Bonnie

One of my earliest memories of creating music was when I was about four, standing inside a huge new fireplace that my dad had built, looking up at a bright, blue square of sky. I discovered that sound behaved in a very interesting way in that space, and I'm not sure how long I stood there vocalizing and listening to the echoes that came back to me. It was fascinating to me.

On another occasion, I remember at about age 10, being outdoors with my ear pressed to the fuel oil drum, and singing a haunting theme song from a children's show ("Marina, Aquamari-i-ina"...I think it was called Stingray)...amplification, AND echo. Now I can get those effects with a good microphone and the turn of a knob, but back then, I was enthralled by the quality of the sound. I think I've always been fascinated by sound, and also by language, and the sound of words. I like the musicality of language, the rhythm and rhyme.

I recently came across an amazing recording of sacred chant and music ("Returning" by Jennifer Berezan) performed and recorded several years ago in the Hypogeum in Malta, which is said to be the only prehistoric underground temple in the world. Though it is sometimes referred to as an ancient tomb, I don't believe that was it's original purpose, but more likely some type of sound healing chamber, or temple for creating altered states of awareness. If I wasn't there in a past lifetime, I should have been. The acoustics of this music gives me chills.

I started writing songs in earnest several years ago, during a very dark and difficult time in my life - songwriting was good therapy. But the interesting thing was that most of the songs I wrote were about the things in life that "make your heart sing" – about love, and joy, connecting with nature, peace, and healing, the goals that we all aspire to in our heart of hearts. Though I do sometimes have to sing the blues, I continue to find the greatest inspiration in that which uplifts the heart and expands the soul.