Sora

Mermaid Song

2012-01-19T10:01:00.002-07:00

I wanted you to save me
As I once saved you
But there are no saviors
When one is not two
My voice is all tangled
In the depth of that sea
Where my crumbling Atlantis
Mourns silently

Still

I can't regret this love like water
I can't regret the heart that led me to you
You gave me the sun
You gave me the air I'll relinquish
My mermaid's song undone

Her name was the prayer
I danced to be near you
It was your kindness
That was my ruin
The price had been paid
But love can't be bought
You named me your friend
And all was for naught

Still

I can't regret this love like water
I can't regret the heart that led me to you
You gave me the sun
You gave me the air I'll relinquish
My mermaid's song undone

What is love, if it can hate
I will not sacrifice your trust to my pain
I'm not a dagger to taint the past with blood
The moments with you were infinity had

No regrets
Love is not love if it regrets
I gave you my heart
You gave me the air I'll relinquish
And seafoam I'll become
Seafoam I'll become
My mermaid's song undone.

Winter brings Self Connection and Art...

2012-01-18T09:21:00.004-07:00

As the cold settles like a knowing dream, I sit inside with my tea and watch the world still outside my window. Even the plumes of smoke from the chimneys seems to hover in the air, frigidly held in a kind of stasis. Every year there are at least a few days that are so cold, one can barely contemplate leaving the house and every year they are in January. It seems a bit contrary to me, for the longest night has passed and we are slowly clawing our way back to the light. Why January is the coldest of all months, not December, seems a mystery to me. I will say this....I am dreading getting gas in my car today ~laugh~

Yesterday I braved the winter air to head down to Self Connection Books in Calgary who agreed to take my CD...huzzah! They can be found at the following address.
Self Connection
#125, 4611 Bowness Road NW
Calgary, Alberta
403.284.1486

I am very pleased to be collaborating with visual artist, Liba Labik for some new postcards. I am passionate about art, about all the arts. I feel that they are vitally important to the well being to us as individuals and for the well being of our culture. It distresses me greatly that of all the professions, artistic endeavors are often relegated to fancy and folly and are paid accordingly. To me, art is the lifeblood of a culture, it is a mirror of sorts, reflecting truthfully, but it also fosters the evolution of thought and emotion as human beings. I believe everyone should have at least some original artwork in their personal space, something of beauty to interact with. Saying all that, it has always been my goal to collaborate with artists of various mediums, to help showcase when I can and to evolve as an artist through meaningful interactions. It gives me special pleasure when I can work with local artists, and over the years I have talked to many artists whose work has moved me, hoping to use images on the postcards I communicate with, usually my requests are met with enthusiasm, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, it all dissolves. So I am delighted to have been in contact with Liba and to have her overwhelmingly positive response. The postcards are never for sale.....but I do use them for personal communication. I hope you will check out her website www.libalabikart.com.

Stay warm!

World Parrot Refuge

2012-01-16T13:07:00.002-07:00

For the next two weeks (from January 16-30) Cindy and I will be donating 10% of the proceeds from all sales of Wings in Flight to the World Parrot Refuge.

Wings in Flight - Single - Cindy O'Neil & Sora

A blog within a blog

2012-01-05T16:36:00.004-07:00

Humans speak a lot. We talk, mash words around, throw them from our mouths as if they were endless in supply. It's easy to forget that our voice has power...power to do good, power to do evil. That words have power. That we can change the world with words if we remember that they have their own energy, synergy, their own potency.

It was with great pleasure that I wrote a guest blog for the Songwriter's Association of Canada about "Wings in Flight". It was an honor to be able to shape the journey of this song into words, into my own voice, and I am grateful for the opportunity.

It is also funny to link to a blog I wrote in my own blog ~laugh~ But here it goes...
http://itallstartswithasong.wordpress.com/

Winter Solstice

2011-12-21T09:24:00.002-07:00

It is the winter solstice, the sun standing still in the sky before turning the tides of darkness and letting the light lap once again on day's shore. The sun slumbers so late these days that at 9:00 am this morning I was walking upon the dawn, the mountains crested in a salmon glow and the pooled road of light looked as though it led straight into the sun. As I walk such, I can see how the ancients would celebrate the return of the light, the return of the sun, for in each footstep there is a joyful reveling within me. I cannot help but be held captive by the visceral response to the sunrise each and every day. It never becomes tired or old, the very cells of my body wanting deeply to sing with the morning chorus each day.

There seems to be a touch of poignant timing to have released "Wings in Flight" (the single) on the darkest night. It is a song of the morning chorus, of the joy of greeting the new day, of hope. Seems appropriate to have it release on the darkest night ready to greet the reborn sun. It is available on itunes.
Wings in Flight - Single - Cindy O'Neil & Sora

The holidays are upon us. This autumn has been so busy I feel guilty if I am not "doing" something. But today, as I walked into the sun, I felt that maybe it's OK just to rest and feel the earth turning for a little bit.

New Single!

2011-12-20T06:37:00.002-07:00

I am very happy to say that Wings in Flight is finally released. This song is a journey, from conception to release and what a beautiful and crazy journey it has been: a string arrangement by the virtuostic assistant concert master of the CPO (Donovan Seidle), a covert recording sessions to give the surprise gift of recording, a voice trembling through pain and adversity. To me, Wings in Flight represents a story of hope, determination and friendship that defies distance.

A fading voice, recorded for posterity is a beautiful legacy and the perfect gift to give this holiday season.

So without further ado, I give you Wings in Flight!

Wings in Flight - Wings in Flight - Single

Performance Tonight!

2011-12-10T16:07:00.003-07:00

I am very excited about the house concert tonight at the Serenity Performing Arts Center. Catherine and I have set everything up, in the cozy and festive house. It promises to be an enchanting evening.

If you are anywhere near Birch Island BC (near Clearwater) we would love to see you!

Serenity Performing Arts Centre
2461 Lost Creek Road, Birch Island, BC
RSVP for tickets. 1-250-676-9456

Crisis Averted!

2011-12-04T13:14:00.002-07:00

Come chat with Cindy and I about our new single "Wings in Flight" on Buzzumi https://buzzumi.com/cindyo/9NkEO60ZU9

Chat....migrated

2011-12-04T13:06:00.002-07:00

hello all!

It really doesn't matter how often you test and try things out, there is always something that goes awry. Right now, it's that after Cindy and I tested out the chat for the Wings in Flight chat which is supposed to be happening right now, the chat was closed and I can't get it. As Cindy is the gatekeeper of the chat, there is nothing I can do from my end....except say this....come join me on a chat...go to www.soramusic.ca and click on come chat with me!

Upcoming Chat!

2011-11-28T12:33:00.003-07:00

Join me and talented singer/songwriter Cindy O'Neil as we chat with fans and media about the upcoming release of our collaborative single, Wings in Flight! We had originally planned to have this last weekend but luckily for me we changed it because I am miserable with the dreaded cold. I should be all better by Sunday and less likely to scare everyone ~laugh~

Here is all the info..

Wings in Flight Chat
Date: December 4th, 2011
Time: 1:00 MST (3:00 EST, 12:00 PST)
Location: https://buzzumi.com/cindyo/9NkEO60ZU9

Hope to see everyone there!

A story

2011-11-25T11:53:00.003-07:00

A man came up to me last night after my performance, and told me story, a story that filled up all the aching parts of me with beauty and light. This man, a fellow performer and audience member at the Come by the Hills Folk Festival, watched my set at the festival this summer.

Now, let me give some context. I love the Come By the Hills Folk Festival, I met some amazing people there and connected with some old friends as well. Most of my good memories of the festival were overshadowed by one remark made by a booking agent there, when he was introduced to me. He says "oh....you. You're the girl that sings all those songs about death". The comment stunned me and I must admit I felt diminished and upset in some ways, that this was the lasting impression I had left.

So, I had carried with me, that perhaps my set was not that successful, though I felt the music was strong and the musicians that played with me brought a poignancy to this music. For I had sung of death, but I had also sung of life and the small intimacies of life's emotional beauty; sorrow, yes, but most importantly, of love.

Imagine then, what a gift it was to have someone come up to me and tell me that this performance had been a mystical experience. To have him say to me that while I was singing thousands of dragonflies descended from darkening sky to eat mosquitoes but also to hover above the crowd, an iridescent otherworldly chorus, that shimmered the day into night. A beautiful legion that he swears were just oscillating above the listeners, facing the stage and swaying slightly to the music as though intoxicated by the sound. It sounds fantastical, a dream about to wake, but this was his truth and for him to share such a image of beauty and whimsy was what I needed above all else this week. It was a gift beyond what I can measure.

Dragonflies. Thousands of dragonflies. I cannot think of anything more lovely.

Thank-you Paddy.

Wings in Flight

2011-11-15T17:23:00.002-07:00

The day is loosening on the edges, the light all peeled away to reveal the night beneath. Already the solar powered coloured lights on my deck are glowing. It has been hard to focus today, to find the space from which to work, when I flew back from Toronto yesterday. Each city has it's own feeling, it's own rhythm. I feel as though when I move from one city to another, I stumble a bit until my body syncs with the current of beats that seem to vibrate up from the buildings, from the sidewalks. From the breathing life of the city.

So today I am content in this...a sample from the upcoming single I am releasing with Cindy O'Neil, the Wings in Flight clip

Time

2011-11-07T08:01:00.002-07:00

do you ever find that first morning after fall back disconcerting? As though the landscape around had shifted and you had lost something in the translation of time and space? As the sun slid its luminous filter on the night, it was as if I didn’t know this place, this time, how we got to here in this moment. The tracks on the sky garbled, no longer linear, but somehow dichotomous. Time is a construct, a building we hole up in, we build it into something that feels safe, but it is still nothing but something we have made....fallible, breakable, fragile I feel out of place today, twilight caught me off guard, a scrambled signal. I would like to believe there is something beyond the shifting hours, that there is a place for which our minds cannot contain and hold so rigidly.

I fly to Toronto this week for two concerts I am doing there. I am pretty excited about them, especially because I get to work with some of my favorite artists out East, Frank Horvat and Sharlene Wallace. The shows will be fun, and a perfect transition into the winter season, as we are doing a couple of songs that seem to match the cold stillness outside.

The first is a house concert hosted by Frank and Lisa Horvat...I have never done a house concert, so this is going to be a whole different experience for me. Tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance...and there are only 7 tickets left, so if you are interested, please email me as soon as possible sora@soramusic.ca

An evening of Song on Toronto's Lakeshore Blvd

Join Sora and her special guests, Sharlene Wallace on harp and Frank Horvat on piano for an enchanting night of song, story and myth.

