unmatched spiritual resume and nothing left to prove, has released a new album entitled Cosmix - a unique blend of music and spirituality, mixing electronica beats and soundscapes with sound bites and spoken word. There is no doubt that Baba Dass finds in music that great power to bring healing and transform lives.
In our continued effort to explore this topic, we sought out Christine Stevens from UpBeat Drum Circles who, along with the UpBeat team’s Ashti Drum Project, recently returned from their second trip to Iraq. While there they served children with their music through Kurdistan Save the Children, as well as Iraqi women at two shelters in Suliyamania.
“There is only a one-letter difference between performer and reformer,” Christine commented. “Ashti Drum in Iraq has demonstrated that music and drum circles are successful models for transformation through cross-cultural collaboration.”
But what about music healing and serving profoundly, as with other fields of service such as the medical field? Christine went on to clarify,
“First of all, let’s define the term ‘heal.' Healing is restoring into one's life what is missing, becoming whole. Secondly, let’s define the term ‘healer.’ In indigenous history, the healer was both a musician and physician - the shaman. So, at its roots, music has been part of healing for centuries.”
Christine concluded,
“Let’s empower people to take an active role in their own healing and health. In our research, positive biological changes occur when people drum together (www.remo.com/health). Because of this research, we could go into Iraq with an evidence-based program that was accepted by all religious sects for the medicinal purposes of alleviating the suffering - both physical and psychological - of the survivors of the war in Iraq. Do I believe music can be healing? I literally bet my life on it going to Iraq... and it worked!”
So does music “change the world” or does it simply inspire the hands and feet of the change-makers? Like most questions, the answer is less “either-or” and more “both-and.” Or perhaps most likely, the question needs no answer at all. In the end, who really cares? It is all one process and one cycle. Perhaps a better lens in which to view such profound questions is best summed up by what Christine offered with regards to intention:
"As Krishna Das says, ‘If you want enlightenment; feed people.’ Music is food for the soul. Share your music. Let your gifts shine. Go to a shelter and sing. It is time for music to be unleashed as a powerful force of healing and cross-cultural peace-making. Music immediately removes barriers and creates dialogue and connections. Even the Dali Lama recommends music sharing festivals for peace-making in the Middle East.”
May the music-makers continue making their music, those in the field continue their work and each of us do what we can to make a positive impact. And, “person by person,” personally and publicly, alone and together, may we all work to, in Gandhi's words, “be the change we wish to see in the world.”
The Seva Foundation is a non-profit foundation in Berkeley California that was founded back in 1978 by some very compassionate individuals such as Drs. Larry and Girija Brilliant, Dr. Nicole Grasset, spiritual teacher Ram Dass, Berkeley activists Wavy Gravy and Jahanara Romney. The Seva Foundation currently is working to:
“Prevent blindness and restore sight in India, Nepal, Tibet, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Tanzania and Guatemala.”
“Help indigenous communities in Guatemala and Mexico develop their capacity to meet basic needs and create solutions to poverty and injustice.”
“Support Native American projects across the U.S. in the areas of health and wellness, community development, environmental protection and cultural preservation.”
To find out more or to donate a one-time or reoccurring tax-deductible donation, please visit www.seva.org.
Just like your trash pick-up on a holiday week, RockOm's a day late getting you this week's Featured Track of the Week and Podcast - but we're proud to announce they've both arrived and are very exciting.
This week's Featured Track is from Chicago singer / songwriter Mike Reeb. Mike's song "Like a Wing" is a beautiful, simple song of comfort and protection that you'll certainly be encouraged by and enjoy. Give it a listen - and then be sure to check out Mike's websites as well, get to know him better and consider picking up some of his music. As Red Eye Chicago puts it, "[Mike Reeb] keeps drawing positive reviews and kind comparisons to musical legends. Names like Dylan and Springsteen are often thrown out too loosely when used to describe up-and-coming artists. In Reeb's case, however, the connections may be warranted."
Then, swing over to the podcast page to check out this week's epidsode. You've read RockOm's interview with the legendary Odetta - now listen to the raw audio from this interview to hear how Odetta herself shares her gentle wisdom.
September is upon us and summer is drawing to a close, but fret not - a new set of Featured Interviews from RockOm.net has come your way to beat the back-to-school blues. We are proud to offer three new articles for the month of September including interviews with legendary singer and activist Odetta, author and drum circle educator Christine Stevens and slide guitar master Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya. Take some time to read and share in the wisdom of these amazing artists now and throughout the rest of the month.
