Re-Posted from my MySpace blog
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
About me
Current mood: pleased
Here is a bit about me and my projects:
I have been
singing since I was two years old. My father played the accordion
and the whole family used to sing to friends who were in hospitals and
nursing homes. I get my love of harmony from the pleasant times spent
harmonizing with my family. I am actually able to come up with and
sing 4 part harmony (one at a time :-) of course)
In 1989 I met a
very influential person in my music development, Reverend Coco Ramos.
At the time Coco was the music director at CCU Downtown Orlando. We
began working together as a musical team, doing weddings and
conventions, as well as singing at CCU. Throughout the years we have
also performed at Unity Village, Missouri. Together we recorded two
albums, "Cantemos, Siempre Cantemos", completely in Spanish and "In His
Image/A Su Imagen", which is a bilingual album. Most of the songs on
those albums were written by Coco.
In September of
2007, the Unity Spiritual Life Center leadership council sent me to the
Third New Thought Conference in Unity Village Missouri. It was
during this conference that the seeds of my two newest albums were
planted.
Throughout the
conference I became more and more clear about what was holding me back
and my desire to let go of these limitations. Mainly, I realized that
I was not serving anyone by playing small; so I became open to be what
I was meant to be. I began writing songs. My inspiration came in two
languages, English and Spanish. Because of this I decided to begin
work on two albums. My goal was to have them completed in the Spring
of 2008. They came off the press on the last day of Spring 2008.
The first
original song I recorded was "Echoes of Ancient Words/Arcanos Ecos".
This song was recently published (2008) in a Unity songbook entitled
"Shine On". I went on to write 20 songs (ten in English and ten in
Spanish), in addition to Spanish lyrics to the Santana song "Love,
Devotion and Surrender" and Richard Mekdeci's "Ready, Willing and
Worthy".
I have had the
great fortune of working with very talented musicians. The ones who
have participated in this project are David Mikeal, David Ezell and
Richard Mekdeci. The arranger/multi-instrumentalist for these two
albums has been David Mikeal (www.davidmikeal.com). The recording took place in Difference Studios, which is owned by David Mikeal. David Ezell (www.heartwindmusic.com) has written the sheet music arrangements of all of my songs. Richard Mekdeci (www.itoimusicministries.org)
sang backup on the songs "Love, Devotion and Surrender", "Think on
This", and "Ready, Willing and Worthy". Backups for the songs
"Decisions" and "Think on This" were also sung by David Mikeal.
The process of
opening up to new possibilities is the inspiration for most of the
songs. The rest of them are about celebrating my newfound freedom of
expression. I've heard it said that when you sing, you pray twice. I
believe that when you dance you pray thrice. Therefore most, if not
all, of the songs on the album are designed to inspire movement.
Because I am a
child at heart, I sing for our children and for the child in each one
of us. The songs are about self worth, making good decisions and
celebrating life. It seems to me that those are issues that are
particularly important in the teenage years. Many of our beliefs,
goals and intentions are solidifying at that time. It is my desire to
lift up the spirit of our youth, to keep them from despair and to help
them realize how valuable they are.
Currently I am the music coordinator at Unity Spiritual Life Center (www.unitychurch.com),
a congregation founded by Reverends Alinda and Coco Ramos. I continue
to create new songs, the most recent one is "My Father's Prayer/La
Oracion De Mi Padre", which is a Father's Day, Quinceanera or Wedding
Song. I am dedicated to continue birthing more songs to inspire and
uplift.
With Love and Infinite gratitude,
Ishtar