Tickets are limited and must be purchased in advance.
$15.00
www.soramusic.ca (click on the store and scroll down to find)

The second is a concert at Gallery 345 with Sharlene Wallace. I cannot think of a more cozy and beautiful afternoon than music and art all mingled together...

A Gallery of Harp and Song

Gallery 345 + Sharlene Wallace + Sora = an intimate afternoon of original and folkloric music, musings and myth. International recording and touring musician, Sharlene, has garnered a reputation for being one of Canada's most versatile harpists while Calgary based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Sora, has been praised for her soaring voice and unusual lyrical vision. Together, they paint a contemporary musical portrait perfectly suited to Gallery 345.

Tickets are $20; $15 Seniors; $10 Students
info and to reserve tickets: 416-346-6600 / harp@sharlenewallace.com

Wings in Flight: The Anatomy of a Song

2011-10-26T06:43:00.000-06:00

Calgary Herald Article

2011-10-20T14:43:00.003-06:00

Hurrah! I am so excited to have been featured in the Saturday edition of the Calgary Herald last week.

"Sora Singing for Silenced Friend

“I sit here listening to the morning song

It vibrates to my deepest soul

A language so clear

Too pure to be wrong

Eyes closed, ears open

Heart memorizing every single note.”

The words are former Calgary musician Cindy O’Neil’s, from her song Wings in Flight, a lyrical ode to the call of the morning birds, a testament to the joy of a new day and a new beginning, and one that continues using words such as “eyes open” and “hope rising.”

And they are words and an outlook, says local artist Sora, that personify her friend. “It’s so Cindy,” says the singer-songwriter, born Andrea Hunt. “Cindy’s a very hopeful person so the lyrics are very upbeat and hopeful.”

Unfortunately, that demeanour and view on life is being tested, as O’Neil, who now lives out east, finds one of the gifts she’s been given being taken away from her.

Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in her 20s, the singer and actress who was a familiar face around town and whose work was showcased in the area-shot series Caitlin’s Way, has been on a medication that — while helping with her condition — has brought unexpected and rather heartbreaking side-effects.

“It allows her to function and live, but it’s stripping away her singing voice,” Sora says.

“It’s really sad because she’s dedicated so much of her life to singing, voice-over work, acting, improv — so it’s stripped away one of her passions in life.”

While there’s nothing she can do for her friend, there is a special gift that she hopes she can give O’Neil, and that’s one last, special recording session that Sora plans to surprise her with today.

At nine this morning, O’Neil plans to arrive back in Calgary, and unbeknownst to her, head straight to The Station studio, where she and Sora will finally record Wings in Flight as a testament to their friendship and to O’Neil’s talents.

“She really wanted to get this song out before she doesn’t have anything left,” says Sora.

Today will mark the end of a long chapter for the song, itself, one that stretches back to the beginning of their relationship.

The two met one another almost five years ago during a local event put on by the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), and were immediately drawn to each other, both artistically and personally.

“We really hit it off when we met, and we thought maybe we should try to write a song together,” Sora says, noting there was something intangible that bridged their disparate approaches to music.

“Our styles are really different, she’s sort of jazzy and I’m a little bit more Celtic or New Age, and we thought it would be really fun to try to mesh it together and see what comes of it.”

So with only O’Neil’s lyrics as a guide, they came up with something a duet that both were incredibly proud of, and performed several times together live, to great response.

The natural step was fleshing it out and recording it for posterity, which Sora says they’d put in motion, having Donovan Seidel, the assistant concertmaster for the CPO, write string arrangements, and then discussing when best to hit the studio to record.

“And then it all fell through,” she says, noting that it was always something, such as conflicting schedules or studio unavailability. “And then she got engaged and moved to Ontario ... about a year and a half, two years ago.”

The two kept in contact and, although Sora still performed it during solo shows, recording the song was something they both considered unfinished business, something on the back burner that would eventually get done, some day. Well, that was until Sora received a phone call from O’Neil this past June informing her of the sharp decline in her vocal skills. It now became urgent and some day needed to be soon.

But still, outside forces conspired against them getting together, stalling even a plan to meet halfway, in Winnipeg, for a recording session. Then just as it seemed as if all hope was lost, Sora received another phone call, this one from O’Neil’s fiance, Ken, who said he was planning on surprising his partner with a return visit to Calgary this October — which put the wheels in motion.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, here’s our opportunity! Finally, it’s come!’ ” says Sora, who then set about procuring the time, the musicians and everything required to make Wings in Flight, well, fly. “Once they arrive in Calgary, she’s going to bring her to my house and were going to go straight to the studio. And she doesn’t know anything about it"

Sora actually spent all day Thursday in the local studio putting on the bed tracks, getting everything ready so that all O’Neil has to do is come in and sing.

As to whether she thinks her friend still has enough voice to get through the session or, jokingly, whether Wings in Flight will be transformed into a dance-friendly Auto-Tune track, Sora laughs.

“I think she’ll be strong enough and she’s always such an upbeat person, she’s a really positive person, I think she’ll be able to pull it from within her.”

And ultimately, Sora is just happy that the song will finally get the treatment it deserves, and that she will be able to surprise her friend with a gesture and a tribute that will live on forever.

“I can’t wait to see her face because we’ve been wanting to do this for years,” she says. “I feel happy to be a part of giving her this gift. . . . Something she can listen to and have forever — her voice immortalized in the song.”"

Written by Mike Bell. (thanks Mike!)

mbell@calgaryherald.com Follow on Twitter@mrbell_23

Video

2011-10-17T22:08:00.003-06:00

What a glory the stars are tonight. Imagine all those suns, some already long gone, lighting up our night sky. Truly it is almost as if we have thousands of suns.

In my optimism today, I was sure I would be able to get a teaser video up from the hours of video footage I took from the Wings in Flight sessions. I can now see that that might have been just slightly overly hopeful ~laugh~. Soon though, I will put up some snippets, including the first time Cindy heard what had been done, what an epic moment.

In the meantime I am working on my tour dates in BC for December and in Toronto in November, time always falling forward while I stumble to keep up....

Wings definitely in flight

2011-10-16T15:22:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. I am humbled by the media coverage and most of all, Cindy was completely surprised and so thrilled to finally be recording our song!

If you are interested in seeing the media coverage check out The Calgary Herald and CTV

I have received a couple of emails asking when the song will be available to listen to as one of the articles mentioned it would be on my site. I must say, that was fabulously optimistic of them ~laugh~. Yes we were in the studio yesterday, and yes all the tracks were recorded, but it all needs to be mixed and mastered, plus we need to do all the artwork for it. I anticipate it being out before Christmas. I know, I know, SO LONG! Never fear though, for I will be updating regularly and add some pictures and video along the way. To keep up to date on the progress, I would love to have you on my mailing list. To join either visit my website (or if you are already there, there is a form on the right hand side) or send me an email sora@soramusic.ca

More pictures are posted on my facebook page

Wings in Flight

2011-10-15T09:12:00.001-06:00

Today I am recording a song that has been 3 years in the making. It has come close to being recorded twice now, but each time circumstance seemed to sidetrack the project. Today though, the circle closes and this song is given its wings.

The whole project has been hush hush, because I was gifted with the opportunity to create a beautiful moment for someone I care deeply for. Today though, the secret is unwrapped and I get to be part of something way bigger than myself.

Let me tell get you all up to speed.... In 2008 I met a jazzy singer at a SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada). She stood out from the all the typical dichotomy of contrived nonchalance or overhyped crazy that often goes with the persona of the artist. She was real, she was sincerely upbeat and we became instant friends. Her name is Cindy O’Neil. Cindy asked me if I would like to co-wrote a song with her, and though I had never done such a thing and was quite nervous about it, I said yes. So one night, when the moon held the sky in rapture, I drove over to her place and wrote music to lyrics Cindy had written long ago. I played her tiny keyboard, testing out chords, trying out melody lines, and from this “Wings in Flight” was born.

We both felt it was a strong song, and not just because of the positive audience reaction when we sang it live. The song is a moment, an encapsulation of that feeling of synchronicity with something larger than you. The song is alive in some way. We schemed...made plans and started feeling as if there were some momentum. I asked an old friend of mine (who is now the assistant concert master at the CPO) to help us arrange strings for the song, which he did, and we were so close to having it recorded. Life has its ways of derailing even the best laid plans and it all fell through. A couple of years later, Cindy moved to Ontario.

Cindy is a beautiful person, vivacious and energetic. She also has been living with a debilitating disease, rheumatoid arthritis, since she was in her early 20s. On the bad days, it is devastating, severely limiting mobility...and it’s painful. Cindy has been on life saving medication, which allows her to have some normalcy. But, and it’s a big but, the medication is stripping her of her voice. Cindy phoned me this past summer and told me this and asked “could we please find a way to record our song”. I set about trying to find a financially feasible way for us to record this when we both live in different provinces. And though we were trying to get it arranged, nothing was falling properly into place.
That all changed in September when Cindy’s finance, Ken, phoned me and told me he was planning a surprise trip to Calgary for Cindy. This was it. Our moment had finally come. A couple of quick phone calls with Ken and the stage was set. The song would be recorded and it was to be a surprise for Cindy. I arranged with a studio in town to record bedtracks, which I did just a couple of days ago and right now Cindy is on a plane to Calgary, her first surprise of the day. When she lands, Ken is driving her to my house, the second surprise. And then, the best kind of surprise, we are all going to the studio where Cindy will get the opportunity to sing this last song.

The strings sound lush and full, the piano a bright counterpoint and today, our duet will take flight. I find recording invigorating, but this time it feels even brighter, even more exciting, because I have the honour and privilege to be able to give her this gift.

Surprises are hard to keep, especially when I have gotten media involved, but it will all be worth in when I see her face in the next couple of hours. In fact, her plane will be landing momentarily.

I can't wait to share this song with you, and all the pictures, video and media that have come along the way. And most of all, I can't wait to share Cindy with you....

2011-10-05T20:57:00.003-06:00

It is a drizzly night, the sound of it smoothing out all the rough edges. There are some sounds that are healing, that have a wholeness to them and for me, the rain is a aural salve. There are days I find the endless noise of a city that never sleeps, of the river of electrons bombarding the house to be overwhelming, sometimes I desire only the sound of trees and wind, birds and rain. These...never feel tedious to me, as if perhaps they are the creation of music in and of itself. Tonight though, I am content to listen to this small symphony of living that breathes and sighs itself all around me.

