CANDACE HOLT, musician, songwriter.
Nature is healing
Music is Nature
Music is healing
I grew up in Washington State; my mother played piano and sang, and my dad was an artist. Born during WWII, I seem to have absorbed a deep longing for peace in this world, and music has been a part of this longing. As an elder now with a long musical history, at seven I played accordion, then trombone through school. In my early teens I made up tunes on the piano, and bought my first guitar.
Most of my early years we lived in Yakima and went to the Congregational (now United) Church. Gary Puckett--later with Gary Puckett and the Union Gap--and his family also went there. I was very moved around age eight, sitting with my family at the church Christmas program in dimmed light, listening to Gary play "Star of the East" on his clarinet. Then at 13 I was listening to Beethoven's 6th Symphony on the radio and had a deep experience of how music reaches into our souls, at the same time bringing healing to our bodies and hearts. Sometimes at night I'd make up tunes on piano I heard as possible beginnings of a symphony. Then I'd go to bed and keep humming them.
In college I began classical guitar and have played it ever since. I've played piano, french horn dulcimer, recorder and still play mandolin and bouzouki. In the 1970's I took classical mandolin and took lessons in folk mandolin from Jody Stecher. I took classical guitar from Curt Dunphy, who had studied with Venezuelan guitarist Alirio Diaz. Important musical influences in early life were my mother playing piano, hearing Marian Anderson in person, and classical music.
In the 1960's I loved the resurgence of folk music and heard Ravi Shankar in person. I attended concerts by Carlos Montoya, Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez. Other influences were The New Lost City Ramblers, the Balfa Brothers, John Jacob Niles, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, the Paul winter Consort, k d lang, and The Band. Other favorites are Tracey Chapman, Bruce Cockburn, and Jeremy Dutcher. I was quite enthralled hearing the old folksongs brought through the work of Alan Lomax, and old recordings of NW Pacific coastal Indigenous people singing traditional music, made by Marius Barbeau. In the late 60's I was in Tehran for a couple months and acquired a love of Iranian music.
I started writing songs in my mid twenties and when I lived in rural NE Washington State I played and sang in a string band, the Stranger Creek Minstrels. My interest in old timey music was begun in college with The New Lost City Ramblers and Seattle’s Tall Timber String Band. Then that grew at my sessions with Jody Stecher.
I attended the first two Festivals of Fiddle Tunes in the late ’70s in Port Townsend. There I spent a lovely evening in a group singing shape note hymns, led by Jody Stecher. At the festival I played in a band led by Alice Gerrard. Some evenings a few of us would play Cajun music with Dewey Balfa and Mark Savoy; I’ll never forget the 2nd year, after Dewey had lost his two brothers (part of the band) he and I ran into each other on the lawn there and just hugged–I felt his loss deeply.
When in Seattle for awhile I busked a few times and sang at a cafe in the Pike Place Market and at Mamma’s Restaurant. For a time I was in a women’s band: Veils of Illusion.
Another Seattle band I was in was SHE; we decided to make a cassette tape of our songs and hired Seattle musician Steven Halpern to record us. I was so fascinated with his own mystical music that it inspired my later recordings with me doing all the vocals and instrumentals.
Then back on the land we formed another women’s band, Dishpan Hands, and played for weddings, dances, and went to Seattle to perform for the International Women’s Day celebration there in 1982. We joined the Musicians’ Union and had a contract playing for school kids. In the bands we played some of my songs.
As I wanted to live rurally, and knew I was not cut out for being on the road, late nights and city life, I was happy living with and being inspired by deer, coyotes, birds, forests, frogs and crickets–and playing with other musicians when the opportunities came. The music of Nature has always been healing for me. When in the mountains my heart feels at home; I have loved skiing hiking, and backpacking in them. Here in Nelson there are mountains (not at great heights) every direction one looks.