Today also brings a new Featured Track of the Week - this time from jazz guitarist Paul Metzke. Paul's track "Mystic Quest" is an enchanting, modal trip into higher levels of consciousness. Check out his song on the homepage from now through September 1st as well as an interview with Paul on last week's podcast.
Finally, check back in with RockOm.net later this afternoon for a brand new installment of the RockOm podcast. Today's offering is the raw, candid audio from RockOm's interview with Christine Stevens. If reading interviews isn't your thing, download and tune into this podcast to hear Christine's words from Christine directly. Head to the podcast page to listen in on Christine's joyful and energetic wisdom. [Available after 1:00 pm E.S.T.]
Odetta, the "Queen of American Folk Music" (anointed by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1961) and "Mother Goddess of Folk/Blues" (by New York Times in 1999) is one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century, with countless artists indebted to her pioneering ways. Before Odetta, no solo woman performer (let alone an African American woman!) singing blues, folk, work and protest songs had recorded or toured. By the late 1950s, she had starred at Carnegie Hall and appeared in film and national television. And she sang for the masses at the 1963 March on Washington; she took part in the march on Selma; she performed for President Kennedy and his cabinet on the nationally televised civil rights special, "Dinner with the President"; and along with Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson, she was in the first group of artists to be honored with the Duke Ellington Fellowship Award. In 1994, she was appointed an `Elder' to the International Women's Conference in Beijing; and she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 1999 by the President of the United States, Bill Clinton and First Lady Mrs. Clinton.
Her 1956 album, “Odetta Sings Ballads & Blues” was the soul and inspiration for a young Janis Joplin to become a singer, while inspiring Bob Dylan to trade in his electric guitar and amp for a Gibson acoustic guitar to become a folk singer and sing Odetta’s repertoire. In addition to acting in films and theater, Odetta has: sung with symphony orchestras and in operas; hosted the Montreux Jazz Festival and starred in countless TV Specials. Her 2000 album, "Blues Everywhere I Go," was nominated for a Grammy. Her following album, ”Lookin’ For A Home” was nominated for two 2002 W.C. Handy Awards, and in 2004, she was nominated for another W.C. Handy Award, as Best Traditional Female Blues Artist of the Year.
As Odetta works on the seventh decade of her extraordinary career, she is more excited than ever about her career, her music and her role in life. She has continued to be a major influence on artists, from Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, David Crosby and Roger McGuinn in the `50s, to Paul Simon, Richie Havens, Janice Ian and Taj Mahal in the `60s, Carly Simon, Joan Armitrading, and Sweet Honey in The Rock in the ‘70s, to Cassandra Wilson, Nanci Griffith, Tracy Chapman, and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, in the `80s, Eric Bibb and Guy Davis in the 90s, and to Jewel, Madeleine Peyroux, Indie Arie and Nellie McKay today.
And she has been befriended by, rubbed shoulders with, and now becomes one of the few remaining bearers of the torches carried by some of our greatest artists and social activists of the past, such as: Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcom X, President John F. Kennedy, Josh White, Yves Montand, Eubie Blake, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, Jimmy Witherspoon, Count Basie, Langston Hughes, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee, Elizabeth Cotton and Alberta Hunter. She is proud to carry the torch as an 'Artist-Activist' into the new millennium. In 2004, the Huntington’s Disease Society honored Odetta with the “Woody Guthrie Award” for her contributions to humanity and social activism.
from Odetta's Biography courtesy Douglas A. Yeager Productions, Ltd.
RockOm recently had the extraordinary opportunity to have an exclusive, one-on-one with Ms. Odetta. “It’s one of those once in a lifetime events," says RockOm’s Tom Crenshaw. “There are those, 'If only I could speak with' interviews one hopes to land in one’s lifetime. I had always wanted to speak with Ms. Odetta because I, like millions of others, was a huge fan and have been inspired and moved by her music and activism. It’s like a dream come true to be able to speak with her and offer her words here at RockOm. There is nothing passé about Ms. Odetta; her music, her work and words are still very much relevant and in need today! We learn from those who have shined their light on the pathway before us and there is so much we can still learn from Ms. Odetta.”
RockOm is so very pleased to offer you the words and perspective of the one and only, Ms. Odetta.