I am so pleased with the concert on Sunday. It was, for sure an engaging experience. To have spoken word at a concert is unique but just felt so right. I think the audience agreed with me ~smile~. I am already scheming for another, and all I can think is "fairy tale". Modern, edgy, grown up interpretations.....I think it could be a lot of fun...

A few pictures from the night....

New Pictures

2011-09-15T10:54:00.005-06:00

I have finally uploaded a whole bunch of new pictures to my website! Here is a sneak peek of a couple...to see more look under Collaboration and Photo Shoots in the Images section of my website.

Taken by Keven Fedirko

Taken by Adrea Wirl

Taken by Adrea Wirl

The Mask and the Muse

2011-09-08T13:39:00.005-06:00

Summer lingers into September, like a heady perfume in a darkened room. I stand on the edge of autumn and will the wind to grasp any small languid strand of hair, to move me into the ochre dreams of falling leaves. There is only stillness though, the scent of sun on the dying grasses. The days are as honey, sweet and sticky and though there is a contentment to this soft interlude I am deeply looking forward to the chill of snow in the air, the colour of unmasked leaves tumbling towards their inevitable end, the feeling of wool on my skin as I guard against the biting wind.

It seems almost impossible to practice when all is held in stasis by the heat. Still, it is required as the days count down to a concert I am very excited about, called The Mask and the Muse

There is a deep delight to me in working towards such a whimsical and beautifully themed concert. I have always been fascinated by the concept of the Muses, these graceful goddesses who pull the threads of inspiration within our fragile psyches. I like the notion of a guardian of sorts for the creative spark. Inspiration is so ephereal at times, I like to think that should I be too slow with my pen that there is some kind of divine energy holding it safe, cradling it to be found anew, again. There was great pleasure to be found in matching songs to each of the 9 Greek Muses, to bring them into a contemporary framework. In the case of Thalia, the muse of laughter and joy, I ended up having to write something as I had nothing to fit within such an archetype. Of course it doesn't hurt to be collaborating with two of my favorite people, Erin Dingle and Catherine Gell. Erin writes edgy, bold narratives and poems and her performances are infused with this incredibly electrifying passion and delightful witticism. Catherine has the voice of an angel, so emotive and softly edged. Both are exceptionally talented and together there is a dynamic energy that is infusing each rehearsed note and word. So if you fancy a night of song, spoken word and dance all viewed through the eyes of the Muses, this is the concert for you.

Venue: Arrata Opera Centre
Address1315 - 7 Street SW
Date October 2, 2011 - 7 pm
Tickets$15 in advance/$20 at door

To purchase tickets simply email me or go to the 'Store' on my website.

New Single - Giant's Causeway!

2011-08-12T16:49:00.005-06:00

I am so very excited to announce the release of a collaborative single I did with Danish pianist and composer, Nicky Bendix (www.nickybendix.com). It's called Giant's Causeway and was recorded and performed by Nicky and I despite the fact that we live on different continents! Oh the marvels of technology ~smile~.

What does it sound like? Well, if you fused Enya-esque New Age with some Celtic-y Loreena McKennitt and then added some contemporary synth work, you might start getting close. Of course, the best way to know is to have a listen yourself! So without further ado....

Giant's Causeway on CD baby!. It can also be purchased on itunes and other digital download sites.

And because I appreciate all your support so very much, I will send a limited edition ceramic pendant from my Orpheus video/concert to the first 5 to buy the single and then post a line from it on my facebook page , Sorasinger.

Yea!

A promo video: Mask and the Muse October 2

2011-08-11T14:55:00.002-06:00

Eurydice Music Video

2011-08-04T23:49:00.003-06:00

I am so pleased to share my very first music video. With a non-existant budget and alot of very enthusistic volunteers, I think feel that it really represent the spirit of a modern Orpheus retelling...

Thank-you to everyone who made this a reality. I am humbled by your support and generosity.

Light: A video

2011-07-21T10:06:00.004-06:00

The best part of summer to me is the trees. Not just the leafy bower, nor just the fresh verdancy of the leaves. It's the sound of the leaves as the wind dances within them. To me, it is almost as the ocean, waves singing onto a shore of bark and stem. A marriage of earth and sky. By my house, there are grasses that wave, they seem to form almost overnight, like a silent army arising from the hiding place of winter. I desire always to walk through them, to let my fingers trail upon the fertile heads, and trace the circling patterns. There are waves to be found here too, the impression of the wind as it passes over the land. Such beauty here.

Yesterday I was at the Arrata Opera Center, filming for a video on my song, Light. This all started last year, when I put out a call for pictures completing the phrase "The light inside...". I received some beautiful pictures, and have faithfully kept them in a special file on my computer. Still, I needed some other footage, and finally shot a little bit yesterday. My friend and fellow singer, Catherine Gell, came with me, so we could film for some of her songs as well. When I walked into the room, my heart was full of excitement, for the normally curtained windows (I was told they are always blacked out) were unveiled and the light poured through the stained glass, amber in it's descent. I might have given a small squeal of joy when I saw that ~smile~. Sometimes light seems to have it's own texture, a weighted presence in the room. It was it's own character here, a host introducing us to a sacred dance. We moved the piano such that the light pooled onto it and spent the next couple of hours, trying out different angles and living in the beauty of a building that has settled into itself. It had a mature cogniscence, and I wished I could have spent more time there. It would be a fabulous location for a photo shoot! There will be one more call for pictures for this video....I am going to wrangle up some examples first, over the next couple of weeks, and then post about it.

Lyrics: The Tower

2011-07-05T07:47:00.000-06:00

Rapunzel, rapunzel let down your golden hair
Tumbling, fumbling from your fairy tale

Hold through these witching years
A tangle of fragile tears, so lost
You thought that I could not hear
Your lonely song, oh I know your fears
For you're locked in this tower of feeling
No key, no door
You've waited all twisted and plaited
To become so much more

You hope for a prince to come
Who shall he save you from, yourself?
No one can gift you freedom
It's a window made through beauty's ransom
Oh, you're locked in this tower of feeling
No key, no door
You've waited all twisted and plaited
To become so so so much more

Rapunzel, rapunzel let down this hurting cage
Rapunzel, rapunzel release this binding gauge
Rapunzel, the tower is yours to change

One day these shadows long
Will fall to your brilliant song, I swear
We all wander blind for years
Only to open and see so clear
No longer this tower of feeling
With no key, no door
Don't wait all twisted and plaited
To become so much more
You are more.

Musings: sparrow

2011-06-20T13:05:00.000-06:00

All is silent but the sparrow praising the light, pouring his goodness to sky and tree, root and leaf. The sun crests the day, as if climbing towards that final, but never final zenith, the marathon is almost done. Soon it will be the downhill slide towards the thin strung light of the snow. It seems funny that we can never just love the moment, always finding the decay within the bloom. Always hearing the screeching future, all tumbling leaves and sharp disintegration. I relish this though, the small opening of space that the soft morning offers. It seems like silence, but when I sit, I hear the faint traces of the ocean in the trees and the sparrow. Oh how he sings, he doesn't remember the fall from grace, the closed garden gates. The fruit is nothing more than a song to him, seeds passed, made ready to blossom infinitely. I listen and think maybe somewhere in the chorus of silence are the collective breaths and I smile for the small goodness in the world.

2011-06-14T07:53:00.002-06:00

The sun seems to tumble forth these days, spilling past the confines of the day. There is a spiral towards to the summer solstice, that feels as if I just fall into the light, and am buoyant upon it's diffuse waves. This is my favorite week in Calgary. It is a different week every year, but it is always when the crabapples explode into colour and the air is sweet with the fragrance of Maydays. The lilacs are waking and the new leaves still that sticky green that is never more brilliant than in the moment of their unfurling. What beauty surrounds!

I am looking forward to heading Northwest to Water Valley in just a few weeks. The festival has an colloquial feeling to it. It is all sunshine and the strands of music encasing this small town in a joyous mood. It is an easy going festival, that invites both listeners and performers to relax into a shared love of music. It truly creates this magical vibe. I am practicing these days for that, letting my fingers find their place on my violin, while the leaves rustle outside my window. Occasionally I will see a hare bound by as I practice, at which point, I am always running for my camera, and trying to get outside before the hare disappears. I am as Alice constantly falling down the rabbit hole ~laugh~. Still, I find myself enjoying the chase. There is a certain harmony to following the birdsong and hare tracks, it mirrors in some way my lyric chasing. I often find words placed within my head after walking amidst the trees and watching the cloud prints in the sky.

It has been in my head to write about Rapunzel for a long time. There is so much rich imagery to be found within it, but it was difficult to find my way into the lyric of the song. I started it a dozen times, from all different perspectives, but nothing was settling until it all came crashing into me while playing and daydreaming one day. I have known many teenagers in my life, and so vividly remember being one. It is as yesterday to me, all the drama, the struggle for independence and sense of self. Most of all I remember the yearning, oh how I yearned. It is a time as if possessed, highly emotive and bewitched almost. Somehow it just all makes sense to me that Rapunzel is the one to give voice to such longing to become.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your golden hair
Tumbling, fumbling from your fairytale

Hold through these witching years
A tangle of fragile tears, so lost
You thought that I could not hear
Your lonely song, oh I know your fears
For you're locked in this tower of feeling
No key, no door
You've waited all twisted and plaited
To become so much more

You hope for a prince to come
Who shall he save you from, yourself?
No one can gift you freedom
It's a cut you make through beauty's ransom
Oh you're locked in this tower of feeling
No key, no door
You've waited all twisted and plaited
To become so, oh so much more

A review: New Age Retailer

2011-05-07T17:46:00.001-06:00

I still feel so excited when a new review comes my way. This one is from the October 2010 edition of New Age Retailer Magazine.

"Many Comparisons will be made between Sora’s Heartwood and any of Loreena McKennitt’s CDs since both feature heavenly voices paired with both older and more contemporary instruments, spinning accessible melodies with Celtic and British Isles influences, as well as some Early Music, classical and world touches. Heartwood could easily connect Sora to a much wider audience, which she soundly deserves. Her haunting, delicate voice conveys emotion effortlessly, whether the accompaniment is sparse or full, the mood uptempo or sedate, or the lyrical content personal or mythical. Bonus: Full lyrics are included – hurray!"

