For many of us, these past years have been challenging and transformative. With everything going on in the world, many artists have found themselves working on more personal projects inspired by sharing their deepest life experiences hoping it can be of service to others.
Collaboration has become a very important aspect of creating art, especially during the current pandemic we are living in, giving birth to songs that deeply resonate, nurturing our longing for connection and finding peace and purpose within ourselves.
This month, GuruGanesha brings us his newest single ‘River’, a song that reflects his personal relationship with music, the path that his heart has chosen to share his deepest feelings, inspiring and comforting the hearts of many.
If you’ve listened to GuruGanesha’s music before, especially the songs released in the last year, you know his songs have the ability to carry you deeply inside your heart through his beautiful melodies and nurturing lyrics. His last few songs were created in collaboration with Karan Khalsa, a passionate and creative soul who ignites magic with her words.
We had the pleasure of speaking with GuruGanesha and Karan about their collaboration, and the process of creating River:
Spirit Voyage: GuruGanesha, you collaborated with Karan as the lyricist for this song. Tell us a little about that collaboration and what it meant to you.
GuruGanesha: I’ve known Karan since the day she was born. In fact, if my memory is serving me correctly, I was sitting in the hallway at Ahimsa Ashram in Washington DC helping to welcome her to planet Earth by playing guitar and chanting to Guru Ram Das while her Mom was giving birth to her in the adjacent room. As she grew up in our community, I noticed that she had a way with words….. that her words (whether spoken or written) always seemed to touch and uplift folks, to open their hearts. Not surprisingly she grew up to be a wonderful writer, poet and lyricist. I love how she writes, and I believe she loves how I play guitar and sing. About a year ago, we decided to write some songs together. Turns out that her lyrics and my music fit together like peanut butter and jelly. As Jerry Garcia (of The Grateful Dead) told his friend and lyricist, Robert Hunter, “Your words never stuck in my throat.” For me, composing music to and singing Karan’s lyrics is like eating maple walnut ice cream made with pure maple syrup.
Spirit Voyage: Karan, can you talk about your songwriting process?
Karan: I’ve always been in love with words – the way they feel in my mouth and my body. I love poetry and the art of putting words together to create a feeling. When I write, I have to close my eyes and feel the words forming. I learned how to type when I was very young, so I could always type with my eyes closed, and there’s an experience of seeing phrases in my head and hearing them with my internal voice while I’m typing them that takes me out of my body and is a sort of meditation. I never intended to write songs – for me, they were poems. GuruGanesha has been such an incredible advocate for me to share what I write, and inspired me to share some of my writing through his songs. That was how Mysterious Pathways was created. We followed that with Undying and then River.
Spirit Voyage: GuruGanesha, ‘River’ is the third song you’ve written in collaboration with Karan, How did these collaborations work? Music first? Lyrics first? How did you come up with the ideas for the songs?
GuruGanesha: In all three cases it was Karan’s beautiful lyrics that came first and sparked my musical creativity´
Spirit Voyage: Karan, how did you get started in lyric writing? Do you sing or write melodies as well? How did you come to write River?
Karan: I don’t sing – at least not for anyone else to hear. But lyrics are as important to me in a song as the music. Bob Dylan and Bono are two of my favorite poets. E.E. Cummings and Pablo Neruda sit right next to them.
River was the first time I considered writing through the eyes of someone else. I have seen him play his guitar in front of huge audiences and in the quiet corners of his home. He has lived and shared life from the sounds of his music. In writing this song, I tried to really delve into the challenges that he has shared with me of going through with the last two years with the revelations about the founder of our Kundalini Yoga community. He started on this path as a young hopeful hippy from the 60’s with so much trust and hope. He has served this community with music for 50 years. I started to think about him questioning that source of spiritual creativity and solace that he has found in music. The words of this song flowed from that. I shared it with him, and he started putting it to music. In that process, he added and changed some of the lyrics, really making it his personal song on a deeper level. I’m so proud of what emerged from it.”
Spirit Voyage: GuruGanesha, ‘River’ tells a beautifully poetic story about how music and sacred sound have carried you through your life. What was the inspiration behind the song and when did the idea come to you?
GuruGanesha: Life on this planet has become increasingly more challenging particularly over the past few years…Climate change, the Pandemic, the turmoil in our spiritual community, the increasing threat (in the form of domestic terrorism) to our democratic form of government in the USA and the natural results of the aging process… in my case, turning 71 and experiencing the knees, hips and lower back slowing wearing down.
On the highways of my life, throughout my 71 years, music has been my most constant and loyal companion. This new song called ‘River’ is about that love affair. It’s about the intimate secrets that music whispers in my ear, and that I share in my music. In essence, this song is my prayer that music can continue to be my best friend and healer in these tough and turbulent times. For me, this song answers that prayer with a resounding yes. I hope for you as well!