What happens when you take classical yoga chants sung by a magnificently beautiful voice, and mix in a large range of powerful string, jazz and Asian wind instruments such as Tibetan bells and gong and Polynesian woodwind instruments? According to the performing vocalist, Lindzay Chan, you get “something with a heartbeat that has the power to change”. ‘Searching for the Sun’ is the result of two incredible artists, Lindzay Chan and Charles Teo coming together with the aim of providing “music that combines positive emotion with the powerful vibrations of the chant”.
During the press conference to announce her CD, Lindzay spoke about her feelings and passion for music. She also touched upon her incredible experiences in the world of dance and theatre, all of which gave her the inspiration and understanding necessary to accomplish her goal of creating ‘Searching for the Sun’. Afterwards, I was able to sit and talk with Lindzay in detail about how this CD came to be.
Firstly, can you talk about how the CD was made from a technical point of view?
It was all very easy because even though I didn’t really have a vision, I knew exactly what I wanted. I knew the rhythms I wanted for each particular chant and I knew the instruments I wanted to use. With each chant I had a story. For example, in the last chant, ‘Mangala’, I wanted a feeling of good wishes. Since the words of this mantra gave me an image of a gigantic mist meandering through the trees, I felt the perfect instrument would be the Chinese wind reed. Also, in the mantra, there is breath, which is very important in our Ashtanga practice. So during this particular piece I’m blowing into the microphone along with the blowing of the reed flute.
That was how it was with each song. I simply had a very clear picture in my head. Another example is in the piece ‘Om Nama Shivaaya’. I wanted a kind of desperation in the beginning so there’s a lot of drum beats and a scream. You’re lost and you don’t know where to go. And then it goes into a rhythmic chant because you have peace; the peace of rhythm. And of course I had Charles – my musical director - who was amazing. He would listen to my stories and the sound of the instrument, and then would just create these rhythms. We would also have a climax in each song and work that out technically on the computer. With the melodies because the chants are repetitious, we would just sit down and jam. In the end I think we were just lucky to have found each other and were able to work together. It really wasn’t that much effort. We never seemed to have writer’s block or a lack of direction. It was much easier to make this CD than either of us expected.
During your press conference, you talked about your experiences as a ballet dancer and actress. How did these experiences help you with creating music?
I always new how powerful music was. When I was dancing, if the pianist played the right music, I would breath to the music and then the movement would become secondary. So music has always affected my mind and how I breathe. When I was a dancer people used to say I wasn’t that great technically but seemed to breathe with the music. I do remember the first time dancing to the orchestra. Just by hearing the opening chords, I was able to feel all the emotion without even dancing…. so music was vital to my dancing.
When I was given the opportunity to be an actress, I was fortunate enough to work with a wonderful director called Tang Shu Wing. If I received a script and struggled to bring forth the right emotion, Tang would choose a passage and then find a piece of music to produce the mood he wanted. I would listen to his choice of music, move a little and then say the words. In this manner, the words would become part of my being. Now when I practice yoga, I always think of my practice as a dance and my breath as music. So it’s a dedicational dance with breathe as music.
I’ve always found music to be more powerful than words. Moving through the body is a huge gift because there’s no language barrier. Even now I find words can never express the way you feel. Body movement, such as the ones used in our practice, are much more powerful then when you add words in. There’s often so much misinterpretation with words. So I think body language and feelings that come from someone are stronger than expressing your thoughts with words. It’s not that I don’t like words, they’re great when they’re put with the right music, it directs the way you are. But music, especially a changing music, is so powerful it affects you on a level you don’t even know or often understand.
What about your experience in New York? What brought you there?
Yes, well I went there to have shoulder surgery after I had had an accident. I ended up tearing some of the major tendons in my shoulder. I had to have them attached again and it was scary for a while because I didn’t know how it would all play out. It was while I was recovering that I met an amazing oncologist who used sound therapy to help treat his cancer patients. Using instruments with vibrations, he was able to change the status of water in the body. Of course, this affected the patients on an unconscious level so they couldn’t really feel what was happening. But it was so powerful that a friend of mine, who went through treatment with this Doctor, said afterwards she missed going to chemotherapy because of this particular treatment.
Did your injury and recovery motivate you to make the CD?
Not really. I always wanted to make a CD but just never got around to it. I’m always thinking of ideas of what I would like to do but it wasn’t until I was out of my regular routine due to my injury that I had more time. So my focus and direction went towards making the CD. But I don’t think it was a conscious effort where I said, “ok, now I’m going to do it”. I’m a great believer in thing just happening, even with my dance career. I never said, “oh, I want to dance”. I was good at it and so got positive encouragement and thus rode the wave. Things happen and you just do it. Maybe that’s just the way I am. I don’t think, “ok, I’m going to do it and that’s all there is to it”. I just go along with the flow. The one thing I will consciously do is to finish something. If I start a project I usually see it through ‘til the end – at least to the best of my ability.
Any plans for a follow up CD?
Not right now. But you should never say never. I’m so grateful to all the people who helped me make this…Sin Sin – my visual director, Roland Hagenberg - my photographer, who created the cover of ‘Searching for the Sun’, Charles Teo - my musical director and finally my family and friends. All of them gave me such inspiration and joy in producing this CD. I just feel so blessed and lucky in my life.
Laura is a freelance fitness writer currently living in Hong Kong. Before she began her journey on the yoga path, she was a triathlete, runner and adventure racer. It was while pregnant four years ago, that she became enamoured with yoga and now practices regularly.
Related Link: A review of Lindzay Chan's cd by Bobsy |
