Gabrielle Cerberville is known to some as Chaotic Forager, to others as Mushroom Auntie, but you will certainly experience her as a person deeply connected to all the residents of the Earth, not only humans. Gabrielle's passions are wide-ranging, including music composition & gourmet cuisine, but she is especially known for thoughtfully bringing the fruits of the Earth to her table, and to teaching others of right relationship to our non-human cousins. Her new book is Gathered: On Foraging, Feasting, and the Seasonal Life, and it's a delightful dive into her barefoot life of reciprocity with plants & fungi, including the ability to know them and to welcome them to our meals. You can also learn from her via her videos on YouTube and on Tiktok.
Time today for some seasonal music, but, of course, with a twist. Sofia Talvik has joined us twice before, and with the release of her 2nd compilation of her annual Christmas songs, songs which Sofia has written to explore the wider experience of Christmas, including the distressing and challenging sides of the holiday, we again reached out across the sea to her, to Berlin, Germany, where this Swedish-born folk artist sometimes lives when she's not touring the USA or living in her other home in Spain. Her music is sweet & moving, her voice is evocative & uplifting, and her lyrics are deep & wide-ranging.
Sami Awad lives in Bethlehem, and has been dedicated to nonviolent action since his teen years, inspired by his uncle, Mubarak Awad. In a conflict focused on Jews and Muslims, Christian Palestinians are sometimes erased from the picture by many outsiders, although they have been an integral part of the Holy Land for many centuries. Sami's Master's Degree from American University is in International Relations with a specialty of Peace and Conflict Resolution, and he is co-director of Nonviolence International, In 1995 he founded the Holy Land Trust, and he just recently wrote an inspirational, insightful, and ground-breaking book, The Sacred Awakening: Reclaiming Christ Consciousness.
Today for Song of the Soul, we are straying far from my safe and well-known musical turf to the the wonderful works of Ivar Lunde, Jr, a prolific and accomplished composer, pedagogue, performer, and conductor. Born in Norway, educated in Norway & Austria, he has performed & taught in many corners of Europe & the USA, including 35 years teaching at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. His works have been performed by at least 7 different symphony & chamber orchestras in the US & Norway. His retirement from teaching seems only to have accelerated his musical creativity, as exemplified by his collaborations with Peter Phippen and in his upcoming release, Meditation At Dawn.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Lutheran, Catholic, Non-affiliated
We're headed to the west coast today for a deep & touching visit with Frances Ancheta, a Filipina-American singer/songwriter and acoustic musician. Frances has a rich repertoire of thoughtful and eclectic indie folk/pop/rock songs. I hear tell that before long she may also share some of the music from her family's country of origin, The Philippines, but right now we'll be blessed with her US-born and inspired songs, again, from the tenderest and most vibrant of hearts.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Catholic, Non-affiliated
All featured music is written & performed by Frances Ancheta:
The Place Where I Need to Be - from Saving Graces
This Haze - from Saving Graces
Our guest-host today is Jan Spencer, and he'll describe his book disguised as a website - A Primer For Paradigm Shift. The Primer is dense with usable information explaining why, how and what paradigm shift can look like in the real world. Paradigm shift is not a fuzzy future utopia, it's a here-and-now work-in-progress. The more people are engaged, the better, so listen and then check out what you have to add to the book/Primer/website! The Primer is for both longtime activists and those wanting to take initiative to help create a sustainable and uplifted society. Also, you can track down many of Jan's insights via his YouTube videos and on his website, and those in Eugene Oregon may be able to hear his broadcasts via KEPW.
Mark Leach is guest-host for today's episode, sharing portions from his weekly radio show, Ecotopia Soon! Mark is a retired conservation biologist, activist, and a Quaker, and his perspective is that we are all in a leaky canoe together; we need to change our thinking to reach the safe shore of Ecotopia, where we treat Nature as our only life support system & we treat each other with respect. In today's broadcast, Mark has 2 guests, history museum director Melissa Kneeland (Rassbach Museum | Dunn County Historical Society), discussing rewriting history, and Mark Helpsmeet of Northern Spirit Radio, who shares an experience with a dictatorship. Other topics, you ask? Statistical tests reveal income disparity is associated with crime (USA) & with democratic failure (globally). Also, he marvels that Bill O'Reilly declares that Vladimar Putin and Donald J. Trump are doing evil!
We don't usually have a lot of cowboy content on Song of the Soul, but this week we'll at least get a piece of that with the music of Dusty James & Abalone Pearl, with Pearl as our guest. Dusty and Pearl have just released their first album, after about 9 years of performing together, and it's a mix of their original songs with traditional and public domain covers. We'll only be hearing a small slice of their wide repertoire of instruments, like guitar, banjo, harmonica, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, and washboard, but we'll be enriched all the same. Get ready for a generous sampling of genres, including some blues, as Abalone Pearl joins us via Zoom from St Louis, Missouri.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Jewish, Music
One of my great delights is the growing number of folks from around the world that I can can find right here is my city, Eau Claire, WI, of about 75K people. Though the university plays a big part in that, an inspirational contributor to the diversity is the newly opened offices of World Relief - Wisconsin, and our Chippewa Valley offices. Today we meet in person with the local community engagement specialist, Jodi Jewell, to talk about the work of caring for our refugee neighbors, providing them a safe and secure welcome, after a long & challenging road to our door.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: Baptist, Non-denominational Christian
Featured music:
We're headed today to the enchanted realm summoned by the flute of Peter Phippen, now accompanied by the magic of Ivar Lunde Jr and Paulina Fae. Some of you may remember Peter, who has been with us on Song of the Soul a few times before, mostly in the musical manifestation connected with his wood flutes, though Peter's alter ego also plays the bass and guitar as part of Virginia Steele and in other groups. On his latest album, The Phantom Moon, you'll float just beyond the boundaries of our concrete reality, in the ethereal reality beyond.
Past/present religious/spiritual influences: