That has charted the steps of their spiritual journey that has provided a touchstone in the soul stark night and song the hearts and joy when come to the light over the next hour you will be a witness and companion to our guests virtual path and sacred testimony welcome to Song of the soul this. Was. Due to the last minute seek out this song. So. If you tuned in last week you may have expected to hear this grand finale of songs all highlights from 2017 but I chose to insert a visit with Mother banjo Alan Stanley as she was just about at the deadline for her Kickstarter campaign to put out a new album in the ensuing week I'm happy to say she went over the top but you can still help out if you follow the link from Norton spirit radio dot org And there are still rewards for donors in addition to priming the pump for more for great music. But we are now freed to return to the last 4 months of 2017 and pick and choose some glimpses into the musical buff a that you ingest orally that is by year on Song of the soul we've got 6 samples from the period and will range well in terms of both style and location and spiritual bent will be visiting with a Canadian man who has embraced the Qur'an a New York State woman with writing on the western range on her mind and a Buffalo resident who raps and hip hop's his way to Universal affirmation will start off with an excerpt from the September is that with Heidi Cali on the in a small town over in Nova Scotia what better place to find awesome cure time music that is Hindu Indian devotional singing but 1st I wanted to know what got Heidi to the depths of spirit she exhibits so much in her music you know Heidi I'd like to talk a little bit more about the specifics of spirituality one of the things for me and you just touched it as you were speaking is that I don't like observe her spirituality I mean it's not that it doesn't touch me ever and it's not that I don't think it's good but that for me participatory spirituality is where it sat How did you grow up spiritually and how is this formed in your life your spirituality where did it take you I think for me it's ready has always been deeply personal I did not grow up in a specific tradition it was not even really talked about or discussed the Far as I remember so it's something that developed in me I mentioned already of that being that actually it hard being away and feeling like I was connected to something larger than just my family and that automobile and those urban areas I'm sure I think it was something bigger and so that I think it's probably where my spirituality 1st developed was I'm not. Solitude Bentley around the same time I spent a whole summer on a swing in the backyard of my house and I literally spent most of the summer there and I recall I was writing poetry and I was writing songs and I was contemplating can't Medicaid think on about any of that because I was 9 but when I look back on it I think that's what was happening in the way for me you can actually hear it in my own way and at the time I didn't have a community and I didn't know that there were other people who believed these things who made these kinds of connections or who crave to this kind of experience and so I made to doing it alone then probably even though again it was a conscious joining that Canseco a few years later was maybe one of my 1st taste of that community aspect and that's something that's really stayed with me through a gallon or orchestra in the dance circles that I lead and now also and so couple of years ago I got very involved with singing and leading character and that has been very transformative for me because again that it's very critical period he was saying it's very powerful for me to sing with other folk to really be connected in that way through song in a very active way did you go right away to being a care town leader or were you groomed for this with other local cure time leaders Well it's well and sometimes you know if we want to make things happen we just have to kind of jump out the window and make a. Little bit of both certainly I was taking some vocal lessons with my good friends are Nasser who is much more experienced with your kind than I am and the fact he was the coolest and a fabulous teacher so that really helped and there are some groups in a nearby city and Halifax so I was able to go and join with them but now it's been a community of polish and we've been learning about this together and cure time comes out of India when the 1st places I think that I heard about it was on a beat. Salcombe break I think George Harrison was the one who was most strongly influenced by it out of the Beatles though they all did their India trip and learned that where did you get your 1st exposure probably the same place. Thank you George. So you'd like to share some of that I'm pretty sure I would love you Maybe we could start with the track shock he gave me k.k. Oh this is that celebration of the divine feminine and that creative power at our celebration of the Divine Mother and the common answer so you hear me to the close and that quickened his back so I just dive right into a shack to Davey This is Heidi Kali Jani and a group she's part of friends founder of hearts wide open dot ca is the website sakti gave you. I hope you all experience the kind of heart opening that most of us get when we are in the presence of Cura town the call and response that you heard in Shakti Davy performed by Heidi Kali ani for her song of the soul with the heart wide open project is much more ground covered in the interview with Heidi Kali Ani an ardent spirit radio dot org including the Spelling out of the heart wide open Project which is not performing I misspoke there but a more integrated communal activity from with cell Nova Scotia we're going to travel west and south to Chicago Illinois to connect up with Laura joy I had a great time talking with her in October of 2017 before the winter arrived that's especially significant to someone like Laura who's lived much of her life in Phoenix and is much less adapted to the Midwest midwinter which is name one of her songs but not the one that we're going to listen to here today before I invited her to share an incredibly danceable song I wanted to get some of the background on her mazing team the savage beast abilities so I asked Laura Joy there are some comments about you that I. I found various places on your websites or on cd baby were people who get some of your courting and I wonder