"WHEN I AIN'T HAD NO MONEY, I STILL HAD SAUCE. IF YOU AIN'T GOT NO SAUCE, THEN YOU LOST. BUT YOU CAN ALSO GET LOST IN THE SAUCE." - GUCCI MANE
Hi, Lionheart! My cover of Frankie Valli’s / Lauryn Hill’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” on SoundCloud is blowing up! I worked really hard on it. Take a listen and follow me on SoundCloud if you support my music. Thank you - you're the best. Couldn't and wouldn't do it withoutcha. You know I love you!
Check it out here, and if you like it, please support my music by liking, reposting, and following me on SoundCloud.
Lionheart, this past summer, I worked at a Syrian refugee camp in Greece as the music director for an Arabic adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest alongside my colleagues, who are leading film, tv, and Broadway talent and crew, Syrian film stars, Italian documentary filmmakers, Middle Eastern scholars and diplomatic professionals.
While I was starstruck working with this incredible kind-hearted team, I was also struck by the stories of the beautiful residents of the camp. These stories touched on themes of hope, positivity in spite of darkness, deep and hollow pain, and laughter and light.
I loved writing songs with the kids; kids are kids everywhere. We wrote, sang, and acted out a song about feelings so that they knew how they could express themselves. They LOVED singing and acting out 'I feel CRAZY!'
Part of my reason for commiting to the project is why I create music, perform, and teach singing and songwriting.
Imagine if someone had just one moment of freedom and joy, forgetting everything and just singing and playing music.
I still keep in touch with some of the residents today.
This short documentary clip shares the story of our Ritsona summer residency.
A message from the Campfire Project:
When the Campfire Project returns this summer, our new and improved agenda will be to reach an additional community. We will also donate wellness and education services to the Oinofyta tent camp 10 miles from our host camp, Ritsona.
Our aim remains, as always, to create a performance with the Ritsona residents, while providing ESL classes, psychological support and Arabic translators for the 1000 residents of this diverse and isolated camp.
This year, we will shape our residency with an integrated approach that combines ESL with playwriting so that the residents have the power to tell their own stories. We recognize that we can be agents of change, structuring endless days and building creative and educational habits for the hundreds of refugees who wait there indefinitely.
They desperately count on NGOs like The Campfire Project for all services of physical and emotional survival.
Your support makes all the difference. Will you help us to keep going?
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
I realized from the residents at Ritsona that all we have are our relationships. My theme for 2019 is just that: relationships.
In 2016, I had a wakeup call to start pulling myself together. I had successes here and there, but it wasn't in alignment with what I dreamed of. 2017 was a year of radical positive changes. Then in 2018, I realized that if I wanted to continue with the positive changes, I'd have to look within. My theme last year was spirituality.
And now, based on my learnings from the refugee camp and life in general, my theme is relationships. I'm focusing on relationships with myself; the universe; friends and family; love; YOU, Alarke; health; time; and money. Maybe I forgot something in there.
Just looking at this, it seems all-expansive. How can I narrow it down to relationships themselves? I guess it means cultivating healthy dynamics and interplay between things. It'll be a new observation and, frankly, I'm a bit hesitant to go there.
However, looking back at January 2018, I wrote that I was afraid of looking within because I was afraid of what I would find. I was afraid of losing myself. In reality, what I had been holding onto was my ego's fear, keeping me playing small on so many levels. Simply put, I was afraid of losing a sense of loss.
Going within turned out to be better than anything I could have imagined. I left 2018 feeling like I accessed my spirit with a quantum leap, bending time and space, past and future. I realized that I'm alive throughout all eternity, this time is a perceived construct, and that I can release my fears and go after what I want because I already have everything I want.
One of my favorite quotes from 2018: "Let me recognize the problem so it can be solved." - A Course In Miracles
I hope this quote leaves you with courage.
With this, although I don't know yet what a theme on relationships will turn out to be, I'm looking forward to the discovery.
Alarke, stay tuned for new releases this year. I'm planning on releasing new electronic singles and the album I wrote and recorded in Cuba. You can help support my music and make a BIG difference with as little as $1/month by supporting me on Patreon. That tier exists because it actually DOES make a difference, cumulatively. :)
If you're also curious about taking singing and/or songwriting lessons, check out my teaching at setyourlifetomusic.com. I have free tutorials and exercises, as well as private lessons in-person in New York City or online.
DISCOVER SET YOUR LIFE TO MUSIC
There's a lot of fun happenings that I post about on social media stories. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to come hang out with me behind the scenes.
Sayonara for now.
I couldn't and wouldn't do it withoutcha, Lionheart.
Mad love. Wishing you inspiration and expansion.
XO MARY ALOUETTE AKA ALARKE
P.S. Click here to support my music on Patreon.
P.P.S. Click here to learn more about songwriting lessons with Set Your Life To Music.
maryalouette.com
alarke.com
setyourlifetomusic.com
Mary Alouette (AKA Alarke) stands out with her compelling twist of experiences as an international opera singer turned Gypsy jazz singer turned award-winning electronic pop singer and songwriter.
Throughout her 25-year professional career, Alouette has mesmerized audiences from the Kennedy Center, the Rainbow Room, and Carnegie Hall to Fabrica Del Arte in Havana, Cuba, Gypsy caravans in Samois sur Seine, France, and castles in the Italian Alps.
Her music is an exciting, vibey, future-forward melt of pop, electronic, dance, and world music.