It’s that time of year, when the world falls in love….those are the beginning words of one of my favourite holiday songs. Honestly, Christmas has never been my favorite time of year. There was always some drama or trauma that left me with sad and dispirited at this time of year. The one thing I always loved and the one thing I looked forward to was the music. The choir practices were a safe haven and the seasonal music always seems to soar and lift our spirits up into the winter winds, dancing on the snowflakes.
As the years passed and my yearning for ritual has changed, my search for music has been more about the sounds of the season. My most stunning solstice was standing alone in the High Park Labyrinth, listening to the winter silence and the fox or coyote singing. It was a surreal moment, feeling completely isolated and enfolded by nature and knowing I was only minutes away from a bustling city. I think the spirit of John Howard, the founder of High Park was with me beneath the moonlight sky.
I still love the traditional music I sang in choir and mix it with new songs, jazzy mixes and instrumentally etheral sounds of walking on air. For me the season is all about moods. Have some fun mixing up your playlist.
On my winter season playlist is:
- Walking in the Air, Kenny Loggins
- Rituals of Winter, Dan Gibson, Solitudes
- Beneath the Moonlight Sky, Dave Koz & Friends
- Breath of Heaven, Amy Grant
- December Makes Me Feel This Way, Dave Koz
- Silent Runnng, Dan Gibson Solitudes
- Grown Up Christmas List, Amy Grant
- Greensleeves, Solitudes Christmas
- Ave Maria, Paul Horn
- Angels in the Snow, Kenny Loggins
- Frosty the Snowman, Ella Fitzgerald
- The First Snowfall, Carlos Nakai, William Eaton
- Silent Night, Nancy Wilson & Kimiko Itoh
- Universal Child, Annie Lennox
- Snow, Loreena McKennit
- Jingle Bells, Richard Tee
- It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Amy Grant
- Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Amy Grant
- La Ronde des Bergers, Andre Gagnon
- The Snow Lay On The Ground, David Bruce Smith
- Magnificent, Paul Horn
Sonic blissings to you and enjoy the sounds of the season, Anny
Anoushka is organizing a Solstice/Lunar Eclipse moon watch on December 21st. To find out more, go to www.anandasound.com
Written by Anny
As a sonic mystic, Anoushka Fyreagle approaches life through the lens of sound and silence. She has devoted her life to music, voice, dance, visual and sacred arts. The journey is about listening and communicating. Anny has a distinctive style of listening. She has studied psychoacoustics, metaphysics, music as medicine and sound as healing. Her enthusiasm for the human instrument invites you into the infinite possiblities of your own ‘voice’ but she believes that no matter how brilliant our attempts to inform, it is our ability to inspire that will turn the tides.
She is currently teaching Zen Echoes, a class series that teaches sound as a practice. For more information, go to www.anandasound.com