May day

2011-05-04T13:37:00.001-06:00

On days when the sun is soft in the trees and the wind is a wandering song, I am so very thankful to have the time and ability to stand by my willow tree amidst the delicate contentment of butterflies and bees....

The beautiful end of April: video blog

2011-04-30T17:00:00.001-06:00

Drift.wmv

2011-04-27T14:47:00.000-06:00

A video from my concert on Friday (The Fates: Song, Story and Myth). Would have been great to have the music holder down on the piano, I wasn't using it, though it was used for other things.

Eurydice.wmv

2011-04-27T14:44:00.000-06:00

A video of "Eurydice" from the Fates: Song, Story and Myth concert on Friday night. We had to decide at the beginning where to place the camera as the room was almost entirely filled with chairs...might have been cool to have it from the side of the piano where you could see me ~laugh~, or if I had thought to put down the music holder on the piano (doh ~laugh).

The Fates

2011-04-23T17:09:00.002-06:00

Performances are like a dream within a day. You wake from them to realize 6 hours have passed from setup to take down and all that is left is a passing mood, and the echo of music.

I knew the night was successful when a photographer friend of mine said "I would have taken pictures but everyone was so still, I knew they would be irritated by the intrusion". That is all the magic I will ever need.

Held space

2011-04-21T19:26:00.003-06:00

What I love most about spring is the sound of water. The ice cracking along the river, the gurlged infinity of the spring melt, a sound that tumbles through the air in a lulling rhythm. While I await the first spring crocus, it is that one sound that carries me through April.

Time presses on me these days, I have to segregate my practice time, compartamentalize my brain into four separate concerts, with four very distinct set lists. When the robin is calling out my window, it can be difficult to concentrate, to pull myself into discipline and press straight all the kinks. Tonight though, my thoughts swirl around tomorrow's concert. There was this moment, in rehearsal about a week ago, when Catherine came to read the poems that create the space for the songs. It was a moment, when all the threaded thoughts and careful planning crumbled into the sweetest of still time. Her words were heavy, as the branch laden with apples, and there was nothing in my mind but those words, but the beheld space, and I almost cried out of the sheer pleasure of it. Of letting words carry me into the melody, held sound, held breath, held space. It was my want for this concert, to create a texture, a mood that doesn't just pass through but lingers and sings sweetly from within. It felt like a gift to be able to experience in the midst of it's creation. Yes, I can't wait to be in the space tomorrow and letting the harmonies ring me into stillness. What silence there is in sound.

There is so much to look forward to. Next week I will sing with a choir behind me, something I could only dream of before this. Then Winnipeg, where I will be playing with such talented and beautiful players, I can't wait. How lovely is the spring to be so filled with the sounds of life and music!

The Spiritual Significane of Music

2011-04-17T20:02:00.002-06:00

What a deep and meaningful question "what is the spiritual significance of music?". It was a question I was asked for inclusion in a book about that exact question and one that I had to think about for awhile to come up with a suitable answer. What is most interesting is that anyone you ask will have a different answer. I don't what your answer would be but if you want to know what other musicians have said, please check it out here!.

Spring! April Concert

2011-04-09T16:11:00.004-06:00

April eases in, as soft as downy moonlight. One day it is winter and then the next I can hear the tumbling sound of water pressing outwards. The change is seamless, but somehow I always feel startled when I choose a jean jacket instead of a wool one. There is magic in the spring, something so profoundly moving as the snow melts to reveal grasses already sprouting from autumn's demise. I saw the first robin a week or so ago, and it's song was as if spring were at that moment unfolding from it's red breast. April feels blurred to me, as if the edges of it were water, uncontained by it's 30 days. It is both end and beginning.

It feels a good month to have a concert, which I am, with two other singers, Vanessa Cardui and Linda Faye Miller. We are also joined by the voice talents of Catherine Gell who will be reading poetry and verse between songs. It is at times, difficult to sum up such music, even my own I find hard to categorize. The title, though, truly states what it is:
Fates: Song, Story and Myth II
Date: April 22, 8 pm
Venue: Cantos Music Foundation (134 11th Ave SE)

There is a very strong possibility that this will be sold out in advance so if you would like a ticket, I urge you to purchase on in advance as once all the tickets are sold there will be none available at the door. Tickets can be bought at Xerion Homeopathie in Varsity or by emailing me sora@soramusic.ca

The week went by in a blur, as I wrote and wrote and wrote. I was asked to write melody and some lyrics for some already existing bed tracks, which was something new to me, and quite intoxicating. I have been breathing and dreaming in sound, and today I am taking some time to come up from up from under this musical shade and enjoy the sounds of spring instead.

The art of being

2011-03-10T20:22:00.007-07:00

Occasionally, I feel as if my words have flown. Perhaps migrated to another space for awhile, and I desire to hibernate, to dream a little bit without the doing of writing and composing. Sometimes I feel I need to sink into myself for a bit, to be less external and pull into myself that I might, in the stillness, come to quiet new beginnings. When words leave, I find myself immersed in pictures that float by as if unhurried in their meaning. Is part of being an artist, not doing art, but rather being?

While my words are on vacation, I will leave you with some images that I have taken as part of a photography class I am taking. No explanations for them, just images, just mood.

Lyrics: beginnings

2011-03-01T06:54:00.003-07:00

The stars they have walked in your absence
The saplings have grown to the sky
The scent of your skin no longer lingers
Nor remembrance of your eyes
My thoughts that once teemed with you
Are ghostly tracks
You held all my secrets
And took them when you left

Come back to me wayward lover
Come back with my heart
I've lived all these years without it
Always hoping you'd come back
I dream that you come back

My roots are memory and longing
And no longer enough
To hold me aloft as spring calls
In blossoming loss
I can't remember all I don't know
You once did
The wind is echoes these days
With we lost within

Come back to me wayward lover
Come back with my heart
I've lived all these years without it
Always hoping you'd come back
I dream that you come back
Come back

Waking and Ents

2011-02-26T11:09:00.004-07:00

Saturday mornings are the best. There is something so peaceful about easing into wakefulness with the shifting canopy of light rather than through the harshness of the blaring alarm. I like sifting through the dreams as if they were silt carried and deposited by the meandering river of sleep. I float in and out of that water and gather closely to me the fragments of throughts that become dreams, and dreams that become thoughts. At times, I cannot untangle which is which, and have no desire to try. It is my favorite way to wake up, the day just unfolds from such a morning slowly, as if it must sun itself to find some energy. So my thoughts run dreamily today.

There is a poem from Tolkien that Treebeard, the Ent recites to one of the hobbits.
Beneath the roof of sleeping leaves
And dreams of trees untold
When woodland halls are green and cool
And the wind is in the west
Come back to me
Come back to me
And say my land is best

I always like it, and have been dreaming of writing a song about such immense longing. That kind of emotion, that pierces through the heart and spans many lifetimes always calls to me to form melodies and lyrics. I wasn't sure how to start it until walking with my family one night in the darkened woods. The stars were clear and in the encasement of the steep hills of the ravine near where I live, the city lights couldn't reach us, so the stars went on forever. As we walked up the easement, my son asked me "how do the stars walk?". I could feel my eyes going inwards and the rising of the sweet feeling of melody overtaking.

Thus starts another song

The stars, they have walked in your absence
The saplings have grown to the sky
The scent of your skin no longer plagues me
Nor remembrance of your eyes
Come back to me my lover
Come back to me...

New Lyrics...

2011-02-22T12:37:00.003-07:00

The concepts for songs always germinate long before I write the first words. There seems to be this settling period in which I don't even truly think about a song so much as I muse around themes and try to find my way through the timeless archetypes that seemingly all songs seem to center around: love, sorrow, grief, journeyes.

So when asked to write a song for a very interesting independant short film script about death and moving on, I sat on the thoughts for months and months. Death has always been difficult for me to form words around, everything I come up with seems trite in the face of oblivion. In the end, it always comes back around to the beginning and from this simple truth came this one line "I didn't know that dying would be so hard". And with that one line, a song flows, line after line, words tumbling after each other to place themselves in this picture of almost despondency but hopefully with some truth as well. Some believe death is release, and it probably is for most. Perhaps though, love, though the most hopeful and beautiful of emotions, is a chain that ties us to another without the physical body with which to manifest it.

Moving On
I didn't know that dying would be so hard
I couldn't know the light would fade away
When I just would not let you go
And now I'm lost to die
Close your eyes, darling
And let me lie with silence
I'd tell you I'll be there when you wake
The truth we know
Morning is gone
I cry in shades of grey

I need to move on
Move on
My yearning heart isn't strong enough
To hold you through the veil

I didn't want for you to live this dead life
Where I am gone but ever presently
My voice, the static loop of echoes
Requiem of fallen leaves
Let me go, release me
That I might know freedom
I'm bound in chains of memory
Forgive of me, this selfish need
To love beyond the dust and bones

I need to move on
Move on
My yearning heart isn't strong enough
To hold you through the veil

I don't deserve your pedestal
Please don't keep me this way
Remember me, but let me fade
The ashes of day

I need to move on
Move on
My yearning heart isn't strong enough
Strong enough
To hold you through the veil
To hold you through the veil.

In the zone

2011-02-13T17:38:00.002-07:00

I was pretty stoked this morning to get up to an email saying 'Heartwood' was nominated for Best Vocal Album on the Zone Music Reporter. Very awesome! To check out all the nominees visit Zone Music Reporter.

Yea!

I heart cello

2011-02-05T22:31:00.004-07:00

When this one cello line was played today in the booth, I was busy bantering with the violinist, and it stopped me so completely I could do nothing but gape while my eyes filled with tears. It just was so heart breaking in it's poignancy. There was this one note, that literally left me gasping for air. How could I not sing my own heart out then for the lead vocal after that? Scorpion Moon just bleeds now, it aches and encapuslates more than just a story, it has something truthful to say, something real. It is these moments, as an artist, that I live for.

Tomorrow is backup vocals, which I always find fun. All the pressure of the lead vocal is off and it's all about mood and nuance. In the meantime, a picture of myself with Wendy and Lenny Solomon (cello and violin).

Hiraeth baby!

2011-02-04T21:53:00.002-07:00

Every song I write, I want to hear recorded. I think that is probably true of all musicians, although maybe not. I know for me, I want to sometimes just be the listener. To hear the song rather than be the one shaping the sound of it. To hear my voice, as the chords cradle it, as others hear it, rather than be ever conscious of breath, pitch and tone. And occasionally I write a song that feels so good in my bones that I get a deja vue feeling when it's finished. The feeling is almost that I knew the song before I wrote it, that I heard it before I heard it. Those are the ones I desperately want to record, the ones that contain within them a shiver of recognition to me, as if they are saying "YES, we waited so long for you to let us into the light". Hiraeth is one of those songs. So imagine for a moment the pure of joy of hearing this song leap into itself today. Joy, joy JOY! Above all other songs I have written, it was Hiraeth I desperately wanted to have recorded.

