Santa Cecilia and Ketil Fersum are back ... Part.2

We asked a few questions to Ketil Fersum too:

Do you cooperate with Cecilia on her new album? Do you also compose together or is it exclusively Cecila´s authorship?

We mainly work together as a team, but this year Cecilie has been doing a lot on her own. Since I’ve been in Norway and she in Italy she has sent me recordings over the phone and she has been collaborating with Rickard Persson from Sweden. He is a wonderful musician and has given fresh input and perspective into the new songs. Actually, Cecilie and I had our first rehearsal together (in almost four months) two days before the Czech tour. Now we know each other quite well, so it doesn’t take very long to get into the mood. But I had to call up Rickard to get his instruction on how some of the songs should be done.

Santacecilia is basically centered on Cecilie’s compositions. Her way of expression in the lyrics, melody lines, and also vocal form are quite unique to her. So it becomes very natural that she is the main song writer.
Of cause, sometimes we collaborate to put different elements in a song together. She is very impulsive and spontaneously creative, and I am perhaps a little bit more traditional in my approach. Then we try to meet where the song „feels right“. But the biggest challenge is to avoid overplaying, and leave enough space for her voice to express.

What was the difference at the concerts with Sandeep Bodhanker and what were the concerts like when you played alone?

Sandeep Sir, is an old friend and we’ve known him since 2004, when he was a teacher at the Vaitarna Academy. He is extremely gifted as artist, both as a dancer and a singer. And despite his relatively young age he is already an acclaimed master in a noble line of masters in the South Indian artistic tradition.

Actually I never saw him dance in public before. So it was very pleasing to watchhim perform on stage especially at the theaters with lighting. It was decided that we should be there as his surprise guests and we were honored to be so. He worked out the new crowd and gave them realization, and then we could just come in and float on the vibrations. But people mainly came to the programs expecting to see him dance, so there was a timetable and protocol to maintain. And therefore little time for us to get really comfortable on stage.
The difference when we did the exclusive Santacecilia programs was that we felt we first and foremost represented our own music and tradition. Witch of cause is an illusion. But perhaps we appear a little bit more relaxed and confident then.

You also visited a small musical seminar in our Czech ashram. How did you like it there and what are your feelings from the tour?

We were totally spoiled by our brothers and sisters in the Czech collective. They did everything for us. They treated and nurtured us with such love, respect and endless hospitality. And they showered us with credits and compliments nobody could ever deserve or expect. It made such a deep impact on us. The Uvaly Ashram felt like home since day one and we will never forget all the wonderful people we met on the tour.

Perhaps the Czechs don’t necessarily always wear their heart on the outside. But when you do get connected, it overwhelms you like a giant wave. Even though we didn’t speak the same language, our hearts got so connected to the people there.
Unfortunately (due to the tour schedule), we couldn‘t attend the whole seminar. But we loved the parts that we were able to attend. We also got some time to do some musical collaboration with Fabrice Michel on Santacecilias music, which we enjoyed tremendously.

Thank you

Thank you for all the boundless love that washes away all my fears
Thank you for all the beautiful lyrics that lift up my days
Thank you for all the wisdom when you give us childbirth

Thank you for the view of life that is bringing us into eternity
Thank you for all the vision, the clear eyes that I can see through
Thank you for all the clouds that make me want to take a step higher
Thank you for all the resistance within me that makes me wants to dive in the ochean of love

Thank you for pushing me into the water, so that I can be brave enough to swim
Thank you for all beautiful brothers and sisters that are bringing me into awareness
Thank you for being the Mother of all the Mothers
Thank you for bringing me up when I fall down, and kiss away all the tears
Thank you for all the happiness, all the joy and silence

Thank you for the sunrise that washes away my past
Thank you for every beautiful detail, every tiny little drop, every leaf falling down on this earth, every moment when I am with you

Thank you for all the divinity
Thank you for making me your instrument
Thank you for choosing me among millions and billions of people, I am the chosen one to serve You
Thank you for being You!

Cecilie Nirmala Andersen sept-2010


Short samples of music from CD "In your hand" you can find:

HERE

Santa Cecilia and Ketil Fersum are back ... Part. 1

After a short time break, in our blog we would like to re-introduce the singer and composer Cecilia from Norway. Last month she came to our country for a small tour together with Ketil Fersum, a guitar- and drum-player. In our small towns she introduced her new songs from the ready-made album and she also took part in the tour with the Indian dancer Sandeep Bodhanker. We asked a few questions, what´s new:

Hi, Cecilia, I have heard that you spent this summer in Cabela and composed there the songs for your new album. How is the work going and when can we look forward to your new CD?

Hi, I spent three and a half month working as a volunteer in the Castle. I also spent some time with the yogis in Albenga (A three and a half hour drive from Cabella). It was really good for me to be away from my normal environment for some time.
Yes, there will be a new CD.
We will soon be back in studio, but I can‘t promise any specific time for when it will be finished. But definitely in 2011, maybe it will be ready for Shri Adi Shakti puja or before.

