Rattle Song 

I have been feeling particularly drawn to the creation of instruments this year. In November I attended a drum-making workshop and completed a frame drum out of deer hide.  The process was meditative and soulful. My drum's voice is just starting to show up; I have named her Forest Song. In December I attended a rattle-making class and created the rattle below out of buffalo hide. The gorgeous walnut colour is the natural colour of the dried hide! I filled this one with little river stones, peridot, and dried juniper berries. The class was taught by an indigenous woman of Cree and Metis descent. She told stories and shared indigenous knowledge; a great gift. One of the teachings of the rattle is that it is the sound of breaking ice in spring, cleansing, healing, and bringing forth anew. I love that and the songs she sang that followed. I have felt compelled to start my own rattle song.  

Ice breaks, here the call
Let the river flow flow
Ground shakes, bison swell
Feel the thunder grow

He-ya face the storm
Feel your hidden sorrows
He-ya heal your source
As above, below

Heart quakes, hear the noise 
Drum the pain away, away
Seeds fall, earthly breaks
To bloom another day

He-ya, teardrops flow
Melt the frozen landscape
He-ya heal your source
It's never, never too late

 

Soon, the ice will break here and all the that seemed impenetrably cold and stuck, will melt into flow again. This is the way. For the rivers and for us. 
 

 

Keep going. Call us home.  

I have been on a journey. Not an external one, but rather navigating through my inner landscapes. I had to put aside music as I worked on my master's degree; one only has so much time and energy. I don't know yet if that was a mistake. It was a wound. One I inflicted willingly to create a better future for myself and my children. Still, a wound that had been bleeding for 6 years. I put so many pieces of myself on the shelf for safe keeping in those years; to the point that I have almost forgotten them. This year I finally had the space, time, energy, and finances to begin to heal it. The reclamation of my creativity has been challenging. I have let these muscles atrophy and have to build up my strength within them again. My gift to myself over the summer, after completing my accreditation exam in psychology was to sign up for the bardic level course from the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. It has felt akin to picking up the dusty jar holding all my spiritual longings. I opened it and inhaled the almost-forgotten scent of the wild forest dreams. It has been a homecoming. One that was long overdue, and with that thought that brings with it all the poignant sadness of being away for too long. I have missed so much.  I have been so long gone. As I build this strength, I hear my creative voice whispering in the deep.

Keep going. 

Call us home.

And so I am. I built a drum, and with it recorded this song written so long ago I can't even remember the year.  Keep going.  Call us home. It is on my demos page

On belonging 

On my walk this morning 
I mused on belonging
To land, to love
Of the deep desire to be known and seen
And more
The need to fit within the ecosytems of our lives
I walked, in a bubble of thought
Until the pigeon strutting in front of me
Strolled onto the road
And was run over
A moment, between here and was
I felt the shock of its life ending
The sharp edge of its death
While the cars flowed ever onwards
What is belonging if not to know
The unique rhythm of the heartbeats around you
And mourn their loss when
They fall silent.

Remembrances  

And in an instant, it floods me. The way the stars felt, soft, within a chilled sky. The oracle of the fire tossing its sparked prophecies into the night. A red skirt and the taste of bourbon and cigars. The headiness, the youth, the authenticity of a soul meeting a soul beyond the trappings of time and space. The memory finds me, as though I had been lost to it. It floods me, demanding that I embody it, love it, offer myself to it. I search for your words, the story you told that is you and me and yet not. I find them and drink them deeply, a remembrance of exiles, of concordances, of the alignment of spheres for a single moment. Ripples lapping upon my shore. Seeker, do you remember? What magic in dreams? Do you walk the tempered path?

Don't Let Go 

Lyrics: 

Darling close your eyes
To find inside
A night full of stars
Oceans of light through the dark
Don't let go
Darling don't let go 
Don't you know
Heaven and earth sang your name
The day you came 
Don't you know
All of your pain has a home 


You don't have to hide
Pretend it's all fine
Anymore 
Odd broken signs 
Grafitti and lines
Call you cracking defined
A voice to softly defy 
All of the lies
Holding the truth of your life. 
Don't let go
Darling don't let go
Don't let go
Don't let go 
Darling, don't let go 
Don't let go

Darling close your eyes
To find you are more  
Then what hurts you. 

Knowing 

There is knowing. In you, in me. In the spaces unformed yet between breaths, beats, thoughts, feelings. Sometimes we are sparked by the smallest seemingly inconsequential thing, other times we spark in others. This week I have experienced both. I am reminded over and over again that we cannot truly know our own power, our own legacies. These are ripples that spread out into the vast sea of interconnections, the lightning of neural firings moving quickly and quietly out into the world. I hope that if you feel small and hopeless, that some part of your knowing recognizes your node within the web. You matter. What you do matters. It isn't always seeable, knowable. Think of all the little things others have done that changed you, moved you, guided you, even if they had no idea. You have done this for someone else. You have been their light in the dark, their spark. Keep your brave hearts going dear ones. Your light matters.