In the decision making process that accompanies a demo recording, it never comes down to which song I love the most. It always comes down to which showcases my sound, what I am capable of. Sometimes it's the showier ones, but never it is just the song that stirs the artist in me. Hiraeth wasn't going to be on the demo because of the title, which is obscure (but which I love). And yet, here it is! I am so going to do a happy dance now ~laugh~

And listening back, I culd never have anticipated the direction it is taken which has a funky upbeat Enya vibe to it. There is something that reminds me of "Storms in Africa", the drums I think. And tomorrow, the cellist is coming in! In know I said it yesterday, but a cello! The sound of a cello is so sensual, full of longing and depth. How can I be anything but completely excited. There is the hugest smile on my face right now.

Today, being a musician is the greatest thing in the world.

Snowmagedon, showmagedon

2011-02-03T20:47:00.006-07:00

I love Toronto. I love the brick buildings, the solidness of them, as if they had always been there. I love the vibrancy of it, how the city feels pulsing with energy, a living entity. Every time I come here, I feel creative, blooming inside. Calgary has it's own charms, mostly in the way the land swallows up the city, strongarms all else until you can do nothing but stare at the sheer enormity of the sky. Toronto, the city is the heart, not the land, and I have definitely fallen for it's charming disposition.

Although I must say, I am quite disappointed by the snowmagedon ~laugh~. Seriously, does THIS look like SNOWMAGEDON to you? ~laugh~

Studio days always create their own reality. The music takes over and time seems to slip by unnoticed until you stumble outside and realize 9 hours have passed. There is no tick tocking of clocks in the studio, time feels almost elastic, taut at times, and then recoiling when you least expect it.

What was going to be called Scheherazade may now be called Scorpion Moon. Though it pains me to admit it, I am a TERRIBLY titler. Ask me to write lyrics, and I definitely can do that. But come up with a title for a song, you would be better served to ask someone, anyone else. Even just some random person on the street. I cannot ever seem to come up with a title that says what I want to say, in a summation of sorts. I always feel as if the title must encapsulate the song, even though that is a somewhat ridiculous thought, and the prospect of one or two words doing such a task is always a mountainous responsibility to me. Usually I throw out a title and then someone will later say "why don't you call it....". And so my Scheherazade may become Scorpion Moon ~smile~. It was a very different experience for me to have a song so newly written in the studio. It had to morph and find it's way while being recorded, which usually happens while I practice, not in the studio. It meandered a bit until it found it's feet and now that today is done, I am completely stoked to hear the cello on it, which will be Saturday. CELLO! EEE!

I came with the intent to sing Immortal as the second song on this demo, and instead it comes to Hiraeth, which just feels like home, so I feel quite satisfied. It was a difficult day getting to Hiraeth in some ways, I just want to sing. It is the art of music that draws me in, and keeps me going through the long days, never the business of music. It is the weaving notes and moments that ache from within that enrapture me. That is the soul of music to me. It is such a joy to be free to live in this space wholly and completely for a few days.

The first sketch of Scorpion Moon is done, tomorrow Hiraeth. I cannot wait to hear it...I have been waiting for over a year to hear this one recorded.

The city is quiet, but there is still a humming buzz of energy that seems to lift from the pavement itself. Though I am bodily tired from the studio today, I feel too excited to settle, so I think it's time for a tea and some good conversation....

Till tomomrrow...

Snowmageddon

2011-02-02T13:00:00.001-07:00

The best time to fly to Toronto to do a demo? Of course the answer has to be during snowmageddon....snowmageddon ~laugh~

Toronto, Scheherazade

2011-02-01T13:37:00.003-07:00

It hardly seems possible that tomorrow I am flying to Toronto to mark the beginnings of a new project. This time, it's a small demo with the intent to apply for funding for a full length album, but it's a beginning of sorts, with new songs stepping off the pages of my notebooks and into their own living space. I am starting to feel excited! Part of me isn't, the part that can't believe I will be stepping on a plane tomorrow with a binder full of new songs. Feels unreal after being in Heartwood's space for so many years. Feels almost as if I need to step out of Heartwoood, strip it off of me, like a piece of clothing, and be naked for a few minutes before putting something else on. I do feel a bit naked, it always feels that way with new songs, little pieces of me that I hold tightly against all buffeting words. There is a deep exposure that comes with the presentation of new material. It always feels vulnerable, and I feel protective of this world I have started to build for a new album. One of the songs coming with me to Toronto is one I was rushing to finish, and it is so new I am not even sure if the words are set, it is all still tumbling around in my head. It feels almost fragile as if the ink of the notes and words were still wet and easily smudged. I have been trying to sing it a bit, to let it sink into me but the excitement for the trip makes me dstractable, and I end up fidgeting and alternately packing and playing notes on my piano ~laugh~

Already the threads of these new songs are wrapping themselves around me and I can see myself falling headlong into the years it will take to bring this into fruition. My thoughts are full of strings and the stories. I don't even know which songs are going on the demo, which is at the same time exhilirating and terrifying. It means trust, not only in my voice, which has been difficult over the last few months of cold after tonsilitis after cold, but also in the process by which music comes into being. Trusting the voice that is my own unique perspective on the world. Trusting there is a place for me, for my music.

The air was particularly still today beneath the translucent sky. It's a moment, a quietness, the bottom of the breath that lays void before being filled again by the quick intake of air. That's what today feels like, space that will soon be filled with music, thoughts, activity, performance. But for now, I let the light hold me, let the snow blind me to all but the crystalline day. Tomorrow my breath fills again and this moment will be long gone, but for now, I will just be and perhaps dream a bit of desert eyes held within the fabled sun.

Scheherazade
Spin me a tale for your life
And make me believe again
Take me away from this farce
Of monstrous and kingly vice

How I want you to love me
To love me unbound
How I want you to need me
To need me unfound
Beneath your fabled sun
And your scorpion moon
I need you to want me
Beyond the infinitesimal sands

I see through this cunning plan
A dervish of word's desire
And yet the wind to my fire
Is the honeyed voice of nomad eyes

How I want you to love me
To love me unbound
How I want you to need me
To need me unfound
Beneath your fabled sun
And your scorpion moon
I need you to want me
Beyond my infinitesimal crown

Oh thousand nights
Forgive this sabred pride
That morning betrays
Could it be
My life will be redeemed
To know
To know

To know that you love me
You love me unbound
To know that you need me
You need me unfound
Beneath your fabled sun
And your scorpion moon
I need you to want me
As much as I want you

Cure for the January blues

2011-01-28T15:49:00.004-07:00

The snow has started to fall, and already it feels a bit like the temperature quietly exiting the room. Looks like January has to have it's last hurrah. I figure though, a drumming circle performance is definitely a way to stay warm and positive on a cold winter's night, so I hope, if you live in Calgary, you will come out to the Circles of Rhythm "Rhythm Cafe" performance tonight.

What: Rhythm Cafe with yours truly performing
Where: Inglewood Community Hall
When: 7 - 10:30 pm
How: $20.00

bring a drum if you have one!

Performance: Rhythm Cafe

2011-01-18T06:56:00.002-07:00

Alright, here's a question for you. Who doesn't like world drums? Anyone? BUELLER? I knew it, who could NOT love world drumming? Which is why I am so excited to be performing at the Rhythm Cafe, which is a drumming circle that, starting this year, hosts a performer once a month as part of their drumming circle. I get to start off the year! All the information can be found at Circles of Rhythm or right here ~laugh~

Date: January 28th
Time: The drumming circle starts at 8 pm I am performing at 9 pm
Place: Inglewood Community Centre.
Tickets: $20, go to the Circles of Rhythm website to purchase

I am going to be joined by the fabulous Jan Pearce on harp and Meno Lopes on drums.

Scheherazade

2011-01-04T19:11:00.004-07:00

For at least a year, the desire to write a song of Scheherazade has been strong. It's funny to say such a thing, for it almost supposes I didn't have time to get to it. I did. And yet, often I have to find my way through a story, through and back again before I can write a song. It's not even about reading the story, but sorting the shuffling thoughts it brings. The why of my fascination with it. Often I ponder while I drive or in the space between sleep and wakefulness, random images rooting themselves through the endless words that fall through my mind. Then, one day, my fingers tangle themselves into a melody and my voice feels strong buffered against, words tumble from my lips as if they were Athena herself, birthed full of their own new glory. Or sometimes they feel more like the smallest pebble on a path, found, round and smooth with their own presumed use. It happens like this to me, and yet I am always surprised by it. In this case doubly surprised for Scheherazade is not to be her voice but the voice of the voracious and seemingly wicked King who would marry only to murder his bride the next day. The voice, it seems to chose me, when I try to push other ways, it just never works, so I sit and write and it is his voice that comes to me, not hers. hmmm. ~laugh~ We shall see where this leads....

Spin me a tale
For your life
And make me believe again
Take me away
From this farce
Of monstrous and kingly vice
How I want you to love me
To love me unbound
How I want you to need me
To need me unfound
Beneath your fabled sun
And your scorpion moon
I need you to want me
Beyond the infinitesmal sands

....

Light

2010-12-23T13:36:00.002-07:00

I am sitting on my bed, laptop on lap while the sun wavers through my windows as if diffused through water. The December sun often feels resigned to me as if it tried to climb the steps to the sky and became distracted along the way, stopping to kiss the tops of the trees and the low laying clouds. Barely lifting it's weary feet into the heavens, instead hovering on the edges of day, the guest that hangs in the doorway long past the ends of conversation. Still, I find great pleasure in what feels like an indulgence, to to washed, even with such fragile light feels contented. There is a synchronicity to my blogging wanderings today as I set out to mention a blog in which my song "Light" was reviewed. The blog post was all about the solstice and light. See? Synchronicity ~laugh~

So without further ado, I hope you will check it out as there are a few other artists reviewed there as well....Oliver di Place Blog

It's all uphill from here, the nights will fade as day claws back it's reign...

New distribution!

