REMINDER: The Idisi in The Park-St Louis Park

The Idisi in the Park!

Come and catch The Idisi at St Louis Park's Veterans amphitheater in Wolfe Park
Thursday, Aug 2nd at the Open Mike series.

Show starts at 7pm and goes til about 8pm. One of the last shows of our season and it's FREE!

http://www.stlouispark.org/events.html

An open THANK YOU to the Wyld Chicas

Ladies,

Thank you for a very beautiful, fun, and productive rehearsal last night. There were so many growth spurts, moments of "ahh" and laughter..it was a delight to my battered heart chakra.

The Scribes will put forth notes soon..just wanted to say that the first chanty- WHOO -ha left me quietly in tears at the end of it...it was such a proud mamma hen moment for me and Goddess smiled in my heart as She held space for us all.

For those who were not physically present, our first chant was for ourselves, as sisters, and encompassed all who Have Been, Are, and Will Be with us in the circle. I hope you all felt that in the Ether.

This has been a very challenging journey for us thus far...pioneering/remembering... how we do this as a circle of circles upon circles of women all over the planet, and thru Time itself.

I never claimed to be the most awesome director /musician...all I can ever do is show up and do my best..and even that is not consistent.I am learning everyday what I think I can do can become real, and how the impossible can happen when I allow....you all are a gift.

Last night was a culmination of so many countless hours of time, tears and patience we have all sacrificed, and the yield was so simple and beautiful to behold...it moved me to tears.

I hope, on your own paths, and in your circles...your support folks and loved ones see how much growth and beauty resides in each an every one of you...and how the intertwining of The Idisi's path with your soul walk has brought to you some riches and strengths you did not know you had....as well as sisters .

You all glowed last night...it was a thing of such Beauty.

I look forward to singing with you all again soon. To all our sisters who walk in the World...we miss you.

Thank you for sharing your gift of Self with this vision of The Idisi.

Namaste'
Dayna Jean Wolter

The Idisi-Director

The Idisi in the Park!

Come and catch The Idisi at St Louis Park's Veterans amphitheater in Wolfe Park
Thursday, Aug 2nd at the Open Mike series.

Show starts at 7pm and goes til about 8pm. One of the last shows of our season and it's FREE!

http://www.stlouispark.org/events.html

Open Audition workshop on Saturday August 11th,2012 11am-6pm
for The Idisi, an unconventional chorus of wyld womyn

www.theidisi.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Idisi/369972595954
http://theidisi.blogspot.com/
http://www.reverbnation.com/theidisi

The Idisi is a gathering of women intent on singing and opening the world up to the sonic healing, especially that of the Divine Feminine.

We are a chorus of women raising the vibrations of ourselves, and of those we encounter through music of many cultures, faith practices,
and life paths.

The Idisi come together with great love, respect, and honor among ourselves as artists and access the healing properties of sonics to share that energy with as many people as we can.

Bring a prepared a cappella piece (no accompaniment) 16-28 bars long..can be simple..just need to hear you.

Audition will be a 2-3 hour process as it is a rehearsal sample with members of the group, as well as interview and vocal coaching with Director

To set up audition time, please send email to queenvalkyrie at hotmail dot com and use "Idisi" in subject line.

We are a unique bunch and are looking for more sisters to join us on the journey...waiting for you....and yes, I am looking at you...lol.

Rhythms of Life

This past Saturday, The Idisi were guest performers at the Women's Drum Center Annual benefit concert "Rhythms of Life" at the Jeanne d'Arc Auditorium at St Catherine's University.

If you are not aware of the Women's Drum Center..I HIGHLY encourage you to check them out.

www.womensdrumcenter.org

The center is a vital part of our arts community in St Paul and the Twin Cities at large. The wondrous women who inhabit the many different drum technique classes, ensembles such as Drumheart, Women Who Groove, HeartRHYTHMS, and Million Women Drum Circle are truly women with Change in their hearts, and on their minds.

The concert was a wide spectrum of rhythms and drumming styles, and included  The Idisi performing several songs with various drummers. Most of the songs featured being from West Africa such as Yemaya, Baba la gumbala, and the beautiful ensemble piece we all did to end the show, Oya De, celebrating the Goddess/Orisha Oya, and the Winds of Change.