There are still new songs coming for the next CD. With me anything can happen. Sometimes things go very fast. It depends on what Mother wants. I trust Her, She knows. As all the rest of my life is depending on Her. Sometimes I have to travel somewhere to find a detail for a song, or to meet the right person. And sometimes the answer it’s already there inside. Or maybe I have to give someone self-realization to open up a new door inside of me. This is how things work for me. Suddenly the CD is there, and I feel that I have not done anything. I don’t push myself, She pushes meJ. And I feel the time is right to start studio working now.

What is the new album about? Will it be also as inspirative as the first one?

The new CD is about „ LOVE“. Love written in different words. For me there is nothing else to write about. When I feel the pure love, it inspires me to write. When I was in Cabella, my heart started to open (as it often does when you are in Cabella). Then I feel more like a universal being. I am not a Norwegian; I am totally a Sahaja yogi. And my heart belongs to all my brothers and sisters. I have met such beautiful brothers and sisters, to whom Shri Mataji has given me the blessing to write new beautiful songs. The more I grow spiritually I feel the love is shining through the music. The new album will be more open, and the songs are simpler, even for the people who are not sahaja yogis. Maybe I could call it more collective songs? It is not for me to judge, but what I know is that I am in love with the music.




On the net I have seen that you got the blessing to play directly for Shri Mataji who presented you and Ketil her darshan. Can you write anything about this precious moment?

It all started before Shri Adi Shakti puja, at Sahasrara puja. I wrote a poem „The kingdom of love“ to Mother. And before I knew what was happening (When we where giving the gifts after the puja), I was standing in front of Mother reading the poem. I can’t describe the spontaneous feeling of love I felt reading the poem. For me this was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. Because I was never expecting it, it just happened. And one of my dreams was to sing one of my own songs in front of Mother. Instead I was standing in front of Her reading a poem.

After this experience, I just knew in a way that I was going to sing in Her presence. I was ready to sing for Her, I felt it. You feel when She is calling for you. And then we were invited. But I remember sitting in the car driving to Genova. I just wanted to sleep. And the only thing that I was thinking of was how can I sing for Her when I feel so sleepy. But when we arrived I woke up from all the clearings.

It still seems like it was in a dream. Sitting in front of Shri Adi Shakti, first I was singing rag Darbari,(“Shri Kalki“ of late Dr. Arun Apte), and then I sang „She“, one of my own songs. Looking Her in the eyes when I was singing. There are just no words for this happening because it is so great. Only tears. It was like I was giving Her back what She had given to me or to us. And it felt amazing when we all sang together some parts of the song. I asked people to sing. It was a very important happening to me. It was after this darshan She gave me the inspiration through the yogis to write new songs. She is the inspiration, She is everything.


Together with your husband Ketil you have recently played in the Czech Republic on a small tour. How did you like playing here and what was the audience like?

I met Lenka Pokorna in the castle at Ganesha puja in Cabella. I had just finished composing two of my new songs. So I had a little concert in the kitchen for her and some Czech yogis introducing the new songs. After the performance Lenka invited me to join the tour. And it immediately felt right, so I accepted

The tour in Czech was a good experience. And it guided me, or pointed out for me, what I am. I am a Sahaja yoga artist. The way of spreading the music is by being in a Sahaj team. When we where out there in Czech, it was not just me as an artist, but the hole team that worked together. I am very thankful for how we where received and taken care of by the collective in Czech and the Uvaly ashram.

I had such a great support from my two team sisters Lenka Pokorna and Keira McGrava from Scotland. I m very pleased, because after this trip I got so many spiritual blessings. It has lifted me up to a new level of meditation and music. This I can not describe in words, I just feel it through the vibrations the strong and beautiful love inside.

Playing for the new people in Czech, I felt often very amused, because it was like they did not want to reveal their feelings. But I could see their feet moving up and down. Some of them felt some tears too because their heart opened up. It was sometimes hard for the system to cope with the clearings. But I quickly forgot it, because of all the love I felt seeing peoples heart opening up. I have learned one thing through my journey in Italy and Czech, and that is to try and make people participate, to show that they are a part of the happening. That is why I call the new songs „more collective“. It is easier for them to sing with me, on some of the parts. And then I feel their hearts open up. We are like children, we like to be entertained, but we also like to be a part of the entertainment.

THE KINGDOM OF LOVE

You decorated me with grace
You cleansed me with ornaments
I am your Sheppard with no pride

You transformed me from
Clouds to raindrops
From the heaven I fell down
Into the ocean
Into the ocean of reality

You decorated my body
With the crown of glory

So that I could melt into oneness

You cleansed me with waves of innocence
And touched my head with fairness

So that I could rest in your cradle

Surrendering into the heavenly gate
The kingdom of love
The kingdom of God

Cecilie 5.april 2010

http://www.myspace.com/santacecilia