RAINING STARS
Songs from the Mystical Land of Devotion
by ZULEIKHA
What People are Saying…
“Zuleikha’s healing music touches the soul and awakens the spirit. This beautiful CD inspired me to dance.”
—Eileen Fisher, Founder and CEO, Eileen Fisher Inc.
“Taste the sweet fruit of Zuleikha’s life of devotion… A call to come home to the heart.”
—Krishna Das, devotional kirtan vocalist known as “the chant master of American yoga”
Zuleikha
Murad Ali Khan
Prashant Trivedi
Sam Zickefoose
Jamie Sieber
Jeff Sussman
“A suite of new songs from Zuleikha is cause for celebration! The jewel from Rabia especially.”
—Coleman Barks, poet and translator of Rumi ~ latest published work – Soul Fury
“Soul soothing music that features the angelic voice of Zuleikha supported by an evocative array of strings and percussion.”
—Glen Velez, Grammy Award-winning world percussionist
CREDITS
Zuleikha – Voice and Harmonium
Murad Ali Khan – Sarangi
Prashant Trivedi – Tabla
Sam Armstrong Zickefoose – Guitar
Jamie Sieber – Cello
Jeff Sussman – Percussion and Sounds
RECORDINGS
Ron Sunsinger, Sunsinger Studios, Santa Fe, NM
Sumit Babbar, RBQ Sound Studio, Delhi, India
Kabby Kabakoff, Kabby Sound Studios, Santa Fe, NM
CD MIX
Kabby Kabakoff, Kabby Sound Studios, Santa Fe, NM
MUSICAL THANKS
Michael Stearns, Kabby Kabakoff, Sumit Babbar, Murad Ali Khan, Ron Sunsinger, Chara Nelson, Susan Skeele, Joe Miller, Dr. Shyam, Coleman Barks, Many Friends
COPYRIGHTS/LICENSING
Copyright by Zuleikha/Swan Lake Publishing 2020. All songs are registered with BMI. No songs may be performed, reproduced or recorded without permission and license from Zuleikha/BMI.
ABOUT ZULEIKHA
Zuleikha is an international Storydancer, performer, musician and educator whose work inspires dynamic creativity and rejuvenation through the profound art of movement. She has created a number of CDs of original music based on the poetry of the mystics. aboutzuleikha.com
Photos Above: Zuleikha recording at RBQ Sound Studio, Delhi, India. Left to Right: Sumit Babbar, Zuleikha and Murad Ali Khan, Zuleikha recording Rabia “Bread Song,” Sumit, Jayant and Zuleikha
Imperishable Treasure
Music by Zuleikha
Words from The Chandogya Upanishad
Translation by Juan Marisco
Imperishable Treasure
Dr. Shyam as he was called, Ayurvedic doctor and mentor, often read the sacred Vedic texts of The Upanishad’s to us. Later after rereading a beautiful passage, I sat down with my harmonium and put it to music. To think that Faith comes by Grace, to think of the Great Mystery as the Imperishable Treasure, what a beautiful lesson.
Come Home
The words to this song are taken from some English translations of Anandamayi Ma, a great woman saint from contemporary India. Her words are very helpful. She reminds us: How much more time will you spend at a wayside inn? Don’t you want to come home? She goes on to explain that we are the wanderer, the exiled, and the homecoming.
Night Prayer
One time, a friend came over to my house to sing together. I had opened up an early translation of Rumi’s poetry, by the Englishman A. J. Arberry. I started singing this song and this is how I later recorded it. I especially like the description that during the setting of the sun, the way of the spirit is open, how our spirit can fly into the vast night sky.
Rabia 2.0 ~ The Bread Song
A new version of Zuleikha’s original Rabia Song
Words inspired by 8th century Sufi mystic, Rabia
Rabia 2.0 – The Bread Song
When anyone asks if there are any known women in the Sufi tradition, someone usually mentions Rabia. She lived in the 700’s and was a mystic, at one with the Beloved. Her words have moved me and inspired the works I do through the non-profit, The Storydancer Project. When they asked her what she was doing in this world, she replied that she was sorrowing. And when they asked to define that, she replied that she was eating the bread of this world, and doing the work of that world. Some years ago at the Lama Foundation in New Mexico, I sang this song for Ram Dass. He smiled and began to refer to it as The Bread Song.
The Same
There is a very interesting dialogue recorded in the story of the meeting of Anandamayi Ma and Yogananda. He asked her about her state of awareness. To all the questions he asked her, she gave the reply that she was always the Same; before she came to this world, when she was married, and standing here. It inspires me to think about what changes, and what remains the same.
St. Theresa and Me
Music by Zuleikha
Words of St. Theresa of Avila
adapted by Zuleikha
St. Theresa and Me
The crux of these words are attributed to a prayer by St. Theresa of Avila, Spain. Several friends shared some versions of this prayer with me. The way I sing it is the way it seems to sit right, inside of me. That is why I called it St. Theresa and Me. She tells us be not afraid, all things are passing, and, as I like to remember, Love never changes. Singing these words can teach the feeling of relief which often leads to calmness.
The Vast Wheel
Music by Zuleikha
Words from The Svetasvatara Upanishad
Translation by Juan Marisco
The Vast Wheel
This is another song inspired by the words of the Upanishads, translated by Juan Marisco. I love how it teaches that the human soul is like a restless flying swan. Evidently in this “state” she* thinks Love is far away. The story goes that when this Love dawns inside of her, she discovers the feeling of the vastness of immortality. This is good news.
*Juan Marisco translates soul as she
Raining Stars
I had a very great teacher in music and life, when I lived and studied in Afghanistan. His name was Ustad Hashim Chishti. His family was of the lineage of the Sufis and of the great North Indian classical musicians carried into Afghanistan for hundreds of years. As in the stories of so many great beings, he knew many ways of teaching and was always surprising me. Food, music, movement and sounds of nature, and being. After he and his family escaped to Europe from the wars in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, I had a message of his death. So sure that I would see him again, and work together, I was shocked and very saddened by this news. Someone mentioned that I should sit down and sing out my grief. This is the song that came out. At first I was disappointed. I wanted to sing about my grief. I still marvel at the way the words taught me of the transformation of grief into the vastness of beauty.
What People are Saying…
“Into this luminous basket of song, Zuleikha weaves tender surrender with the fierce cry of the heart for union at any price. Zuleikha’s voice is both sensual and startling, grounded and otherworldly, and her original compositions carry the fragrance of ancient prayer. My heart was melted open by this extraordinary new compilation.” —Mirabai Starr, Author and Speaker
A MESSAGE ABOUT ZULEIKHA
“Singer and songwriter, ZULEIKHA creates melodies that invite us to Remember, to reframe the mundane as sacred, to allow edges to blur and the breath to bring us back into the harmony with all.” —Jennifer Till, Wild at Heart Journal review