{"id":494,"date":"2011-05-04T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-04T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=494"},"modified":"2011-05-04T06:26:49","modified_gmt":"2011-05-04T10:26:49","slug":"mantra-pop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/05\/mantra-pop.html","title":{"rendered":"Mantra Pop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Robin Renee is a\u00a0merging of sound and soul, East and West, earthly and ethereal, just like her music. I have attended kirtans at which she has made offerings to the Divine in the form of chanting and percussive infusions and her style is both fun\/funkified and reverential, that even the novice to this art form, can’t help but sing along.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How do you live your Bliss?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I feel like I am on a journey of moving continually closer to living my Bliss.\u00a0 I don\u2019t exactly think I always have it right, but I suppose that is the human condition.\u00a0 Living in Bliss is about noticing- paying attention to those moments when I feel out of step with being in love with life and making the little correction right there, so I stay honest about where my truest happiness lies.\u00a0 Bliss happens for me when I am lost in dancing.\u00a0 Bliss comes while I\u2019m chanting.\u00a0 I find it when I create a personal retreat and enter into deep silence.\u00a0 Bliss can happen when I am engrossed somewhere in the center of a new poem or song.\u00a0 Whenever I am somewhere I can run naked in the sun, I am blissful and feeling profoundly connected to Spirit.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0How did music discover you as an instrument for its expression?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think music had much trouble finding me.\u00a0 I grew up with a piano in the house and naturally gravitated toward it.\u00a0 When my parents noticed, they thought piano lessons would be a good idea.\u00a0 I started playing at age 7, and my first song followed fairly shortly after that (It was a little tune about Billie Jean King).\u00a0 I started a band when I was about 10 years old, and pretty much haven\u2019t stopped since.\u00a0 I have really come to appreciate the support of my parents around music. My mom had a real appreciation for lyrics\u2014Bob Dylan especially, and I am grateful for having had that influence.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

You call your music style ‘Mantra-Pop’. How did you come to use that term and what does it mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The short answer is that Mantra-Pop is a simple way of answering the perpetual question, \u201cWhat kind of music do you do?\u201d\u00a0 The media and people in general tend to like a simple description.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really resist labels; I am happy to find (or create) words that have some resonance with what is going on in my work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The more complex answer is that when kirtan chanting became an incredibly important part of my spiritual path, there was a long while in which I immersed myself in it completely.\u00a0 I listened almost exclusively to mantra, and had no real desire or even ability to write songs in the way I had since the beginning.\u00a0 When the experience of the chanting began to become a more integrated experience, I noticed that the songwriter part and the kirtan chanter part needed to coexist and flourish together in some way.\u00a0 Telling the stories of the emotions and life experiences showed up as very much still part of my path, along with this new way of connecting to Divine energy directly through music.\u00a0 Some of my songs began to blend the two.\u00a0 \u2018Mantra-Pop\u2019 became the shorthand I use to describe all my music \u2013 whether or not any particular song features chanting.\u00a0 Everything that I am and do is spiritual, so all the music must hold that connection and intention.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Since we know that they aren’t mutually exclusive, how do spirituality and sexuality merge in your work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

My spiritual practices, music, and sexuality are all part of the same river, all channels through which I experience the energy of Oneness, the Divine, God\/Goddess, whichever term you prefer.\u00a0 I really wanted to speak to this recognition when I put out the compilation CD, so I called it spirit.rocks.sexy<\/em>.\u00a0 When it was released, I did some writing about how that title came to be and said \u201cSo much of what I do, who I am, who I’ve been and am becoming lies at the intersection of spirit.rocks.sexy. The Divine is music is erotic is utterly holy.\u201d\u00a0 I try to neither shy from nor obsess about sexuality in my work, and the same winds up being true of spirituality.\u00a0 By just giving myself permission to write and sing what shows up, sex and spirit are naturally part of the mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How does music speak to you and how do you then translate what you hear into what so delights your listeners?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I most often just hear it- words, music, or both- in the midst of my day.\u00a0 I jot something down, record a bit of a melody or an idea in the memo pad on my cell phone, or whatever I can do to capture the idea in the moment.\u00a0 Then I come back to those things later when a combination of the craft of songwriting and what feels like continuing to channel the song\u2019s essence come together.\u00a0 I love the recording aspect.\u00a0 It feels like sculpting.\u00a0 In regard to delighting listeners, I mostly move toward what is sonically pleasing to me, and hope other people agree!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Who are your musical inspirations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many.\u00a0 In terms of overall genres, new wave, punk, and the classic singer-songwriter stuff continues to hold the most enduring place in my heart.\u00a0 A few of my favorite artists are Steve Forbert, Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, Joan Armatrading, Gary Wilson, and Devo.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been immersed in an electronica feel lately- Imogen Heap and Mantra Girl are in heavy rotation.\u00a0 George Harrison is a spiritual inspiration most of all, but it is the placing of his spirituality so clearly present in rock and pop that was so important.<\/p>\n

If you could live your ‘rock star dream\u2019,\u00a0what would it look like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have many, many details in my head about the expanded multimedia stage show and other aspects I\u2019d like to manifest.\u00a0 I would be on the road with the full band productions, with enough time off in the year for rest and writing.\u00a0 I\u2019d follow the sun.\u00a0 I\u2019d have a wide audience, though a specific one that really \u2018gets\u2019 the blend of music, sexuality, and spirit that drives my work.\u00a0 For a long time, I\u2019ve had a very strong feeling that I should be famous in Sweden .\u00a0 I have no idea why, but it is a thought that shows up for me fairly often.\u00a0 With my extra money, I\u2019d help people to have food, shelter, and art in their lives.\u00a0 I\u2019d probably establish an alternative lifestyles spiritual retreat center.\u00a0 During my downtime, I\u2019d find a city where I wouldn\u2019t be bothered by fans and I\u2019d walk for miles. \u00a0\u00a0I could go on with this vision, but I\u2019ll stop here (just before driving off in my custom-painted deep purple Honda to\u00a0join my brilliant, gorgeous, conscious friends\u00a0in the hot tub).\u00a0<\/p>\n

www.robinrenee.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/RobinReneeTV?feature=mhum#p\/c\/94BFF4533ADFA32F\/2\/DzFaurC2rs4<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

www.cdbaby.com\/cd\/robinrenee<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Robin Renee is a\u00a0merging of sound and soul, East and West, earthly and ethereal, just like her music. 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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