Bringing the Song Inside Out with Rachel Bagby

Program Description

Breaking into chant and song even as she is speaking, Rachel Bagby shows us how music can do more than we ever thought possible. She believes in “giving the sacred back to our breath, and giving our breath back to the sacred,” and describes what happens when we start listening to and expressing the music inside of us. Her joy of life and song shines through, inspiring us to welcome the music in our own depths, and carry the power it gives us into the world. This process becomes practical and clear as she speaks of community gardens, international choruses and ecological projects she and others are doing to keep spirit alive in the world. She sums up this magic quite simply: “Life answers when we call.” (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)

Bagby has been an attorney, ecofeminist, writer, composer, artist and singer in Bobby McFerrin’s “Voicestra.” Her book is Divine Daughters: Liberating the Power and Passion of Women’s Voices (HarperSanFrancsico 1999). Her albums include “Full” (Outta the Box 1993) and Reach Across the Lines (Breathe the Music 2006). To learn more about Rachel Bagby and her work go to www.divinedaughters.com

Topics Explored in this Dialogue:

• How her mother’s spirit contributed to her childhood education
• How vocalized sounds affect our moods and physical condition
• What is the power of “mmm”
• What is her own story of madness, and “how life answers when we call”
• What is her vision of an international women’s chorus at a U.N. conference
• What are exercises we can do to feel how music affects us

Program Number: 2454                     Host: Justine Willis Toms                                     Interview Date: 4/1/1994