The Raven Calls 

Raven is calling outside my window and in the bleak grey of the day, I am encompassed by a shifting sense of place. I can almost hear the coastal waters and feel the presence of cedar secrets. A messenger of memory this raven becomes, pulling through the mist of my mind vision of long afternoons with my grandmother, of tumbling down unknown highways on ancient tours into hemlock vales saturated in clouds. Always beneath is a longing, like trying to remember a song that plays just beyond. Trying to hold onto a mystery that flows away, water through my yearning fingers. 

Moving to Wholeness 

There are pieces yet to be placed Thoughts not yet coalesced Into the memory of stories I wait, let the tempest swirl Lift each unnamed heart petal And fallen feeling Into the invisible eddies Of time and space One day they will settle, Touch ground within My body home To be absorbed Welcomed from their exile Into the painted landscapes Of wholeness #process #emotional

Aurora Award! 

I won an Aurora Award tonight! It was for lyrics I wrote inspired by Susan Forest's book Bursts of Fire. I am grateful for the recognition, and for this meaningful reminder of how much I love to write, especially when I can jump off of evocative stories. It is particularly meaningful at this time; when I have had to put my music a bit on hold in order to finish my master's program. I love writing from literature; I love reinterpreting words and stories; I love finding my way into a narrative and examining all the nooks and crannies. So I am thankful to Susan Forest, Laksa Media Groups Inc. for asking me to write this song. I am thankful To Vanessa Cardui for producing the song and to Dave Settles for his musical contributions. And most importantly I am thankful to my family --Dave, Karina, Melaine, Naia & Lucian-- who always support and believe in me. Listen here.  Lyrics below: 

Where are you now? 

I can't find you in torrents of time 

Visions gone blind 

Of a future undefined 

Twisted divine, prisons of mind 

Children of mine: remember who you are 

Bursts of fire light the wall 

Where I fight to save us all 

From the darkness 

The darkness of an empty fate 

Of suffering without light. 

 

Who are you now? 

I don't know you, these tormented eyes 

Deathly designs 

Return to comfort of heavenly skies 

Loosening ties, desperate cries 

Child of mine: remember who you are 

Bursts of fire light the night 

Where I fight to make things right 

Through the darkness 

The darkness of an empty fate 

I will make my fate 

Hold: hold a future unmade 

A past I won't cede 

A spirit unfazed 

Your face through the blaze 

 

What will this be? 

Bonds are broken in scattered debris 

Pathways are laid 

With your future the price is paid 

I've prayed and I've prayed 

For you who remain 

Oh children of pain: remember who you are 

Who you are 

Who you are 

Remember who you are 

Who you are (Bursts of fire) 

Who you are (Light the night where I fight) 

Remember who you are (To make things right) 

Who you are (Through the darkness) 

Who you are (The darkness) 

Remember who you are (Of a fate devoid of life) 

Who you are 

Who you are 

Remember who you are

https://soundcloud.com/sorasinger/bursts-of-fire

Coming Home 

As we stand beneath the circle of trees, a stirring rises within. Unexpected. Rousing. Connective. Familiar in the ways of half-remembered dream rites from distant pasts. I can feel the world turn, circled stars and seasons breathing through me.  It feels like coming home.  

 

Connect

Connect

Find Me

      

Upcoming

Previous events

Mar12

Shades of the Living Light The music of Hidegard von Bingen

Yoga MCC, 2028b 33rd Ave. SW., Calgary, Alberta

THE MUSIC & VISIONS  OF
HILDEGARD VON BINGEN
 

Shades of the Living Light

The music of Hidegard von Bingen

March 12, 2016 7:00-9:30pm

$30+ gst

Vanessa Cardui - voice, guitar

Sora - voice, piano

Dorothy Bishop - cello

Trudy Hipwell - percussion

Prashant - bansuri, guitars

"The beauty and depth of theme found in Hildegard’s theology, philosophy, cosmology and medicine can all be found condensed in her music as in a jewel."

$30

Sands of Time Exhibit

Essentia, 1113 Kensington Rd. N.W., Calgary, AB

We would love to invite you to the Sands of Time Opening Reception where you will be able to view Liba's incredible peices of art, while contemplating time. Sora will also be singing Celtic melodies that are sure to put you in awe!Liba Labik is a local visual artist who explores in her latest work time and its impact on life. She is using mainly oil, encaustic and mixed media in her work.During Liba's Opening Reception for "The Sands of Time," Sora will be singing. Sora is a World/Celtic singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose soaring voice and poetic lyrics have garnered her international acclaim. *30% of each art piece sold in January at Essentia will go to the Calgary Wildlife Rehabilitation Society.For more information, please visit: http://www.myessentia.com/locations/calgary/

Free

Annual Candlelight Shindig

The Lantern Community Church, 1401 10th Ave SE, Calgary, AB

A Christmas story interspersed with holiday music.

Free