2010-12-16T07:26:00.003-07:00

Often I wish to sit down companionably with my thoughts, to examine where my inspiration is leading. The days recently are so fluid, washing into each other, sweeping through time as a river flooding. It seems I borrow against time's oblivion with my pitiful plea "hold off, hold off, for just a moment". Time is a poor negotiator, or perhaps I am, as it devours me as easily as the wind does the autumn seeds. Doesn't help to be constantly battling against the miriad of colds and flus that seem rampant this year. When I desired nothing more than to stand in front of my mic recording my wandering thoughts, instead I spent yesterday in a fevered haze, a day passed without my knowledge or consent. Perhaps it's better to befriend time's ravages and woo the moments as they bloom rather than rue their passing.

I am very pleased to announce that, in addition to Prikosnovenie, I am being distributed by Projekt Darkwave in the US. Yea!

They have a whole lot of cool music, so I urge you to check them out :)

A change of vision

2010-12-06T06:50:00.002-07:00

There is something I love about being in a creative space, about becoming enraptured in someone else's vision for even just a few moments. At times it feels like being swept out of the self and beyond. My friend has a final portrait assignment for her photography class and I was lucky enough to be the model yesterday. Fun! It's awesome to be involved in a photo shoot that isn't about my music, just enjoying someone else's vision for a change.

Here is one of the pics....

Photo credit: Beverley Titley

As the crystal night

2010-12-03T19:25:00.004-07:00

descends us into that perfect December stillness, I receive a link to this pic in my inbox from one of my friends who braved that extreme summer heat in the hoodoos of Alberta to help me with my clay photo shoot....

Photo credit: Beverley Titley

Everything sounds better in Spanish

2010-11-28T18:14:00.002-07:00

That is my hypothesis anyway ~laugh~ See if you agree with me and read about my newest song "Legacy" on Articmist.org.

I took one Spanish class in University mistakenly thinking that it was a lot like French and since I had just finished up with the bilingual program in High School that it would be a breeze. Very, very mistaken ~laugh~ Still, what's not to love about Spanish....I wish I could speak it!

Waking adrift

2010-11-16T06:56:00.005-07:00

There is something so insular about sleeping through a storm and waking to find the world outside changed. I open dusted eyes to drifts pressed against a window though I did not hear such cold hands creeping in my dreams last night. I find pleasure in seeing the shapes night has taken upon new snow, the sculpted dunes, as if there were purpose in the driving wind. It is so human to find meaning where perhaps there is none, to feel as if each falling leaf and passing flock was meant to divine messages individually. Even in knowing the arrogance of it all, I cannot help but feel special to open my door and find the gift of artful creation delicately placed upon my November lawn.

Legacy on itunes!

2010-11-09T14:54:00.002-07:00

Yea! Legacy is now available on itunes. Just follow this link. This song will probably not be on any album, for now it is just it's own entity.

Song used in new book....

2010-11-04T19:07:00.003-06:00

It's really cool that my song 'The Juniper' made it onto a CD that is included with a new children's book from Prikosnovenie called 'Lullabies and Legends from Broceliande'. The book can be found on their website http://www.prikosnovenie.com/groupes/lullabies-from-broceliande.html. What I love the most is how the book showcases the beauty of the sun, moon, the quietly turning seasons and the magic found within all such transitions. I am honored to have my song as part of such an enchanting book.

November

2010-11-02T16:59:00.003-06:00

I like the light in November. It wavers unassuminging as if it was unaware of its own frail beauty. I like how the day never quite feels like day, even at noon, there is the rush of the afternoon already gone in a sun too heavy to lift beyond it's own presence. I find myself sitting on the porch caught in the long shadows of grasses huskily singing. It is a fleeting moment, which catches me all the more, for I know that the warmth on my face cannot contain the rest of me. Still I am shocked when I touch cold fingers to lips that still are kissed by sun. November has a constancy I like despite the transient nature of the watered down light. It always feels the same, and beyond all other months, I can feel it's haunted eyes on me, and recognize it's keening call.

Legacy available at CDbaby!

2010-11-02T14:39:00.002-06:00

I am very pleased to say that my song "Legacy" is available to digitally download for 99 cents at CD baby.

Check it out at www.cdbaby.com/cd/sora4.

New Review of Heartwood

2010-10-26T19:19:00.003-06:00

From the September edition of New Age Retailer

Many comparisons will be made between Sora’s Heartwood and any of Loreena McKennitt’s CDs, since both feature heavenly voices paired with both older and more contemporary instruments, spinning accessible melodies with Celtic and British Isles influences, as well as some Early Music, classical, and world touches. Heartwood could easily connect Sora to a much wider audience, which she soundly deserves. Her haunting, delicate voice conveys emotion effortlessly, whether the accompaniment is sparse or full, the mood uptempo or sedate, or the lyrical content personal or mythical. Bonus: Full lyrics are included—hurray!

By Bill Binkelman

Lyrics: Paris

2010-10-20T14:56:00.002-06:00

Paris
In you my time unravels
In you I am found
Or maybe I'm remembered
In the dance that winds the stillness

Your glance upon the moment
Is weighted by the years
Drowned by this desperate silence
By a world that wants to hold you

I see you
Beyond the masks
You must wear
Beauty's curse
You shine like those
Suns that crest
The break of time
Formless waves in the dark

You offered me the pieces
Discared on the way
Cut from my branches bleeding
In a garden of tangled roses

You spill over the edges
Of what is safe to know
I am the wind that follows madly
Deeply your freedom

I see you
Beyond the past
That you wear
Beauty's curse
You shine like those
Suns that crest
The break of time
Formless waves of light

Let us be the notes between
Oh, let us be who we'd be
Who we'd be without time

Time is a golden apple
A choice without a choice
There is no place beyond you
You are the song and the singer

I see you
You're the ripples of light
That laugh upon my sea

CKUW: Legacy

2010-10-16T08:04:00.003-06:00

Legacy is being played on the CKUW show "Shades of Classics" tomorrow morning. The show runs from 8-10am Central time and the show will be archived as well, if you don't quite get up that early on Sunday mornings ~smile~

Thanks John!

Legacy uploaded!

2010-10-08T12:00:00.003-06:00

I just uploaded Legacy to my music player (on my website) so go and have a listen please! What a pleasure it was to be part of Calgary Family Services 100 year celebration last night. What an honor to have been asked to give voice to their legacy. Thank-you to everyone at Calgary Family Services with special thanks to Adrea Jolyn who made this all possible.

Legacy has also been added to just about all my other sites...so here is the list

My website (redundant I know but in case you are on my blog but not my website)
Myspace
Facebook

It is probably only going to be available to listen to fully for a couple of weeks.....

Video Blog: Legacy Event

2010-10-07T16:16:00.002-06:00

The legacy of Legacy...

2010-10-07T12:43:00.004-06:00

Not only am I singing tonight at a fabulous 100 year celebration honouring the Legacy of Calgary Family Services, but was also featured in an article in the Herald today! Page 3 of the entertainment section! The smile will NOT leave my face. The sun is shining, the wind feels soft, today is a beautiful day to sing, to celebrate, to rejoice! I was so excited last night, it was hard to sleep. Silly? definitely. Passionate? most certainly. ~smile~ I just warmed up my voice, it feels strong and clear. I can't wait for tonight!

I will be uploading the song "Legacy", written specially for this event and Calgary Family Services, to my website tomorrow...

How I love autumn

2010-10-04T07:54:00.002-06:00

I could fall in love in autumn. And have a time or two. Something about the sweet luminosity of it, makes me sway into it, swoon into yellows that still hold light and heat, the postcards of summer. Perhaps it is the fleeting nature that calls out to be worshiped now. There is no later in autumn. Later is barren trees, and shriveled leaves, crunching as old bones beneath my feet. There is only now, the cry to love in this moment, in case there is no tomorrow. I like the transient feeling of it, the presentness, the demands it makes of me, absorbing my attention like new love.

Moving on: Musings

2010-10-02T22:23:00.003-06:00

The night is companionable right now. The kind of night I find my windows open, so that I can catch the upward drift of shadowed breeze. The kind of night I could let go the coiled time that so easily squeezes and slide instead into a forest walk that knows not form or place. It only knows the dreamscapes of thoughts that web through my mind when the day no longer holds sway. I want to listen to music on such nights, that seeps rather than calls to attention it's presence. And above all else, I want to slide into the air, and walk beyond my name, beyond my time and place. I want to lay on the grass so quietly letting go it's warmth and seach out the tiniest sliver of moon, draw stories around it within the cool air. It seems a good night to muse.

I am conceptualizing a song about moving on, about passing through death and into beyond. I am not sure I have anything meaningful to say on the subject. So I ponder a bit how to come to this topic, that I have up to this point avoided purposefully because I feel pressed upon by the cliche of all that has come before. Maybe that is my point in all of this, that there is no way to talk about death and have some sort of new thought. I suppose for me I am thinking less of those that are left, that IS something I have written within my music, but more of the moment of letting go...for the soul that is to pass. Pass into what, I don't know. I wonder if the letting go is an act of faith or one of pure release. I wonder how difficult it is to let go of the body that has housed for so long. The face that defines much of how we conceptualize the self. When you close your eyes and imagine yourself, do you see what you look like? I am not quite ready to write this song, so I write and sit in the dark with a glass of wine, desiring to let go myself and wander into the night.

Islands

2010-09-28T13:05:00.001-06:00

We never had oak island
I always wished we had
I never was named by you
Or claimed upon your sand

That moment you let yourself
Be dreamt into my arms
Was always to be recoiled
In the waves of silence
In your heart

What use was my love
That emptied to a hollow sea?
Of salt and fog
I woke to the land falling
As shadowed cries of you.

I wonder which lover gutted
Your slender, fleeting smile
The tracing of scars littered
On fencepost in your mind

Your words spoke of nothing lost
Fractal, shifting light
Yet, even the blind can't ease
The husked debris of passing eyes

What use was my love
That emptied to a hollow sea?
Of duned memory
I woke the wind scattered
Pieces of all that we held
All of our truth
Nothing but worn out sleight of hand
Were we just mirrors of our need?

What use was my love
That emptied to this hollow sea?
Of translucent years
I woke to the isle keening
For one real moment with you.

We never had oak island.

Review: Elevated Difference

2010-09-17T22:47:00.003-06:00

Review from Elevate Difference

Canadian artist Sora lists Loreena McKennitt as one of her greatest musical influences, a fact that is apparent on her latest musical effort, Heartwood. A beautifully put together collection of songs that conjure up druid celebrations and ancient royal courts, the album is reminiscent of McKennitt's modern Celtic style. Inspiration aside, Sora is very much her own artist and Heartwood showcases her talents as both a singer and songwriter.

