Health Music – 2

India Aria – Break The Shell

Often when we’re looking at an A2ZedHealth Music artist we notice their words are so profound and have so much music to go with it, that it seems unjust to only post one song. This is why we’ve decided to share India Arie’s journey in a different way. The way we’re going to introduce ‘Break The Shell’ is to take you back in time when she was a lot younger, so that you can see some of her journey. Back when she was 24 years old she wrote a song called ‘Video’, expressing to the world what she now calls “an affirmation” to herself. Arie was surprised at the affect this song had on the world of music and also that it really touched people’s soul. So, listen to ‘Video’, a song about unconditional self love, and then see what happens next…

As time went on and as life presented more lessons, Arie knew that if truth was to be found that the full expression of self love needed to be realised. She realised in fact that without that self love, we stay trapped on the “comparing to others” model of living. Living our truth was her big epiphany, which is what she feels she is now living. She reached her enlightenment and found peace within her own expression the creative soul. We call it flow. The only way to change the world is to find that peace within, to find that self truth.

About India Arie: The way her musical growth started is summarised by her words…“When I started tapping into my own sensitivity, I started to understand people better. It was a direct result of writing songs”. Her musical skills were encouraged by both parents early in life. Her mother is a former singer (she was signed to Motown as a teenager and opened for Stevie Wonder and Al Green) and is now her stylist. When asked what the message of her music is? She replied, “Putting spiritual and empowerment ideals into music concepts and it seems this spoke to others, but the truth is that it was my message to myself because I was yearning to know the peace of a self-defined life.”

Loius Armstrong – What a Wonderful World

The world is, what we focus on. Too often we’re destroying what’s already beautiful. If we focus on the beauty and really love that, we’re going to find it really difficult within ourself to do anything against this strong feeling of love.

To start us off, here is a beautiful intro from the eloquent yet coarsely powerful voice of Loius Armstrong himself…
“Some of you young folks been saying to me,” Hey Pops, what you mean ‘What a wonderful world’? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That ain’t so wonderful either.” Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it aint the world that’s so bad but what we’re doin’ to it. And all I’m saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we’d give it a chance. Love baby, love. That’s the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we’d solve lots more problems. And then this world would be better. That’s wha’ ol’ Pops keeps saying.”
(Intro)

About Loius Armstrong: Nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, Louis Armstrong was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and an influential figure in jazz music.

Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly recognisable gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also skilled at scat singing (vocalising using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).

Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong’s influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to ‘cross over’, whose skin color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. He rarely publicly politicised his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, but took a well-publicised stand for desegregation during the Little Rock Crisis. His artistry and personality allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for black men. He was a real health advocate and made sure that the message of his music and lyrics were felt to create change beyond his physical life. On behalf of the people of the world, A2ZedHealth says thanks to you Loius Armstrong.