RockOm: What do the songs, “He’s got the Whole World in His Hands,” “Amazing Grace,” and “This Little Light of Mine” mean to you, and did you know when you recorded them at the start of your career that they would come to be loved by the entire world?
Odetta: We don’t know what is going to happen in the future, which is probably a good thing [laughs]. We don’t know if the songs are going to work or if they’ll go far, but each of these songs has its own personality and celebrates the positive within us. We’re reaffirming ourselves, soothing ourselves with “He’s got the Whole World in His Hands.” They’re positive, encouraging and hopefully healing. Not every song is, but the list you have there, they’re all healers.
RockOm: I agree. Every time I hear them I’m inspired. I love to hear children singing them.
Odetta: Oh, me too… yes!
RockOm: You’ve influenced so many legendary musicians and Civil Rights activists through your music and voice. Did you ever feel you were serving a larger purpose other than that of folk musician and actress?
Odetta: Oh yes. There was always that awareness. Not just folk music but music was extremely important. I don’t know what a little six year old girl thinks about music except that she likes this song and likes that song. [As a child in Alabama] I remember pretending I was writing music or playing piano. I think I was born, this time, to do music and to work and to learn through music. It’s been a great school for me, a great schooling for me, especially in the area of folk music and how our forebearers… the strength it took them to get to where they were so we are now where we are and hopefully will continue improving.
RockOm: During the Civil Rights marches of the 60’s, when you were marching with Dr. King and other prominent civil rights leaders, musicians and artists, were you ever afraid?
Odetta: I never was within the march itself. I was always at the end of the march on the podium or stage. [But] even today I will not go into a crowd of people. Who knows what’s going to trigger someone off into some crazy kind of action. But no, I wasn’t afraid at the time.
RockOm: When you would sit down with Dr. King and the other...
Odetta: I didn’t sit down with Dr. King. I was one of the privates in a very big army and privates didn’t sit down with the generals laughs]. Besides I was very shy, and, as people got together, they were working on something. It was not, “Hey, let’s get together and have a party and sit and talk.” They had big business to do and I was there to lend, give to them the energies that I brought through music. And the music was something familiar to everybody. The music brought us together to share our time. The things we were doing. You get there, do what you’re going to do, and then you disbursed. So, there wasn’t time to get together to do other things.
RockOm: What are your thoughts on Barack Obama possibly becoming President of the United States?
Odetta: I’m going to say this: I am absolutely surprised, stunned, amazed and pleased. I’m thinking the songs that I’ve been singing, the repertoire I’ve been working out of, the struggles I’ve been working out of as far as our folks were concerned - to have a black man running for President of the United States is the most exciting step. My personal preferences I’m not going to go into; but, when you think of the time within my existence, it’s not impossible now that there are people who have been lynched because of bias and prejudices and here is a black man who is running [for President]. It represents huge steps. I’m not saying we’re ready yet or we’ve made it yet, but it’s a very wonderful clue that possibilities of bringing people together in this country exist.
RockOm: Do you think all music is spiritual by nature or is some music more spiritual than others?
Odetta: [pause] There’s some good and there’s some bad in everything I guess…. No. I don’t think so. [pause] That’s very interesting. We could have a seminar on that one [laughs].
RockOm: We like to say at RockOm that if music moves you, you’re moved to another place and that maybe that place, in and of itself, is a spiritual place, not that the music itself is spiritual.
Odetta: OK, let’s say punk rock or something that’s kind of ragged or jagged… by the time the music finishes, people want to fight. I have to stop short of saying that all music is spiritual.
RockOm: Who inspires you, who do you listen to for inspiration?
Odetta: I don’t really listen much to music. When I’m on the road and there’s a radio in the room or hotel, I turn it on and look for a Country and Western station.
RockOm: Country and Western… I never would have guessed!
Odetta: Yeah? [laughs] That skill, where you find writers in the craft of using words and still being bright and brilliant, you know? There isn’t much that gets to me when a piece of music just goes Oooh-oooh, Aahh-aahh, Oooh-oooh, Aahh-aahh and somebody screams something [laughs]. In most Country and Western you have a lot of story-type songs, like a continuation of the Folk process.
RockOm: Do you believe music still has the power to change the world today?