The title track is a great beginning to the album, and a wonderful introduction to Sora's artistic abilities. She has a classically beautiful voice that can be strong, airy, or sorrowful. For the most part, Heartwood's tracks are pretty, soothing songs that remind one of laughter, love, and sun-filled days. The album offers some variety with Sora delving into her dark side for a few songs.

The best of these darker tunes is “Eurydice,” a haunting song that possesses a hypnotic beat and seductive lyrics. The instrumentals on the album are also well done, blending perfectly with Sora's vocals. The violin and piano work is especially impressive on “Drift” and “Winter.” On both tracks, the music perfectly sets the tone for the listener before seamlessly weaving itself in with Sora's voice, making for wonderful pieces of audio art.

The cover art on Heartwood is a simple photo of Sora, tinted in warm shades of brown and gold with some etchings behind her. Heartwood also features an insert booklet with the lyrics for each song—something I personally find extremely helpful—as well as photographs of whimsical items such as feathers, leaves, stones, and bits of ribbon. The earthy yet enchanting look reflects the tone of the album and gives the listener a good indication of the mood Sora is trying to set.

With its powerful vocals and mesmerizing instrumentals, Heartwood is an album that will not disappoint. Long-time Celtic fans and those new to the genre should find it a satisfying listening experience.

Posted September 4th, 2010
By Victoria Kroeger

The rain

2010-09-16T07:49:00.003-06:00

loosens in opening sheets against the window, a grey backdrop to my dreams. It seems to haunt me after all these weeks, the sound ever so slowly sliding into my skin, a film on my notions of this place. There is a settling to it, that belays change I cannot find voice for. Today it feels somewhat like being occupied, foreign water on the blood of home. I should write music today, that song that wakes me in the middle of the night is needling me, but I have trouble moving beyond the greyscapes of an autumn hijacked for a price that hasn't yet been named. The rain pulls at me to sleep.

Musings: the falling leaf

2010-09-11T15:23:00.004-06:00

I love this time of year. No matter how desperate I am for each season to arrive, there is a part of me that could live in a Lothlorian autumn forever. I walk softly and close my eyes if just to hear the fleeting tumble of each leaf. There is a syncronicity to seeing a bronzed leaf fall, a presentness to the orchestration of it. A moment earlier, and it would still be precariously held by the roots. The last hug before inevitable goodbye, swift, fierce and ephemeral. A moment later and already it would be decaying, the chthonic body of a womb brought in upon itself. Such moments are not really moments, for they are contained within the movement itself of such transient metamorphosis. It is gliding time passing through, change that cannot be held. I have yet to be able to capture as a picture that descent from summer into autumn. Some days it's better not to try and to rather be in the stillness amidst precipitous release.

Lyric beginnings

2010-09-07T13:02:00.002-06:00

We never had oak island
I always wished we had
I never was named by you
Or claimed upon your sand

That moment you let yourself
Be dreamt into my arms
Was always to be recoiled
By waves of silence in your heart

What use was my love
That emptied to the hollow seas?
Salt and dune
I've woke to the land falling
As shadowed cries of you

Lyrics: Giant's Causeway

2010-08-27T18:45:00.002-06:00

The sun is moody in the quickening sky. The wind a counterpoint to my restless dreams, snaking into my tumbled arms and calling within my night reveries. I lingers on my skin long into day, like the kisses of a negligent lover. Even now, as the afternoon glows the wind is a rumble beneath the translucent crystal sky and I quiver. It shakes loose from within me cascading thoughts, that fall from fingers worn, from lips parched. It has entangled me and I know long into sleep I will be tossing upon its anxious currents.

I welcome it though, for I am rattled and feel the need to write. I had meant to finish the lyrics to a song I was asked to write for an short independent film being made in the US. Patriotism was the theme, but the film is less about patriotism than about misplace patriotism. It was muddled in my head for quite awhile and I could not seem to find a start. Should it be about love of nation or love of land? What is it that cannot be taken from us, even when oppressed, what is worth fighting for? These are all questions that I asked myself as I struggled to find an opening line that didn't sound blind and full of ego. And then, it appeared. Fully formed words as if placed in my mind. It was the wind rattling and shaking and this is what fell out.

Giant's Causeway
Wings of the featherless cry
Brought to the brink and asked to fly
Fly on the razor sharp oath
Words that taste something like blood
Blood
Iron and blood

Bound to the dicates on high
Torches held up to burn the sky
Sky falling cinders rain down
Ashen tears, the colour of pride
Pride
Fire and Pride

What giants were born
Have long since gone
And laid down their bones
On the causeway of freedom
I will not fade
I will not let go
Of this land that weeps in me

Raised to the wavering flag
Foreigners all on fields of glass
Glass is the heart as it lays
Open in streams, spears of the path
Path
Pathway called home

What giants were born
Have long since gone
And laid down their bones
On the causeway of freedom
I will not fade
I will not let go
Of this land that weeps in me

I will not let fear
On its splintered shield
Call the shadowed ease in me

Rouse to the battering wave
Hold to the truth of verdant days
Days ere the sun ever rise
Covenant stand, give life to hope
Hope
Honor and hope

What giants were born
Have long since gone
And laid down their bones
On the causeway of freedom
I will not fade
I will not let go
Of this land that weeps in me

Musings: Lake

2010-08-22T09:54:00.003-06:00

The sky chokes with invading smoke from forest fires in British Columbia. I stand on the edge of a lake, a mosaic of Aegean glass and find not relief, but something more primal, the swelling call of water. There is a depth to the water that is reminiscent of a painting abstract and soulful. Within the hazed stinging eyes I find myself longing to throw paint in turquoise and green and call from within a mountain lake lost to time.

Musings: patriotism

2010-08-21T23:10:00.002-06:00

I have been asked to write a song for an independent short film that deals with the notion of patriotism, through the filter of both America and Ireland. I am quite excited to contribute a song, and while it would have been easy to find some good old Irish ditty and then wrote my own melody, that never feels satisfying to me. I have to delve, to root in the notion of it and find my own way through the concept. It has been a haze in my mind for the last few weeks, I cannot seem to discern anything real, all feels vague, mountainous shapes that lack any detail. I am not particularly patriotic myself. I feel disconnected from government and feel no swell in my heart when I sing the national anthem. Yet, there is a simple pride in naming myself that way, so I know there is some identity that I wear. There is some need in me to unveil this pride, to understand its origin. What is it that makes a country? The land? The people? The culture? The religion? Of the land there is no question to me, it seems to have its own consciousness and shapes the people that live there. There is an interaction that occurs and it often feels that the creative output of any given place is infused with some indescribable presence that exhumes itself over and over. Of course I then have to ask, are we so shaped by where we live or do we choose to live where the forms the land presses upon us feel resonant? Are we drawn to where we fit? Of the culture, that is where I start to feel as if I am wading through mud. I am long bothered by wars that pit one way of being or thinking against another. There seems no end to such hate and fear that masks itself behind notions of love for country and love for god. I often think of patriotism as blind following, but perhaps there are other ways of decoding such a feeling. When a country values freedom in its laws and practices, does it not stand to reason that being free to choose one's course of action and taking such choice despite all manner of pressure could be seen as an act of patriotism? That is patriotism I could get behind. It is the following, the razor sharp oaths forced on unwilling tongues that have me shunning the idea of calling myself a patriot. The lyrics for this song do not come easily, so I write, and wait for the tumbling thoughts to settle into a pattern, like reading tea leaves ~laugh~

Trailer for the Eurydice video!

2010-08-16T09:49:00.001-06:00

Come by the Hills Festival

2010-08-16T09:35:00.004-06:00

It is the little moments, when that one note is punctuated by leafsong and the wind touches my cheek in shared remembrance that live in and of themselves without the need of past and future. It is the shiver of tumbling chords and the sweet shaped air that passes across my lips as tenderly as ebbed dunes of sand.

Come by the Hills Celtic Festival at the Mistahiya Lodge near Wainwright, AB

Pictures: Legacy

2010-08-09T16:26:00.002-06:00

Pictures from the "Legacy" project.

Festival date: August 15

2010-08-09T11:26:00.003-06:00

I will be singing at the Mistahiya Lodge near Wainswright on Sunday, August 15 at 2 pm. This is part of a inaugural Celtic music festival. Tickets are $30. More information can be found at the following website

http://www.mistahiya.com/

Summer

2010-08-09T09:47:00.002-06:00

Today smells of summer, of light through leaves, translucent heat. That scent is an opening, one I gladly walk through, into a fluttering calmness that is of now and nothing else. All summer's past flakes away, a crumbling book long since forgotten beyond random phrases that float in and out, as sun on the water. I must lay in the clover and let this pervasive immediacy enfold me. It is the pressing of nothing, of thoughts that as pollen in the wind, barely formed holding seeds for tomorrow.

On my lips today are the words "Come back to me" a distant mantra of trees lost in memory, too long rooted, immbolized in dreaming. I feel potent with words, as if they are a climbing vine passively breaking all resistance. It is a good day to lay in the sun.

Lyrics: Clay

2010-08-08T19:04:00.003-06:00

Clay hands
Clay heart
Fragile in beauty
Clay dreams falling
Falling shards to ground
Oh father, father I tried my best
To make real the life of this flesh
So molded and sculpted by you
For this spark I die
Die over and over again

Clay thoughts
Clay fears
Shaped to be brittle
Clay jar filling
Filling with hope to be more
Oh father, father I tried to be
All you made me to be
I tumble, descending from you
For this spark I die
Die over and over again

Oh father, father
I’m more than just
Rolled dust, tears of a golem
For this knowledge I slip down
These hollowed casts and break

This clay shame bleeding (Clay shame, clay needs)
Clay needs heeding (Graceless and dirty)
Clay will numbing (Clay will crumbling)
Clay ties crumbling (Crumbling, dust to mouth)
Oh punished life, forgive of me (Oh father, father I’ve bled all my nails)
This sentient heart (Clawed earth and rusted blood)
Alluvial fire (Scoured by this fire, I’m cracked)
Cracking all that I thought I could be (Cracked all that I thought I could be)
All of me (Know me, father)
Please let me (Love me, father)
Break down these chains (Let go of these chains)
That I might die (That die, die)
Die over and over again (Over and over again)
(Clay hands, clay heart)
(Fragile in beauty)

Musings: morning

2010-08-05T09:05:00.004-06:00

I wake in air saddened by summer's demise. I lay in the cool bleak light with my eyes closed trying to recall what memory it is waking within me. Beyond my wandering fingers flipping through the files of mornings past is that sound, of distant cars shaking within the hills themselves. It is that sound, a constant trembling, and the shape of the light, a sleek whale shadowing the oceaned sky that feels as familiar as a hummed dream. Yet within it, I cannot find form, only blurred thoughts and aching that no longer has a place. What are these displaced feelings? How do they find themselves detached, orphans lost in contextual no-mans land? I cannot quite shake this feeling that is no feeling, and I float into today on an ocean with no islands in sight.