if they come from you or if someone else attributed them to you I'd like you to weigh in on this one of them is that Laura Joy has been known to quell dark angry bars full of ornery old Irishman I'm just wondering if that's an actual event that you can point to heart where that comes from it was an actual event in New York City where the 1st time I think I played an open mike in New York City and there was a brawl that broke out and one of them literally landed on my what I was terrified and you know in hindsight found it could be really funny. And I found myself over the years singing it and a lot of what I would call in appropriate venue in terms of my style versus the surrounding and it always amazed me that one performance of t.v. Next whan flat would get all the rowdy drunk angry now and to quiet down and actually listen. So that's where that came from and on cd baby I saw another common says acoustic folk capable of calming bloodthirsty Wolverine's given that the old wire sman is a real event so when were you hanging out with blood thirsty Wolverines Oh I don't know I don't even remember where that one is that's still up there. But yeah I did have a friend how me that she would listen to me while driving because it would suit her road rage so I just sort of picked that and went with that I've had a number of people calm me that they would think of me while they're cleaning that how there are driving or doing something frustrating that ground them and I feel like that is my all commit purpose what I'm trying to calm people down and I think that the service that if we didn't wow. Well thank you for performing that service and I'd like to ask of you another service would you share another song for your song of the song here or what do you take the sure we can it was on your release between our words a why is that coming in here what does this song mean for you it's hard for me not to dance to this song. And somehow maybe you can do that because you don't believe you can dance but this is good stuff why does it come into your song the song because of my back song one of my bad it makes everyone happy and they can't thing and I can play it at a gig where I'm expected only to play cover them people don't have a problem with that. It with another one where I had another song rare a lot of my songs that I really actually like having a little heed to work one of them I mean that and this one was the phrase are the actual mile and I kind of wound the concept of white taking a while but moving faster and you know everyone's experience. Well either stand up folks or get your rear end deep fear moving around on your seat great song for joy to you so while. They sing you the. Last lonely. And part of their body I am. Back and I get young lady to come home to the thing so you know mom. My. Dad saw. Him. Someone. They know when him back. Lost and Found dreams are. Flying him down please. Get a young lady to go. To the. Showed me some. How out. Someone. Like you can eat so why. Not us. Live where. You live when it. Comes. Close when you. Take a break to play. Limiting. The zags you. Hire. To make the life you are like. The last. Little you can make the last. Today's guest for Song of the soul is Laura joy Web site Laura join using dot com link on her spirit radio dot org from her. Cording 2015 I think it came out between our words the song is takes a while listen to the full interview with Laura joy on Northern Spirit radio dot org and come and learn about more talented artists like her at the great river folk festival held in the cross Wisconsin the last weekend in August after all that is where I 1st heard about Laura Next up for a song the soul sampler from end of 2017 is a local gas to I had on Song of the soul in the end of October that is local for me I 1st heard Jen Hazen as part of journey on the Jets at the plus here in Auclair Wisconsin and I knew I wanted to have her shining presence join me on the air so I could introduce her to you Little did I know I was becoming friends with a man jolly desperado Jen He isn't what the people I work with and my you know the executive directors have always said and I wonder if it isn't a little bit of a math but they've always said that I always know when people are b.s. Ing. Been there done that said that I don't know that that's necessarily true but that's what they'd like to think that people can't get things over me with substance use disorders not mental health disorders over substance use disorders it's not unusual to have involvement in the criminal justice system and so with substance use disorders many people come to our place or come into counseling with goals that maybe aren't consistent with the purpose of counseling So to appease a wife to appease a probation officer or parole officer to appease the courts and when they ask me whether or not I have done drugs I do tell them and I'm in recovery and that I've been in recovery for 27 years what I don't tell them is that I myself have been in prison I was in prison for for. And a half years for federal conspiracy charges I have a weird family situation other family members that have been incarcerated and I wrote a song called prison runs in my family do you tell guys that they're hot to know Jan You say you should know 1st of all sometimes I do and I've had with late life dating it could be a little confusing anyway but that situation is that it's not unusual to attract well qualified now and with the right stuff right like you know all the adults whores and stuff like that and oddly there are conservative beliefs. And I think one of the reasons is I'm 56 and I think I like to think that I look a little younger so I think that one of their is their track to me is because they can feel like they have a younger looking woman on their arm but actually now feel like they're stepping too much up too far outside of their age range that's what I used to thank So this was kind of the way I would feel the science kind of the way I would feel when I would be gauging these guys is like you know I look one way about my experiences totally different and it would freak you out. Get freaked out folks like. By Jen Hayes and here she is prison runs in my family. This is a true story. Where it is. Clear . Because prison. Thank. You. Because prison. You. Can. See. You. The times are here again with John Hayes and prison runs in my family and you know identify with that a bit you know I I come from a family where. Both sides