The entire evening was one of celebration, amazing skill, vibration, and joy. The featured dancers also brought such grace and beauty to the stage, I could not help but beam the entire time.

As I stated to my Idisi chicas at our centering pre-show chat...we had a lot of "twatenal torque" (I am so trademarking that) on that stage..and it was glorious!

The audience was ready to play and were warm and inviting. The Idisi had a fantastic time. It was also beautiful to be invited to sing a channeled solo piece at the opening of the show with Cheri Bunker's frame drum women. It was truly special and moving for me.

I am heartened, literally, by the resurgence of women stepping forward and taking the reins to enact change in the world. I see so many women who have entered their Crone stage leading the way, as if to say "Come sisters, we have much work to accomplish, let my wisdom be a beacon". As a women embarking upon my 40's...and finding myself in a leadership role I did not expect to be in...it gives me comfort to know so many are coming forth to be a force for change in a very Divine feminine way. Through community, through our open hearts, and through the arts....these gentle..but fierce... Winds of Change usher in a Great Remembering of what is possible for us all.

These Winds keep us all moving forward, however slow, despite the barrage of "you can not/should not/will not's" from the prevailing dualistic mentality.

I endeavor to keep my Faith strong that we WILL, because events such as this remind me...we always DO.

Thank you Marisa Cuneo-Linsly, Cheri Bunker, Krissy Bergmark, and all the fantastic drummers of the Women's Drum center for including The Idisi in your celebrations. May your organization celebrate many more years of community service, and keep the rhythm of Life going strong.

Namaste'
Dayna Jean Wolter
The Idisi -Founder and Director

 The Idisi perform again on Sunday, April 29th, 2012 at Patrick's Cabaretin Mpls MN at 7pm-9pm
as special guests of Pirates of Dreamtime.

 Join us for "Beltane Dreams: Songs of The Ether" A Sacred Sonics Performance and Ritual

For tickets click here

Emergence by Tangee

I’m struggling to quantify the experiences of the past few days.  Typically I find writing to be the easiest form of expression, but revealing this is proving to be something of a challenge.  I am still conflicted about what happened and what it means.  Perhaps it is best to simply tell the story and let you draw your own meanings and conclusions from it.

Let me say firstly that I find it very difficult to deal with certain emotions.  Grief, anger, pain and sorrow are particularly hard for me to experience.  I’ve spent a great deal of time learning how to avoid feeling these things.   On the rare occasions where I have allowed these feelings to surface, I’ve found the resulting loss of self-control to be intolerable.  This is not to say that I am a cold or detached person.  I am very warm and loving.  I make friends easily and find my place in social groups pretty easily.  I am almost always the counselor or the care giver.  I say these things so you will understand the absolute bewilderment and horror that gripped me when I found myself on my knees in my living room, forehead pressed into the carpet, weeping and wailing and screaming for MEANING on an otherwise perfectly pleasant Tuesday afternoon.

Nothing precipitated this explosion of emotion.  No one said unkind words to me, cut me off in traffic, or otherwise made me feel less than.  It was an average to fair day in so far as interactions with others might be measured.  However, honest reflection tells me that I had been carrying a very heavy load of grief, anger and sorrow about my mother’s cancer and the impact it has on my life and our family.  I was angry she had hidden it from me.  I was angry that I had uprooted my urban life and given up my place on a waiting list for a loft I really wanted because I felt it was more important that I be near her during her illness.  I was sad to have lost that lifestyle and had not grieved for the possibilities.  I was angry with her siblings, who called me constantly, and made me feel like I was not being as forthcoming with information as I should be and I was angry at them for not being here with her.  I was sad that my son’s visit had been brief and that he had chosen a college so far away from me.  I had been carrying these things, refusing to feel these bad feelings, for weeks, if not months.  

So, when I found myself on that floor, demanding that the Source tell me my purpose, I was shocked, amazed and amused.  If I had the attention of the Divine- why was I asking about myself?  Why wasn’t I demanding a cure for my mother?  Why wasn’t I demanding that her siblings be nearer?  Why wasn’t I demanding that my son decide to go to college in the state where I had a mainline to EVERYTHING and I wanted to know what I was supposed to do with my life?  Was I really that selfish?