Photos: Clay Shoot

2010-08-01T18:21:00.007-06:00

A few preliminary pictures from the "clay" photo shoot. Most of these are sans clay because we decided to start out the day without the clay, you can't easily take off the clay, so start without and then add later... ~laugh~

Photographer: Adrea Jolyn
Makeup Artist: Jackie Johnson (Makeup by Jackie)
Assistans: Tamara Lacelle, Beverley Titley

I am really excited about this Light video....

2010-07-30T19:24:00.000-06:00

As the final production work nears completion on my video for "Eurydice" - - I have started planning for my next video for my song "Light".

And this time - I want to co-create it with you!

This is all that I need you to do:

1. Listen to the song. :) (found on the player on my website www.soramusic.ca)

2. Send me an image (sora@soramusic.ca) that creatively completes this phrase:

"The light inside will..."

The image can be of you - of nature - of nature on you! Anything your imagination can conjure. It can be something handwritten, typed, collaged, painted. Anything!

The only limitations are:

- it must creatively complete the phrase: "The light inside will..."
- if your creative response is text based - try to keep it under 10 words.
- nothing obscene or r-rated please
- all photos and creative designs must be copyrighted to you
- the image must be 300 dpi (a big photo) - it's going to be in a video so the resolution must be high
- the image must be sent by August 15, 2010 to sora@soramusic.ca

3. In your email to me - please provide the following:

- The image as an attachment (please do not embed it in the email)
- Name
- Contact information
- The following phrase giving me permission to use your image in the video and any promotion for the video:

I, (your name) agree to allow Sora (Andrea Hunt) and any of her representatives to use the attached image, (name of image), for her music video and the promotion of the music video "Light".

Yea! Thanks so much - - I am SO excited about collaborating with you on this project! It's going to be beautiful.

Sora

Indelible

2010-07-29T19:56:00.000-06:00

Wind on the ocean,
Heart of the sea
Restless and searching
For shores yet unseen
Infinite waves in
Colliding streams
Pebbles and echoes
Tossed through the years

Indelible dream is your indelible heart
You gave me the tidal, the places between

We are of stardust
Falling through time
Beauty unfolding
In hands intertwined
Spiraling thread
Tendriled and fine
Blossoming doorways
For me to find

Indelible dream of your indelible song
You gave me the twilight, the place I belong
Indelible arc of your indelible eyes
That see through my veils, the places I hide

You trace on my back
Your endless love
Whispers and runes
Alchemy secrets
Cocoons of
Woven wings
Gossamer trust
Made by you

Pressings of sweet words
Cut from the sky
Petals and cloud shapes
Like sweet autumn wine
Days of dreams spinning
Each reverie laid
Held in the binding

Behind the Scenes Pictures

2010-07-28T18:16:00.005-06:00

While I don't have all the pictures from my recent sojourn into the badlands for that elusive usable photo, I DO have a few behind the scenes photos. The whole idea was to use clay, which turned out to be awfully similar in colour to my own skin! Well, you can see for yourself in the pictures below...

Winnipeg air

2010-07-28T07:32:00.003-06:00

The air in Winnipeg lays upon me, heavy with the lake wrung into into its fibrous veins. I haven't turned on the air conditioning as my throat is barely acceptable for singing and air conditioning only serves to aggravate any trace of a cough or sore throat. It seems this is always the crux for me. When it's good, my voice flows like silken scotch, smoothly through my throat. When it's not, I struggle to ease myself around it, holding it preciously, as if I could break it, glass notes, if I exert too much force. I am struck by the goodness of people here, the offering of time and being. The other night, a man invited me into his home to use his piano. A man that had no reason to trust me, but one whoe could see in me, that I really needed to practice for a TV appearance that unexpectedly gifted into my slightly shaky hands. Since I hadn't touched my own piano for about a month, I was feeling a bit distraught at the idea of playing, and somehow the very air here aligned so that when I talked, it was my need that strung between us. He offered his house, his partner answered the door and between the two of them I was humbled by such trust. While I played, the sky churned, thunder rumbling in the ground. Rain fell as notes, as if the sky was suddenly overturned. The air sentient, and me, an underwater creature, fingers graceful in the liquid breath. Afterwards, she drives me to the hotel, another gift and says "look at the sky". It is aerated in plugs of salmon orange amidst the coiling blue. It strikes itself on the very heart, thick as blood.

I find myself loathe to leave, and somehow it is the air here that holds all this. It is heavy with secret thoughts, with lyricism. But I have looked at the clock this very second and it is time for me to say goodbye to Winnipeg. Calgary will suck all this from my lungs, it is it's own vacuum...for now, I will breath this swimming air....

New Reviews: Camrose Canadian, Celtic mp3

2010-07-27T23:35:00.004-06:00

A couple of new reviews! yea! I've put a little sample of the reviews here in my blog, the rest can be found in my review section for Heartwood OR by clicking on the links below to see them at their source.

Camrose Canadian
After a full day of stress, nothing is more relaxing than listening to Sora's CD Heartwood.

With each word she paints a picture of calmness that can take your thoughts away to a distant place of serenity. Sora's ability to conjure scenes of nature through her lyrics stems from the deep meaning she finds in the natural world...

Celtic mp3
Some musicians are performers and some are true artists. It seems clear from every detail of “Heartwood” that Sora belongs in the latter category. Take a listen and you will be restored.

Winnipeg Video Tweet

2010-07-26T14:00:00.001-06:00

Hola from Winnipeg! Trying out a new video blog...more like a video tweet ~laugh~. That just sounds funny ~laugh~.

Light Video: I need your help!

2010-07-14T08:15:00.002-06:00

Immortal

2010-07-12T14:32:00.002-06:00

The sky has been bled of light and lays in dark pools across my window. The thunder rolls under my feet, rumbling from a secret hollow in the clouds. The perfect day to write dark lyrics. And because I often cannot separate lyrics from emotion from my own thoughts, I descend quickly into these lyrics, into the longing that shapes them and try to find the pewter threads to give life to these tumbling thoughts.

What life is life immortal
When years are glancing thoughts
And love is naught but ashes
On graves the past has lost
What terrible gods have we become?
Gone from the mirror
Reflection nothing but shadows of
The tumbling wind
Our crumbling tears
The dust of my heart

Lonely like a virus
Caught in blood
I just can’t sate
Falling, always falling
From that one
Moment of grace
Oh let me go
Oh let me fall
Oh let me become
The tumbling wind
Your crumpled tears
The dust of your heart.

I’ve lived beyond my measure
To worlds I cannot know
No one should live to see
Their ideals turned to stone
Please let return
Passion to time
Rosy-lipped day
Fragile desire
If just one moment til
The tumbling wind
Such crumbling tears
Make dust of my heart

Clay

2010-07-11T15:26:00.002-06:00

fills my dreams and thoughts. Cracked earth, baked day. The molding of self for others, for our own scripts. How fragile my heart, etched by water, shaped by that which I love. Strength within frailty. Elemental, raw, seared into being.

taken by Adrea Jolyn

Video Blog: Clay

2010-07-06T13:07:00.001-06:00

Performance: McNally Robinson Winnipeg

2010-07-06T07:14:00.002-06:00

I am very excited to be teaming up with McNally Robinson in Winnipeg for a CD signing and preview performance of the Musica Speciale concert "Enchanting Summer" along with John Racaru, Alasdair Dunlop and Jeff Presslaff.

Venue: Grant Park Atrium (1120 Grant Ave), Winnipeg MA
Date: July 26, 2010
Time: 4:30 pm

Winnipeg Concert: July 27

2010-06-28T14:58:00.003-06:00

And so Winnipeg seems to be some kind of second home ~laugh~. Yes, I am playing in Winnipeg again, a fantastic program with beautiful musicians. If you are in town, it will definitely be worth it....

Musica Speciale Concert Series presents...
Enchanting Summer
A concert dedicated to the late Maureen Forrester featuring original contemporary fusion music by Sora, John Racaru, Jeff Presslaff, Alasdair Dunlop, Mitch Dorge and Tim Butler.
Venue: Park Theatre, 698 Osbourne Street (a very cool street ~smile~)
Date: July 27
Time: 8 pm

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $15 at McNally Robinson, Into the Music, Croft Music store. $17 at the door, $10 for students. For more information please phone 261-3600 or visit www.musicaspeciale.com

Musings: Oblivion

2010-06-20T19:40:00.004-06:00

The summer has come, burned through the thin paper of spring. I am tired, and want nothing more than to lay beneath the sea of leaves, and let the trembling waves of aspen song tumble over me. Carry me into an oblivion of thought beyond the creation of it, pulled strings of consciousness. I enjoy meandering through feeling and idea, memory and time, to unfocus myself. Maybe to unhinge a bit. I have to spend so much time keeping everything together, there are times I need to fall apart, even if just in my thoughts. It has been lacking of late, and I languish for it. I held a sparrow yesterday. It's black eyes fixated such an oblivion with nothing but the fluttering heart beneath my hand. Brushed wings, the touch of the hypnotist sending me spiraling into a night of dreams that twine into cries long since set aside. All these pasts hide in stasis, until one thread is pulled and from the deep is a strand of emotion, held as precious and beautifully as a string of pearls.

Review of Heartwood: MuzikReviews

2010-06-17T15:02:00.003-06:00

A review of Heartwood is up on MuzikReviews. I also have the interview in my "music" section of the site under Heartwood - Reviews.

Interview on CKUW

2010-06-14T07:21:00.002-06:00

Isn't technology marvelous? I love how I can do an live interview and that day it's already archived on their website. Amazing.

Yesterday I was in studio with John Iverson who hosts "Shades of Classics" on CKUW. The interview can be heard on their website or you can listen to it right here.. Their archives contain the full show while mine is just the interview :)

Thanks John!

Video Blog: Winnipeg numero deux

2010-06-11T18:28:00.001-06:00