For about 14 years I played french horn with the Woodlands orchestra at Kettle Falls, WA. This was a great experience to be able to have in our rural area. After I immigrated to Canada and lived near Nelson, BC, I sang in a women’s group–the Images Ad Hoc Singers. We sang at various events in the area and had a lot of fun at out practices. I also was in a women’s group called the Peppermill Bluegrass Band, which opened for shows by the Weird Sisters, the Be Good Tanyas, and for Kinnie Starr. We also performed at the first music festival held at the Doukhobor retreat at Whatshan Lake BC.
After hoping to find a sufi guide for many years, I was initiated in 2002. Then later I was certified as a dance leader with the Dances of Universal Peace, which was the inspiration of sufi teacher Murshid Samuel Lewis (SAM). We formed a dance leader group here and led dances regularly until the Covid era. I have created some dances/songs which are on the Dance website. My sufi name is Khabira. For the last 25 years much of the music in my life has been playing and singing with others either in sufi gatherings or at the dances. I am so pleased that the larger stream of sufism of which I am part–Chisti— is one which strongly emphasizes music as a valued spiritual practice.
On youtube some of the songs have Arabic Words, as in the Zikr group. Zikr is a spiritual practice of remembrance. These tunes all have dance movements to them. For the last sixteen years I’ve had my kayak (had a canoe before that), and some of the zikr tunes came as I was paddling out in beautiful places.
The song “Ahura Mazda” is in the ancient Persian Avestan language and refers to the Divine and aspects of the Divine. In the “HU Lullaby” HU in sufi tradition points to all of sufism, meaning ‘love.’
In the group of Wazaif (sacred names) for healing I give a meaning of each word as the piece begins. ‘Allah’ means (al-) everything and (la) nothing; it is not a gendered word but includes all. It does not mean ‘god’ and it derives from the verb waliha, to love madly. Allah is the (divine) Essence.
The songs in total came to me over a 55 year period. The recordings I did over the last 26 years. In the final collection are pieces which are recorded to be bilateral–with some sound alternating into the listener’s left and right ears. These will be designated as ‘B-L.’ In my years as a clinical counselor I had advanced training in EMDR, which can help resolve disturbing memories or issues through the bilateral stimulation of the brain.
Notes on tunes: “HU Lullaby” refers in part to my experiences with shamanism. “Road to Lares” was inspired by an adventure in Peru with a friend–to Lares Hot Springs and back. On this treacherous road high in the Andes there were many markers where crosses were left to mark a death. I actually decided it would be fine if I died on that road, as I was already so marveled being in the Andes. “Southwood” arose when I was outside with my mandolin and envisioning feng shui. “Soul’s Flight” came from my grief when a sufi couple suddenly lost their adult son. “Through Granada” reflects memories of 1967 when hitchhiking through Spain with a woman from the American art school I was attending in Paris. On spring vacation when in Andalusia we got a ride with two friendly brothers in their old pickup. As we went through Granada in the dark of night we did not get to see the Alhambra. So years later came the tune. “Blue Heron Zikr” came into my hands and the bouzouki strings as I stood on my deck above the river. “River Zikr” and “Thunder Zikr” both were inspired from kayaking the river. “Branwen’s Raven” is a musical tribute to the ancient Celtic tales in the Mabinogion. “Warm Wind” just floated in as I was playing the guitar outside on the Summer Solstice. “Ya Halim” is a sufi calling to Nature into one’s soul. “Kali Durge” pays homage to the Hindu Mother deity who was brave and vicious enough to save the Earth from outer destruction. “Corona Borealis” (crown in north) I named for a night many years ago when I was walking and gazing at that constellation thinking of our ancestors; Theseus (or the goddess Venus) had given Ariadne a crown, and when Theseus later deserted her, the crown was transferred to the sky. “Dawa Dzong” refers to Tibetan and other monasteries visited by Lama Anagarika Govinda.
Link to my Youtube channel, click here. The music on youtube I call ‘homemade’ as I used my own recording equipment–no professional recording person or studio was involved. I did the best I could–not perfect by any means; I just hope some of the songs may touch some listeners. If anyone would like a copy of lyrics for any songs, I hope to get those ready for some selections.
khabiracandaceblog 