Odetta: Person by person, there is some power there. I know people who have come to me and thanked me for the healing. I didn’t heal. It is how they responded to that vibration that was going on that healed. It’s a slow pace. It’s not a magic wand type thing [laughs] and maybe not change the world. Maybe it’s making someone feel better or more worthy or sense something that does not come through just conversationally. So, maybe not change the world, thank God, because somebody might get the key and do it all wrong [laughs].
RockOm: I know you’ve worked with the Seva Foundation in the past. What are your thoughts on Seva, and would you say that their work does indeed change people, does indeed change the world?
Odetta: Absolutely! There’s music being done to bring attention to and maybe money for…. but, it’s people who are actually on the firing line that we’re supporting, that are doing the changing of the world, not the music, not the music. Wavy Gravy is a founder of Seva. I have a daughter (we’ve adopted each other) who is doing a film on Wavy Gravy. It’s almost finished. I’ve seen a part of it and it is quite stunning what he and others have done in the name of Seva. It’s splendid. It’s encouraging, and it blesses us.
RockOm: You’re touring North America and Europe supporting your album on MC Records entitled “Gonna Let It Shine.” Do you ever get tired of singing and touring?
Odetta: Tired of singing?! Oh no! No. No. As a matter of fact, and I couldn’t tell you how it happens, but I think that through the singing and getting into the song and interpretation, it has been like my classroom. I’ve learned, oh just wonderful stuff and have been broadened… have been healed. I probably have about three notes, but I’ll never retire. I’ll be somewhere on somebody’s stage croaking those three notes [laughs].
RockOm: What would you say to aspiring singer/songwriters coming up today? What advice would you give them?
Odetta: Work at trusting, listening to themselves and being really ready to dedicate yourself towards the development of you as an instrument, passing on positives so that other people might hear those positives and those positives might be of some use, some service to other folk. Don’t listen to other people as to how you should do something. It’s not impossible to study to find out how to not ruin your throat. When it comes to interpretation, one needs to be brave enough to jump into the middle of that song and become that song or that person within that song and nothing else in the world except for that spirit and that light at that particular time. When that comes together, you give an audience something to hold on to. You’re not telling them what to think, but you’re telling them what you feel and then they respond one way or another, hopefully positively.
When you think of it, whatever we’re going to do, the only thing we have to offer anybody happens to be ourselves. So we need desperately to find out what [we] ourselves are while were doing our craft or learning our craft to be able to put that out and in front of us. And I tell you, with me, it makes me feel like a useful human being, and it makes me feel as if… it’s not a luxury tax, [laughs] yes!
RockOm: What does the future hold for you, Ms Odetta?
Odetta: Well, I’m going to sing those three notes or those two and a half notes and then after that I don’t know. I don’t know what I’ll come back next time as [laughs].
We couldn’t let the week go by without briefly mentioning that it’s RockOm’s first anniversary. A year ago we set out with an intention to serve others through music and along the way we discovered something extraordinary - the music we were presenting began serving us, changing us for the better in ways far beyond our wildest expectations.
RockOm is the crossroads of music and spirituality, in its many and various expressions and faiths for the artists and listeners who are moved by those expressions. Our goal is to be the premiere entertainment, sharing and networking web site for spiritually-inclined musical artists and music fans. The RockOm team has been inspired by many diverse artists and performers since our inception and we’re proud to have featured interviews with five 2009 Grammy nominees and past award winners (an interview with Buddy Guy will be upcoming in the near future) and to share their inspirations and interviews with you.
Ms. Odetta, one of the 20th century’s most endearing blues, gospel and folk singers as well as actress and prominent civil rights activist died yesterday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. With a career spanning more than 60 years, Odetta was credited with influencing some of music’s biggest performers including Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Janis Joplin and Tracy Chapman. She was with Dr. Martin Luther King singing at the March on Washington in 1963 and also sang for Presidents Kennedy and Clinton. In 1999, Odetta was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Clinton and in 2004 was a Kennedy Center honoree. Her Odetta Sings Folk Songs was nominated for a 1963 Grammy Award with two more Grammy nominations in recent years, for 1999's Blues Everywhere I Go and 2005's Gonna Let It Shine.
Today RockOm is bringing a huge dumptruck load of new content for you to check out!
All of this from a man who, in his late 70s with a nearly unmatched spiritual resume and nothing left to prove, has released a new album entitled Cosmix - a unique blend of music and spirituality, mixing electronica beats and soundscapes with sound bites and spoken word. There is no doubt that Baba Dass finds in music that great power to bring healing and transform lives.
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