By Diana Brement,
JTNews Columnist
I last spoke to Gila Cadry three years ago. The Mercer Island resident who uses sound as a healing tool had recently released her first CD. Now she has a second one out called The Song of Songs: King Solomon’s Songs of Divine Union. This CD is more complex than her first, featuring lots of instrumentation and Middle Eastern-style rhythms along with Gila’s singing and chanting.
Gila says the making of this CD has taken up most the last three years. She wrote the music for all 11 tracks, most of which came to her in her sleep.
“I was very surprised,” she says. “I would wake up singing them or whistling; I would open up my eyes and there they were.
“I can’t write music,” she adds, so she would record the melodies on tape.
“As they were coming in [the tunes] were moving and joyful,” she says. “It became quite a musical journey.”
The songs appeared to be the culmination of nine years she spent studying the text of the biblical Song of Songs. “These are really, really sacred words,” which she sings in both Hebrew and English, because she believes it’s important for her listeners to understand the words. “There’s no way to embody something unless you sing it,” she says.
Gila has used her voice and vibrating crystal bowls to guide meditation for herself and others for many years. The dance music that came to her for this CD was a departure from her usual practice. At first she wasn’t sure what to do with it, but realized that Sufi and Yogi practitioners would usually move around before starting meditation.
“That movement is very important for energy…especially moving your hips and arms,” she says.
Now, when she performs, she has her audiences get up and move to the music before they sit down and meditate.
“It’s time to get off our tuches in every sense of the word,” she says. “I want everybody to dance.”
The melodies are reminiscent of belly-dance music, although Gila hasn’t studied that dance form outside of one or two classes. She’s relied more on her own intuition, and admits that the songs probably relate to the music she heard in childhood in her native Iran (her family emigrated when she was 13).
“It’s probably what I resonate to, what makes me happy,” she says, comparing it to comfort food. “Plus, Middle Eastern music really lends itself to body movement,” with its sensual nature. “It feels very, very good.”
The album was released in February and so far the response has been positive. In the Seattle area, you can find the disc at Tree of Life Judaica and Books, Island Books and East-West Book Shop. You can hear clips and also purchase it at Gila’s Web site, www.gilachants.com.
Gila has not been performing much lately, focused as she’s been on producing the CD, but she is restarting monthly sound-healing gatherings at her home. For information, contact her through the Web site.
|||
Deborah Rosen has recently joined the board of the College Success Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides college scholarships to students who are economically disadvantaged and underrepresented in the academic community.
“College Success was founded in 2000 by a friend of mine, Ann Ramsay-Jenkins,” and Bob Craves explains Deborah. “They had a dream… to provide college scholarships to high-potential, low- income students. The foundation helps to level the playing field and create opportunities for students who might not otherwise be able to pursue higher education,” many of whom are the first in their families to attend college.
A number of local scholarships are granted under the auspices of CSF, including Costco Scholars, Leadership 1000 Scholars, Chateau Ste. Michelle Scholars, and the Governor’s Scholarships for foster youth. CSF partners with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to offer Achievers Scholarships and through various programs provides mentoring and tutoring to students starting in middle school. CSF has granted over 5,500 college scholarships in our state and recently opened an office in the other Washington to serve that region.
“I’m so impressed with the work they do,” says Deborah. “It’s an extraordinary group of people and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with the CSF founders, board, and staff to help achieve their important mission.”
Deborah, who holds degrees from UCLA and Harvard, has worked in education and youth mentorship since she was a middle-school director of special education in Boston. She moved to Seattle in 1976 and co-founded Basic Education Tutors, Inc., which operated until 2003. She continues her work in education through her private consulting practice.
A past president and longtime leader of the Seattle Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, she serves on the AJC’s Board of Governors as a national vice president. In December, the AJC awarded her their Distinguished Leadership Award. Through a challenge match of funds raised from the event, Deborah established an endowment which will provide scholarships to the finalists of the Seattle Chapter’s Student Human Relations Program/Block Awards. The scholarships, now named in Deborah’s honor, will be presented for the first time at the 50th anniversary of the SHR Program on May 13.
Deborah also serves on the Seattle Public Library Foundation Board, the University of Washington Medical School Board of Visitors, and the advisory boards of Bridges to Understanding and the Seattle Repertory Theatre.
More information about CSF is available at www.collegesuccessfoundation.org.