“City Night Speak” appears on the album Sacred Paths by Asia Jazz Project featuring Molina Soleil & Aju (2009)
If I remember right, this is the last track we recorded for Sacred Paths, summer 2009. Sacred Paths is a HEAVY music project, coded in spiritual life/love lessons. I felt like it needed a fun track.
This is as FUN as Sacred Paths gets. HA!
In many ways, the city is emblematic of DESTRUCTION and CHAOS. Little is natural or organic in city life… except of course human interaction. Cities bread possibility, creativity, opportunities for interpretation. The city is sexy and limitless. I guess the same can be said about the forest or the countryside.
But you can’t deny the charm of the city. The smell. The grit. City lights and movement. Countless lives converging and rewriting the standards. Potential. This is what I reached for as I wrote my verse from my Northside Denver apartment.
I am a rapper and a spoken word poet. I also write plays and short stories. I’m a storyteller. It’s all the same. Different mediums but we’re all taking it back to the storytelling days. The spoken word proceeded the written word. Every culture had its storytellers. We transmit and create reality through our stories.
I will be speaking at Latino College Day events in Durango, CO and Farmington, NM this week, in addition to performing at the 3rd annual Real History of the Americas celebration at Fort Lewis College (an alternative event to Columbus day).
Reflections of the Sun Pt. 3 (Son Como Sangre) appears on the album Sacred Paths by Asia Jazz Project featuring Molina Soleil & Aju (2009)
Jazz meets Latin Reggae meets sultry Spanish vocals and spoken word poetry on the third Reflection of the Sun, highlighting Aju’s multi-faceted abilities as an vocalist, as well as Asia’s diverse sound.
Asia Fajardo-Wright is an avant-garde saxophonist and composer who leads Asia Jazz Project, plays in the Latin-Reggae band Mono Verde, and writes and produces original cultural and musical productions.
Sacred Paths – Soulaju’s 2009 collaboration with Asia – is very theme-oriented and theatric in its musicality. My hope is that Sacred Paths leads to some experimental modern dance productions in coming years. I would like to see a director/choreographer take Sacred Paths to another level, adding physical movement to these compositions.
Reflections of the Sun Pt. 2 (Life Rituals) appears on the album Sacred Paths by Asia Jazz Project featuring Molina Soleil & Aju (2009)
Listening to Aju’s Life Rituals Reflection I am reminded of the importance of rituals, personally, socially, and culturally. Not so much the Mannequin/mundane rituals of day-to-day life, but the spiritual rituals, love rituals, appreciation of moments that echo the circular and spiraling nature of this life.
Reflections of the Sun Pt. 1 (Solar Flare) appears on the album Sacred Paths by Asia Jazz Project featuring Molina Soleil & Aju (2009)
During weeks 32 – 34 of A.M. Soleil, Retrospectively, I get to write about and reflect on pieces that I did not write or record. Reflections of the Sun parts 1, 2 and 3 were written by Aju, recorded with Asia Jazz Project. These Reflections reflect, compliment, and contextualize my Letters to the Moon.
The Letters to the Moon and Reflections of the Sun explore the cosmic dance between the sun and the moon. This relationship has been revered and celebrated cross-culturally throughout human history. Life on Earth could not exist without the sun or the moon and the solar balance they create on the planet.
I was on a train from Copenhagen, Denmark to Berlin, Germany when I wrote this poem. There was a lot of movement that day, in the waters and in the sky. The colors held me. I watched everything in silence, breathing it all in until it was time to write…
I wrote five Letters to the Moon during a journey through northern Europe in November 2008. Three of these poems became compositions on Sacred Paths.
This Letter was written near a small town maybe 30 miles or so south of Dublin, Ireland. I can’t recall the name of the town, but I remember the day well. I remember the way the pen felt in my hand, the coldness of my fingers as a I scribbled the ocean’s words.
Circle back to one of many beginnings. It was November 4th, 2006. I had the opportunity to open for Saul Williams at the University of Wyoming. Will Ross was running sound for ASTEC—the University of Wyoming’s student government sponsored production team.
I knew of Will, having run into him continuously at UW events, but we had never really had a meaningful conversation.
While running sound, Will recorded my performance on his mini-disc recorder. Young Brown Poet lit him up, and the next day he emailed the vocal track to Dustin Neal, his fellow band-mate and co-founder of CHiTT Productions.
Out of nowhere, I got an email from Will, telling me to check out a rough mix of Dustin’s vision of Young Brown Poet. Will explained how he had sent the track to Dustin in the morning, who ran home over his lunch hour and recorded music to the words. Will mixed it down.
I was floored by what I heard. Completely unexpected.