And, so, rebuffed by silence, I picked myself up off the floor and went about my evening as if nothing had happened.  I phoned some friends and discussed what I thought was my first nervous breakdown.  I went to bed, exhausted, perplexed and more than a little pissed off.  The next day I woke up and found some chakra meditations with my i-phone.  I lay down upon the very same floor I had been screaming and crying on the night before and relaxed.  I meditated for an hour and slept for an hour longer.  I visited my mother.  I picked up a friend and drove out to a sacred site.  We chanted and prayed and shared.  I climbed up on a massage table and let two energy workers lay hands on me- something I’d never allowed before in my life.  And while I lay there, listening to the music and feeling the warm hands on my skin, I felt all my anger and grief and anxiety and sorrow slip away.  I began to hear a story in my head.

The next morning I woke early and wrote an entire book in under an hour.  I thought it was a miracle- the answer to my calls for guidance!  Only now do I recognize the true miracle: I let go.  The space that had been occupied by all that hurt, and the energy I had been using to keep it contained was transformed.    Where there once was grief and sorrow and anger, there was now the voice of the Divine, a connection to my Source, and a feeling of absolute certainty.  If I could wish one wish for you today, it would be that after reading this you decide to sit back, examine your uglies and then let them go.  Let go of your burdens and use your hands to hold onto your dreams instead.  That space inside you was made for something bigger, better and far more beautiful than anger, grief or sorrow. 

 Just let go.

~ A wyld womyn called Tangee

Music as a Method of Healing by Tanya Brody

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.

These first five lines of William Congreve’s poem, The Mourning Bride, (1697) show the power that music has had over the human race for centuries. When we speak of “being lifted up” by a piece of music or “being moved,” we are referring to the energy that courses through our bodies when we hear a glorious set of notes strung together in a way that appeals to us. 

Sound travels in waves and these vibrations affect us physically as well as emotionally. Some people put on soothing music to get rid of a headache. Others perform their yoga routine to music, presumably for something enjoyable to listen to, but the sound also enhances the movement, adding to the healing potential.

Our group, The Idisi, uses sound vibration as a healing modality. By setting an intention, let’s say, healing the waters, or sending healing energy to a specific person or area of the world, and allowing our subconscious to voice whatever feels “right” at that moment, our group of 30 women works together to create amazing sound healing and send it wherever it needs to go. 

Please keep in mind, this is a group of women of all different backgrounds, vocal ability and training, all opening our mouths and letting sound come out. By opening ourselves to the task and hand and to each other, we are able to create some of the most powerful and amazing music ever heard, and never to be heard again.  Each piece we perform is unique in its beauty. The only way to “recreate” any of what we do is through recording, which we have done, producing our debut album, “chanty- WHOO-hah.”

By understanding the deeply spiritual nature of sound, we are able to channel it through our voices to where we wish it to go. This is not some superhuman feat; this is a talent everyone in the world has if they choose to do it. One of the great wonders of music is that it is universal. When a person starts singing in any language, people can enjoy the sound and feel the rhythm, no matter where they are from or whether or not they understand the words. That same power exists in all of us and takes little or no training to invoke.

In all energy work, the theory is that the energy created or channeled will go where it is needed. The beauty of music is that its sound enters through the ears but the sound waves go through the entire body, sending energy throughout the system. What’s more, because music is something that exists in every culture, there is no natural aversion to something that is “different” in terms of receiving the healing energy, as sometimes happens with people who are unfamiliar with energy work in its many forms.

The power of music as a healing modality is substantial and should not be ignored. Modern medicine is taking this to heart, with music therapists becoming much more common in hospitals and musicians coming into hospice situations to soothe the way for those who are at the end of life. 

So take some time to listen to music today, after all, it’s good for you.

Tanya Brody is a professional Harper/Singer/Songwriter, copywriter and member of The Idisi. Her music can be found at www.tanyabrody.com. 

You can learn more about and hear The Idisi at our website, www.theidisi.com Our album of vibrational chant, “chanty- WHOO- hah” is available on our site, through amazon, CD Baby and iTunes