We are happy to feature a video for the song Sacred Hymn by Diane Bardwell Masters.
Be sure to check out Diane’s latest CD Emergence, which takes the ancient art of chanting and gives it an original, contemporary, and deeply evocative treatment. See below for more details….
Here Diane describes the inspiration behind Sacred Hymn:
One day in late March 2005, I came across the website of Robert Augustus Masters, and there began looking at descriptions of his books. I noticed that he also posted his poetry on his site; when I read his poems, particularly one called Sacred Hymn, I literally gasped and touched my heart. With total certainty, I realized that I knew the music for these “poems,” which I felt were meant to be lyrics for songs.
And so I emailed Robert to ask if he would allow me to try composing music for them, and he consented. After 3 weeks of talking on the phone, consulting about the songs and having many conversations about everything else imaginable, Robert came from Canada to where I was living in California to meet me and hear Sacred Hymn during a concert I was giving. Our connection was extremely easy, deep, and natural right from the start. That was the beginning of our cocreative relationship, working partnership and, since April 2, 2006, our marriage!
In 2007, I recorded Sacred Hymn and 7 other songs on the CD O Breathe Us Deep. The lyrics for each song on the CD are Robert’s, and the music is mine, but the entire CD is ours to share. May you hear it in the spirit in which it was created.
–Diane Bardwell Masters
Beautiful video for Sacred Hymn, composed and sung by Diane Bardwell, with lyrics from Robert Augustus Masters. Features stunning artwork from Freydoon Rassouli. Edited by Laura Loescher.
About Emergence by Diane Bardwell Masters
Emergence takes the ancient art of chanting in one’s own language and gives it an original, contemporary, and exceptionally evocative treatment, featuring seven very unique chant-songs in English, each of which invites contemplative depth, soul-centered singing, and spiritually vibrant movement.
In Emergence meaning, melody, richly layered harmonies, and deeply moving singing all resonate together with transformational power, providing a soundscape and meaning-infused environment that alerts us as much as it opens and rejuvenates us.
This is music that doesn’t just uplift us, but also expands, deepens, and grounds us, moving us into a more deeply fulfilling sense of wholeness. This is music to guide us through the challenges, troubles, and transitions of our lives, helping us not so much to rise above our difficulties, as to pass through them and EMERGE!
Diane is not just singing but is fully expressing, with her whole being, the meaning of her deceptively simple words, weaving them more and more fully into us as we listen. Emergence mixes skyflung joy and earthy exultation, guiding us into a more liberated way of being, without any bypassing of our humanity.
This is a rare work of art. Diane sings with the heartfelt, soaringly alive maturity of her entire being, and world-class producer Stevin McNamara is at the peak of his many years of musical wizardry and exquisitely attuned sonic sensitivity, doing wonders with the arranging, so that each chant-song very clearly stands on its own, in contrast to chant CDs in which most of the cuts sound similar. Pure magic.
As we let Emergence touch us, we find ourselves feeling more and more unshackled, swept to our core on a river of sound and primordial meaning, emerging in ways that truly serve us. We may sing with it, we may dance to it, we may silently listen to it, but whatever we do, we are brought closer to who and what we truly are.
“I was struck by the astonishing beauty of Diane’s new album Emergence, both aesthetically and lyrically. I love how the music plays with tribal rhythms, conventional pop/R&B song structures, and sweet transcendent melodies. Diane’s voice sounds absolutely gorgeous–I can feel a real transmission coming through her, evoking a subtle sense of being ‘pulled up’ out of mere gross-body awareness, even as the music keeps me grounded in the sensual. Highly recommended!” –Corey W deVos, Editor, IntegralLife.com
Purchase Emergence
Diane Bardwell Masters is an intuitive healer, relationship expert, and highly skilled psychotherapist, as well as a longtime songwriter and professional singer. She brings great heart and insight to the work she shares with Robert. Six years ago she began bringing her music into the psychospiritual work she and Robert share, finding that her singing and words greatly benefited their clients. Soon it became clear that when they were actively singing with her, moving sound through their bodies and minds, and at the same time letting the meaning of the words permeate them, they benefited much more; this way, the words became their own. Out of this arose Emergence, Diane’s latest CD (original Western contemporary chants in English), fulfilling her dream of creating music that truly heals and awakens. See www.dianebardwell.net.
