I am initiating a project of finding and gathering songs and stories of indigenous children from all over the world.  I would like to collect the voices of the children of the Maori, of the African tribes, of the Inuit, of indigenous children everywhere, and raise them up thus preserving a vanishing beauty.

Music is the original way that stories were told, and in many ways it represents the original story, the story of humankind.  So many of the old stories are being lost to the rapidly spreading, homogenizing influences of modern culture.  I feel that this is a tragedy, and that much of our understanding of who are, where we come from, and of our relationship to the earth may soon be lost.

The stories and songs of any given ethnic group reflect a lot about the people’s world view, and the children of that culture have a very unique perspective.  They are, perhaps, more attuned to the natural rhythms and vibrations of the earth than adults, and their stories and songs reflect that level of awareness.  By raising their voices up, we may begin to recapture that innocence and bring our vibration back into harmony with that of the earth.

Can the earth be healed with children’s voices?

I believe so!  The Earth has a vast number of energetic centers, each one with its own unique vibration, its own inherent resonance.  That resonance creates not a specific pitch, but more of a harmonic spectrum of sound, a song perhaps, or even an entire symphony rich in color and texture.  Diverse areas of the globe vibrate differently from one another, creating a wide variety of “earth-music”.

Children hear this more clearly than adults, and the vibration of the earth is resonant in their songs and stories.  This is why the songs of the children are so important.  If we can find the positive resonance within the songs of various places, then we can learn how to heal the place.  This can potentially be very healing of the entire planet and its people.  When we can remember the joyfulness of childhood and see the world through eyes of filled with magical wonder, what a different place the world will be!

For this reason, I intend to focus on collecting stories and songs of joy, both written and recorded.  While there have been numerous tales about the pain in countries, I feel that we don’t need any help in experiencing pain and sorrow.  Joy is what is most needed now!

With these stories and songs I intend to:

• Create a database and website, cataloging the collected songs and stories.
• Discover the similarities, the common threads and connections.
• Create the stories of the peoples through their songs and voices by weaving these stories and songs into my own compositions.

How you can get involved:

If you know people in far away places, or if you happen to be traveling, you can help!

Modern technology has made it easy to record voices and take videos at the touch of a button.  If you are traveling to an indigenous region and happen upon children singing, you can help to gather the stories.  If you know people in New Guinea, New Zealand, Australia, or any other indigenous area who would be willing to collect songs and stories, you can help by connecting me with them.  The more people we have gathering the songs and stories, the wider our net will be cast.

Launching the project in Guatemala and Belize

If you know anyone in Guatemala or Belize who may be interested in helping with this project, please let me know as soon as possible.  We are headed to both countries soon, and would love to authentically connect with the people there and collect audio and video clips of songs and stories.