MEGAN
CHASKEY
Megan Chaskey would like to take you to the
“higher realms” with the music on her fourth album, Naam Radiance, which
features her chanting and singing traditional Sanskrit lyrics to melodies she
mostly composed with backing from top musicians. She not only is a vocalist-composer and a flutist, but also a
Naam Yoga Therapies teacher, a published poet, a spiritual coach, a Harmonyum
Healing practitioner, and a Universal Kabbalist.
On Naam Radiance Chaskey is joined by a
stellar lineup of musicians: cellist David Darling (a New Age Album Grammy
Award winner), guitarist and pianist Scott Petito (who studied at the Berklee
College of Music), percussionist Mike Guglielmo (who attended Molloy College
for Music Therapy and is a board-certified music therapist), Celtic harpist
Aine Minogue (a popular Irish recording artist, folklorist and lecturer), and
supporting vocalists Leslie Ritter (Amy Fradon, James Taylor, Shawn Colvin) and
Beth Reineke (Rick Danko, Pete Seeger, Anne Hills).
More information on Megan Chaskey is available at her
website (meganchaskey dot com). Her CDs
-- Golden Bowl of Naam, Surrounded by Naam, Light of Naam and Naam
Radiance -- and digital download tracks from those recordings are available
at online sales sites such as CDbaby, Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody and many
others. Chaskey’s books of poetry -- Voice,
Heartwood and the just-released Birdsong Under the Wisdom Tree --
are also available at her website where she additionally offers one-on-one
enlightened life coaching and Harmonyum healing treatments.
“My Naam Radiance album is structured
similarly to one of my Naam Yoga therapy sessions which starts with a brief
meditation, followed by time to get in touch with one’s present state through
meditative movement while singing mantras, then our movements become very
rhythmic and energetic during the middle portion, and finally it winds down
again until at the end we are relaxing and settling into a deep sense of
release. Throughout we are moving in
coordination with our breathing,” explains Chaskey.
“Practicing Naam Yoga promotes radiant health
through asana postures, rhythmic movements, mudras which are hand and finger
positions, breath, and ‘naam’ or sound to harmonize all levels of your being --
physically, mentally and emotionally.
It stimulates the life force within us and helps us develop intuitive
awareness, spiritual intelligence and health.
“I wanted the album to serve as enjoyable
music to listen to, but also as a relaxing and healing experience. You can simply listen or you can sing
along. The music is as appropriate for
a quiet, candelight dinner as it is for exercising, stress management or
massage therapy. To make the music connect
as fully as possible with the human experience, it is almost completely vocals
and acoustic instrumentation including percussion for the rhythmic movement
quality,” Chaskey states.
“The words for the chants are Gurumukhi, a
form of Sanskrit that means ‘from the mouth of the guru.’ The words were written down about 600 years
ago in a book of teachings by mystics and Sikh gurus, minstrel spiritual
teachers, who traveled throughout India and sang their teachings in order for
people to more easily absorb and remember them. These chants were passed down from generation to generation. In my own way I am trying to carry the
teachings and chants forward by writing my own new melodies to allow the music
to have broad appeal for modern audiences.”
Naam Radiance begins with “Invocation,” the one piece in which she uses the
traditional melody instead of her own.
“This serves as an introductory prayer.
I always start my personal morning meditation as well as my Naam Yoga
sessions with this.” Chaskey considers
the rest of the album to move through three developments. “The next three tracks slowly lift us
up. ‘Aardas Bahee’ and ‘Aapa Sahaee
Hoa’ musically provide the sweet melancholy of a love song, and lyrically bring
hope and blessings in the former and positive energy and opening of the heart in
the latter.” Between these two long tracks
is the only instrumental on the album, the two-minute “Cello Interlude” in
which David Darling overdubbed many highly-variant cello parts.
The second in the trilogy of tunes “gets into
the energetic, dynamic, percussive pieces that represent the movement of Naam
yoga.” The final three tracks bring the
energy level back down. “Haray
Guray/Jazz Ballad” uses the same “Haray Guray” mantra as previously, but this
time with a more lyrical arrangement that slows it down and presents it with
piano-cello backing. Chaskey ends the
album with the emotive, relaxing “Sat Nam” in which she overdubs her voice
several times as if singing in a temple.
Chaskey brings to this project many years of
experience as both a yoga teacher and a musician. As a youngster she gravitated toward folk music such as Joan
Baez, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Peter Paul & Mary, Pete Seeger and Joni
Mitchell. Megan started on violin at
age 11, but was playing Baroque recorder in an ensemble when she was 14 (“which
contributed to my life-long love of Baroque, Medieval and modal music such as
the Aeolian scale.”). Two years later
she discovered the flute (“the instrument closest to my heart”). During high school in Pennsylvania she
studied with the principal flutist of the Pittsburgh Symphony. Chaskey earned her BA Degree in Literature
with a minor in Music at Bennington College in Vermont. During those years she also studied
choreography, music composition, and jazz and classical flute. She went on to earn her Masters Degree in
Education at Lesley College in Massachusetts.
She lived in England for eight years where she
first learned about meditation, chanting and throat singing. After returning to the United States,
Chaskey started Zen Meditation followed by Kundalini Yoga (she became a
certified instructor), Naam Yoga and Universal Kabbalah. She eventually began teaching yoga on a
regular basis not only to adults, but also to junior and senior high
students. She now teaches privately and
at workshops, summer camps and retreats.
Her musical tastes have always embraced Irish folk and new age musicians
such as Solas and Enya, and later Chaskey enjoyed Kundalini and Kirtan chants
by artists including Snatam Kaur and Deva Premal.
Chaskey’s form of meditation practice singing
Naam “opened me to my true voice. I
began singing at the end of my yoga classes, while people rested in deep
relaxation, and their positive responses planted a new seed of creative
expression which led me to capture and share this music by recording
albums.” She did some early recording
with flutist Jay Loomis and practiced creating her own melodies behind
traditional mantras. She met musician
Steve Eaton who helped her create her first two albums -- Golden
Bowl of Naam and Surrounded by Naam -- “sacred music based on
the powerful mantras of Naam Yoga.”
Chaskey began to recognize the power of live percussion as the
underlying foundation for the vibratory effects of sacred music. This led her to enlist music therapist and
innovative percussionist Mike Guglielmo to work with her on her most recent
recordings -- Light of Naam and Naam Radiance. Guglielmo introduced Chaskey to
multi-instrumentalist, arranger and recording engineer Scott Petito (Brubeck
Brothers, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, The Band and numerous other major
acts).
“Although there are different varieties of
yoga and chanting, these practices have become beneficial to many people,”
explains Chaskey. “The opening up to
everyone of these once-elusive, sacred teachings that at one time were passed
down only to the elect few in order to keep the traditions intact, has now
allowed us access to ways to evolve spiritually by means of taking care of all
levels of our being, physically and emotionally, in harmony with the universal
laws of nature. My purpose for creating
the music on Naam Radiance is to further propagate and enhance these
practices, this beneficial personal journey that anyone can take.”
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