of the law and. I don't find it may be quite is off putting is maybe these conservative people that these men want to ask do they recoil in horror or what is the reaction I have varied responses I've had varied responses never want to say that it isn't as important today. I've been out of prison since 1999 so that experience is now quite a distance away so it's not as prevalent but I think when we have these experiences that don't appear to jibe with what society expects or whatever that we feel separated and apart and I think that's how many of my patients feel when they come into the opposite that's one of the reason say asked that question so it was something especially when I was trying to do the dating thing that was kind of right out in front for me and I thought it was important that people know I don't think it's that important today I don't mind people knowing but I don't think it's important I don't think it defines me anymore and some of the reactions I would get the one that shocked me the most was the guy would kind of sit back when I kind of told a little bit of my my background my story and they would say I guy would say wow I can't beat that you. Can't beat it and I don't think what do you talking about I want. You to beat a lot of people and you treat that go away right I don't know you know it used to be one of those kind of tests like can you handle this right how to handle this but now like it's part of my experience but it's not it doesn't define me any more I went on to talk to John about much more in the October 2017 interview for Song of the soul including her use of music in the healing work that she does with those having a o d a Issues such a wonderful mixture of talent purpose and fun and I'm grateful to have her in my community which is so Claire Wisconsin the home of Northern Spirit radio Webley and that's Northern Spirit radio dot or r g more than 12 years of music interviews there and we always try to make it easy for you to find our guests and see what music they've shared where. Or were broadcast much more drop us a comment when you visit so we can know you too and then you'll notice that little don't need button where you can do your part to sustain this full time work 1st place you should donate however is your local community radio station like w.h.y. Yes here in Auclair where this program started from before it's spread across the USA All over there are great community radio stations getting out news in music that you won't hear anywhere else start by making sure that your local station has what it needs to keep up with this crucial service to your community will get moving along now to our next sample of Song of the soul programming from 2017 this one from Buffalo New York and this is some rap hip hop music by a very talented guy Alex meet also known as my rap name is Alex and I asked Alex to give us a sample of his socially and lightened music the song comes from circa 20062007 after I had visited an intentional community for younger folks and was really really feeling it it was a community of people who really valued each other's talents and gifts and really were radically wanted to get the best for and out of each other I just had a completely different feeling coming out of that I felt like prior to that experience I had of very very good concrete sense of what it was I was against and I spent a whole lot of my time railing against it and I feel that subsequent to that experience I could now understand what it was that I was for so that I could spend time working towards what it is I did want to see in the world and in the immediate aftermath of that Experian. Since I wrote and absolutely blank the stream of consciousness that needs to be edited down to about a 3rd of what actually goes on but that remaining 3rd is something all winners heard is all the winners by Alex Meade also known as my rap name is Alex. Time girls don't have the. Words for the. Web voice not work for somebody who says a magazine of this would be. The same. To. See their. Son for. Cheese or for. I want to know I had to do this for some good for. The women of the for. The men of the earth. Still you know I still. Like you know what I. Mean come on. Come on the scene. Of these this is so. This is. Visions for most of. Us could. Say. The same. Right to the child you get to see. The. Homes but not see the she moaned that's good enough. To get on earth gets changed the whole world. Was turned over to see. You touch me and would be born. In the sun we'll just fall into the. River demisting without her and with the change to the strains. You want with. Me you know. Since the dawn of her memory. In the mud. On and on and on and now. On. His makes. Does not mean he. Says things do not mean. The moments in his time in the big. Green Zones for the few gifts. For. There are no so they were all made. Every moment are shams the moon the stars and the sun. For your dreams. We stand together we hold as one family no matter where they were designed to be born from but read it through because I know from day one. Is enough everything we live with and I'm an easy thing it's a January since the season I was free give it a week of the way in my bounce around. Oh my. Own. Dreams. Come. To know it's. Wonderful composition of. Words music melody creativity all of that together mixed up in all winners by my rap name is Alex when you want to check out Alex Meade go to my rap name is Alex dot com links on nerd spirit radio dot org And he's here today as my guest for Song of the soul Let's talk a little bit about some more of the content in that song one of the lines that caught my ear as I was going through was demonstrate without anger some people will get absolutely furious at schoo if you say his shouldn't be showing anger when you're demonstration what we need is raids of the machine you know and I might even be one of those people again I would just say that like in the immediate aftermath of feeling those feelings I was very intent on building what it is that we do want to see so I mean demonstration might even that it necessarily refer to what people think of as a traditional them all but just sort of demonstrating how it is to live with intention and it's so good to have intentional talented musicians like Alex who was my song of the soul Gus back in November last year that's just a taste of Alex meads music the full show on the Northern Spirit radio dot org website a couple weeks after talking to Alex who's