Beloved by Ashana
The eagerly anticipated follow-up to Ashana’s highly acclaimed debut CD, All Is Forgiven, Beloved is a love song to the heart. Tender, joyful, gentle, and breathtakingly beautiful, the music of Beloved is a healing balm for the soul that will lift your spirit and carry you on waves of love into the arms of the Divine.
Featuring Ashana’s stunning angelic vocals and the luminous sound of crystal singing bowls, the songs on Beloved reflect a deep sense of compassion, vulnerability and lyrical sensitivity. Heard on this album is a hauntingly beautiful interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer, sung in Aramaic, and an exquisite rendition of the Gaelic prayer, “Deep Peace”.
Co-written, produced and arranged by Thomas Barquee, Beloved blends sacred song, chant, mantra and crystal singing bowls into a musical prayer for the heart, inviting you to step into grace and be bathed in pure love.
Musician Credits:
Ashana: Lead and background vocals, alchemy crystal singing bowls
Thomas Barquee: Producer, Arranger, Keyboards, Bass, Vocals
Cameron Stone: Cello
Girish: Tablas and Percussion
Simone Sello: guitars
LYRICS
YOU ARE MY BREATH
You are my breath
Breathe in me
You are my light
Reveal me
You are the sweetness in all things
Oh My Beloved
There is only one love and I see it in your face
Everywhere I go I am surrounded by grace
The moment I awake I am lost in the embrace of My Beloved
La'illaha il' Allah
(There is but one God, one Creation.)
THE ARAMAIC LORD'S PRAYER
Abwoon d'bwashmaya
Nethqadash shmakh
Teytey malkuthakh
Nehwey sebyanach aykanna d'bwashmaya aph b'arha.
Habwlan lachma d'sunqanan yaomana.
Washboqlan khaubayn (wakhtahayn) aykana daph khnan shbwoqan l'khayyabayn.
Wela tahlan l'nesyuna
Ela patzan min bisha.
Metol dilakhie malkutha wahayla wateshbukhta l'ahlam almin.
Ameyn.
O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos/ you create all that moves in light.
Focus your light within us--make it useful: as the rays of a beacon show the way.
Create your reign of unity now--through our fiery hearts and willing hands.
Your one desire then acts with ours, as in all light, so in all forms.
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight: subsistence for the call of growing life. Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' guilt. Don't let us enter forgetfulness but free us from unripeness
From you is born all ruling will, the power and the life to do, the song that beautifies all,
from age to age it renews. Truly--power to these statements--may they be the source from which all my actions grow. Sealed in trust & faith. Amen.
Transliteration and original translation of The Aramaic Lord’s Prayer by Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz from the Peshitta (Syriac-Aramaic) version of Matthew 6:9-13 & Luke 11:2-4 reprinted from Prayers of the Cosmos: Meditations on the Aramaic Words of Jesus (Harper Collins, 1990), © 1990, used with permission.
DONA NOBIS PACEM
Dona Nobis Pacem is a phrase taken from the Agnus Dei section of the Roman Catholic mass. These beautiful words mean 'Give us peace'.
OPENING TO LOVE
I am opening to your love
Safe in your heart, safe in your arms
I wrote this song in memory of my dear friend Robert Frey. Robert was a tantra meditation teacher, musician and composer of devotional songs. Robert died unexpectedly in 2003 but his light, love and joyful heart live on in the lives of all who were fortunate enough to know him. I dedicate this piece to his spirit, which is of course, the spirit of everlasting, unconditional love that is the essence of who we are.
ONLY YOU IN MY HEART
Only You in my heart
Only You loving me
Only You lift me up
Above the clouds where I can see
Let all things be as You would have them
Nothing more as it seems
Remembering the long-forgotten
A breath within the silence
A whisper of love in an ocean of peace
I ask only this of You
To rest forever in Your Endless Grace
Only You in my Heart …
You come to me softly
A star in my dreams
Never asking for more than I have
You give me everything
The sweetness of Your light
Holiness sublime
Becoming You in All of Me
One Love entwined
Only You in my heart …
DEEP PEACE
Deep peace to you.
Deep peace to you.
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace to you.
I first heard these lyrics in Bill Douglas’ exquisite choral version, by the same title. I was moved to tears when I heard them and have wanted to write a song to this text ever since. We used two gorgeous 10 and 12” Aqua Gold crystal singing bowls as the drones on this piece. Their depth and beauty made us feel like we were riding on waves of sound. Thomas then took this inspiration and created an arrangement that reflected that feeling. When I listen to this piece, I feel that I am floating in the ocean, in the arms of Divine Mother. The words to this song are adapted from an ancient Gaelic text.
ALLELUIA - WAHE GURU
“Alleluia” is a word used in both Jewish and Christian traditions to express praise, joy and thanks to the Divine. Waheguru! is from the Sikh tradition, and is invoked to call upon the essence of God as “Wonderful Teacher!”