One day in the fall of 2022, I searched #musicianmoms on Instagram, and I found Cashavelly Morrison.
Firstly, I was looking for other women who were like me. Other women who could relate to the longing to create meaningful music. I knew that growing my friendships with such women would be fulfilling, especially since I got to know who of my friends were supportive and who were not as I began exploring my musical passions. I felt hurt and confused at first, but my encouraging friends reassured me that this was like the Universe making space in my life for my next world of friends who want me to be my authentic self (like they do in their own journeys). I am so thankful for these friends, these women, who are on their own journey of abundance and not scarcity. When we can do our work to heal our wounds, we can see others as other souls on a path of dream fulfillment, and we are all here on this planet to positively cheer each other on, not to be threatened or resentful of them. I am not saying I know that these were reasons why certain people left my life... some other friends told me this could be a possibility. I just wish true healing for every human being on the planet.
That same desire pulses through and through Cashavelly Morrison's work. This is a woman who is a monument of female power and communal healing! It was like the Universe answered my wishes as I searched for musical/artistic/feminine spiritual-seekers who want women to succeed. As I dug even deeper into Cashavelly's social media platforms, I grew even closer to her and her mission. One program she leads is called Soulbirthing, and I joined right away...
Soulbirthing is a lab for women to experiment with our innate power, authenticity, and creative expression. We practice clearing the blocks within us to become an open channel for our connection to the unseen mystery, seeing all that we imagine is meant to be birthed into the world.
I reached out to her immediately and joined this group. I also saw that she organizes a monthly gathering called The Songbird Supper Club in my hometown!!! I couldn't believe it! I started talking with her, and she invited me to perform three songs followed by an incredible interview. I am still reeling from this experience I had in March 2023, and I am beyond grateful. Above is a video clip of the time we had together in front of a sweet, intimate Winston-Salem audience. My amazing friends Brandon and Sarah Rose came to accompany me and support me... another set of friends I connect with so well. To them as well, beyond thankful.
I am so excited to continue my musical journey with Cashavelly as a fellow soul-sister, and I encourage all of you to check out all of these programs on her amazing website at The Center for Female Sovereignty. https://femalesovereignty.org/
This past March, I had a wonderful time singing at The Viking Experience festival in North Carolina. I connected with the great festival director Angela Hostetler-Reid during the NC Scandinavian Christmas Fair one year, and since then, she has invited me to sing at her festival for the last two inaugural years. Having attracted around 4,000 people this year, I am so happy for her success! Being surrounded by folks who love this historical era like I do, I am happy to cultivate my community in such a momentous way.
One necessary condition for me regarding each Viking project I do is that it is inclusive. Unfortunately, there is a contingent of this community that holds racist claims to the Viking heritage. Angela makes absolutely clear that this festival has zero alignment with that interpretation and belief system, and of course I am so thankful that she does. Being of a multicultural background, Norwegian being one of them, I along with this NC-based organization espouse the credo that Viking teachings embrace difference, travel, and gaining knowledge from others completely different from ourselves. Odin writes about this in his Hávamal. A lot of the Vikings found in excavated burial sites are of mixed race, as the Vikings traveled far and wide during their summer raids. My 6-foot-tall, white-blonde haired and pale blue-eyed Norwegian-American grandfather first married a Native-American woman; when she unfortunately passed away, he then married my Filipina grandmother who he met when in the Navy during WWII. Vikings for centuries have highly valued multicultural exchange and love, and it continues to this day. The word for "idiot" or "fool" in Old Norse translates to "home-bound" in English - someone who wants to stay in their comfort zone of understanding. Even if you can't travel the world, you can still expand your mind and heart by having multiracial friends, reading books, articles, visiting websites and social media of folks of different backgrounds, and benefit from the Viking practice of actively learning from multitudinous knowledge sources.
Singing for this crowd is a deep pleasure and privilege! I look forward to doing more such events, and if you have info about gatherings where you think folks would appreciate hearing covers of modern Viking folk songs (in my best and humble attempt at Scandinavian languages), PLEASE reach out to me! Thank you!
“It must be the Norwegian in you.” This is a statement I would hear throughout my life. My Filipina-Norwegian-American mother would say this to explain non-Filipina things about me. My height, my size, my freckles. I would hear this growing up, but I didn’t start being curious about my Norwegian heritage until about five years ago.
I excitedly jumped into learning about my Norwegian family. Luckily I had a wonderful Norwegian-American uncle who had created a family newsletter describing our Norwegian heritage and immigrant history. I found out my great-grandmother was from the mind-blowingly beautiful Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Ocean. My great-grandfather’s family was from the countryside in Telemark. My husband and I saved up our credit card points and traveled to these parts of Norway in 2018. I met a cousin of mine and his sweet wife in the fjords of Telemark, where they still lived on the farm where my great-great-grandpa played. This heritage trip will live on in my mind and heart as one of the most precious experiences I’ll ever know and I hope to take my three children there one day.
With an anthropological background, due to my first career around international educational development, I love learning about other cultures. Two of my favorite dimensions of any culture I desire to know are music and languages. I embarked on a Nordic musical and linguistic obsession, and I gained more appreciation for this part of my blood. I have always gravitated towards this part of the world with music, with my love for Icelandic goddess Björk and Norwegian fairy Aurora… I then learned about Eivør from the Faroese Islands, Jonna Jinton from Sweden, Icelandic musicians Ólafur Arnalds and JFDR, Danish Myrkur, Norwegian band Wardruna, Garmarna of Sweden…and so many others. I devoted myself to learning their songs to the best of my linguistic abilities. I absolutely love how modern folk music from Scandinavia takes me on melodic journeys I cannot find anywhere else. I encourage you all to go.
I then heard about local festivals and wondered if there would be others who would like to experience such a journey. I put together an act where I sing these different songs, dressed in a Viking costume, and take the audience on a medieval Scandinavian musical ride. I have gotten very sweet reception. When grown men, clad in Viking outfits and weaponry, come up to me and say they were moved to tears with my performance, it is all worth it. It is a deep, deep privilege to facilitate cathartic moments for others, a respite from our ordinary daily lives. I feel the same - these songs grant me that experience as well. Sometimes, I feel like my performance has nothing to do with me. I simply channel these musical spirits through my voice. I merely am the vessel for these medieval sounds to be heard again.
Please check me out one day, at a Viking Festival near you.