in Buffalo New York I got that would Warne's be on the phone in Kitchener Ontario just a couple hours over the border from Alex besides being a very talented musician of the folk or singer songwriters genre that wood is Muslim and there's sometimes a complicated relationship between woods passion for music and the Qur'an and some of that complexity came out as I asked him to share a song it's a thing about 12 years there. This song I started writing it many many years ago when I was actually out for a walk in the woods in and around my hometown had a dream one night that I was flying over those snow covered fields and in my dream I landed and everyone gathered around and how were you able to fly like that and I told him you know it's easy just have to stop trying so hard just relax and you'll Sly's I wrote a song I don't know what to do with it and about 12 years later I had an experience in a mosque where I had been there for the Friday prayer and it was a pretty conservative community the sermon that we happened to be about music and the person giving the sermon was very against music and its effects on people and their hearts and their minds and as a musician who had just come off the road and had met a lot of young people who really found a great deal of connectivity and peace through music it was very hard for me to listen to that sermon and that was kind of the 1st time that Ira sort of stood up in the middle of a sermon and just turned and faced the opposite direction of the congregation and found myself walking out and picking my shoes and going for a hike in the hills around Colorado and I realized on that day that sometimes the boxes that we put ourselves in they can help us find our direction but sometimes we just get our heads out of those boxes as well and go back to the natural creation of this world it helps to recalibrate our faith and our connectivity to God So that's kind of what the song's about for me is finding that connectivity to God through nature through the world it's been created by God The song is out seeing fields it's my guess for today song Soul to mourn speak here is seeing the fields. Briskly rising soon the sky. Thrashing. Hopes to never. Beneath my shame. That would warn Speedy has a cd out seeing the fields and that's title track I think you shared the authorship of that song or creation. Of the song with Idris Phillips Is that right do you still obsess and tell me about that collaboration and who in 3 says well I had the pleasure and the owner of the meeting Edris probably in around 20032004 he had just comes my website and he is a singer songwriter multi instrumentalists and a very talented producer in those days used based in Los Angeles he had also embraced the Koran many years earlier and he had found a lot of difficulty as well being accepted as a professional musician within a very conservative Muslim community in Arizona in those days was sort of just feeling a little isolated in that found my website kind of google searched Muslim musicians and my name popped up and he said I went to your website and there was a Muslim with a guitar and I just felt like I had found my brother and and so after having interviewed that would warrant speak I tracked down Reese Philips for a song of the soul program that I did with him in December and I hope you'll listen that show at Northern Spirit radio dot org But the last excerpt I'm going to share here today was the visit I had with a list with Aaron Kamler in the 1st part of December and I use this to tie up this sampling of Song of the soul programs from 2017 I got to know and really appreciate Elizabeth through the 1st 3 songs she shared and then I asked her for another and it came with the story of a life changing direction in Lizbeth's path and shortly after I got divorced I mentioned that we're a couple decades ago now I would I guess you could pretty grim and battered so I thought what better revenue than a road trip so I had bought my very own remarks were gotta go get drive where I don't know. Anymore where you drive someone's car have them why they are the move anyway and get up driving all over the country both provide well. While I have the story going on in my head that I did that they have to be where I land. Or cool horse drawn carriage kind of Western with lots of rabbit greeting Cowboys were on the ground then one of the cowboy the most tender hearted of the pond so my own love and that God made writing the reins and I. I am. I that we do to get by anyway though that work out grow pale. Our hearts sing out in all different ways sand and folks the heart of the spirit and can learn to sing South Korea cowgirl still. Elizabeth Aaron Campbell or has a river of change flowing through her. And it came out of her mouth as a cowgirls tale it's on her c.v. It was released just recently the weight of mortal skin I hope you'll check out more of my full visits with Elizabeth that would Alex John Laura and Heidi and all the other fine guess side had on Song of the soul recently the links are all there on Norton spirit radio dot org Remember to support your local community radio station these fine artists and to find your songs of the soul that lift you up and carry you in good directions we've got new guests coming up next week so tune in and treat yourself to some really great music and stories when you join us next week for Song of the soul the theme music for Song of the soul is by Chris Williamson and it's called Song of the soul My name is Mark helps me and this is a Northern Spirit radio production you can listen to this program again track down the list of songs included and a whole lot more on my website neither. In spirit radio. You to share your Song of the soul with my listeners just contact me via my website and please join me weekly for Song of the soul you can. Heave. You can hear you can sing up this song. Not. The Tom Tom. You can say you. Saima Mohsin that. corporations it comes from you our f.c.c. Licenses for noncommercial broadcasting so would you please help if you go to our website and click on the Donate tab you will be able to make a contribution to what we're all about serving San Diego from high atop monument peak in Logan the mountains where k. And broadcasting live at 89 point one f.m. Online it k n s j daughter org and streaming live on your smartphone using the today radio app . Think of social justice t n s j 89 point one This guy. Painter. Kind. Of. Campaign. Saying anything against anus.