Upon returning from Serenity Gathering, we feel the utmost exuberance from the experience we had. The intimacy, openness and intention of the festival allowed for a container to fully drop in, release the body and recharge the heart and mind. The smaller production of Serenity at Woodward Reservoir was easily noticed compared to the large scale of Symbiosis we observed in the past. The close knit feel provided a nourishing energy, that was not over stimulating and fluidly comfortable throughout.
The music, spirit and community connection during the weekend created great momentum to carry forward into the vibrant summer months ahead. In celebration of the festival’s strong impression on us, we are incredibly excited to present our post-coverage interview with the closing artist and headliner Kalya Scintilla and Eve Olution.
As a leading contributor at Serenity Gathering and events like it, we invited Kalya to offer personal insights on how he makes his music and how it is received. Our conversation ranges from a discussion on the inclusion of nature and sampling techniques to appropriation and the importance of ancient culture in electronic music production today. Enjoy!
- Australian Inspiration
Breaking Borders: Inspiration from your Australian background has certainly helped you create a signature for your sound. You’ve mentioned that you’ve even picked up the didgeridoo after a series of dreams. How has aboriginal dreamtime and integration of nature consciousness played into your music production?
Kalya Scintilla and Eve Olution: There is an intimate link that has been there from the start. It is only now after living abroad for 5+ years that I see and feel how deep that link is. Growing up in that ancient land and spending a lot of my early years from child to adult in ‘the bush’ it was just second nature. I never really thought about the influence that Land has on art until I started to see the patterns when creating music in other foreign lands. Nature is ever present. Infinitely inspiring. She is clear and focused, serene and calming (most of the time). When you immerse yourself in her world you have no choice but to breathe that soothing energy into your life and all that you do. She is still the number one inspiration for all my artistic endeavors.
The Dreamtime, stories and wisdom of the indigenous tribes of Australia have started to weave their way into my life in a big way in the last 6 months. I have been reading books, listening to music and chants, watching documentaries and brought a new Dreaming Diary to write down my dreams again. The new Merkaba songs intend to focus this inspiration and energy.
https://soundcloud.com/kalyascintilla/01-kalya-scintilla-manzanita?in=kalyascintilla/sets/listen-to-the-trees
- Inspiration From the Ancient
Your music blends technological elements from today with traditional elements from the past. What inspires you to root your music so deeply in these indigenous sounds? Do you feel that incorporating ancient culture elicits something in the listener that is relevant today?
For the most part ancient tribes and peoples had a stronger and more healthy relationship with our mother earth. Not all of them of course, there were many ancients that caused destruction. But I tend to listen for stories of those attuned to the mother and weave that into the narrative and intention of the songs. Eve weaves this energy in through the live performance.
We echo the stories and sounds of the ancients because we feel it as a necessary grounding force for our current state as a human family. There is currently so much disconnection from an awareness, relationship and responsibility to the earth. It looks as though things are very much out of balance and yet inside every human lies the connection to all that has come before. Many humans live a lot of their life looking into a screen, living entirely from their head. There is nothing wrong with technology but if we quest for it in a way where we forget our connection to the mother then its game over, which is now becoming obvious to everyone.
Through music and performance that has intentionally been created to carry a feeling of something ancient, we intend to offer a moment to reconnect to our bodies and thus reconnect to mother earth.
It’s as simple as a drum beat and bare feet dancing on the earth.
- Audio Alchemy
With your participation as a speaker for the Audio Alchemy Retreat last year, you had the opportunity to teach about your music production process on a deeper level. Can you sum up your connection to the Audio Alchemy process in reflection to your own workflow? How does incorporating esoteric elements into your process help define your sound?
We (Eve and I) simply create stories and intentions based on what inspires and resonates with us. Then we jam and collage ideas and throw things back and forth. The key is to be light hearted and to have fun during the creation process. The times I have become to serious or mental the music stops writing itself and the struggle is real. There is a huge link between self work, respect, and the creative process; so when it is creation time we like to get in a flow of eating well, getting lots of sleep, taking time to rest and be in nature.
Whatever you are embodying in your life will end up in your creative mandala.
- Using Samples to Connect with Former Selves
Your insights from a past interview have brought forth the idea that using samples from a variety of locations and time periods can evoke a connection to past incarnations of the self. Bridging off from this, what instruments, rhythms and/or frequencies do you particularly resonate with for this purpose? What are some of the ways you work with specific samples and sound design techniques that transmit a strong effect on the listener?
It’s all in the feeling. A simple beat of an African drum is already taking you back to an ancient place…. Why? Because we now know that the current human came from Africa and all of our blood links back to that place. There is a library of human story in our blood and DNA and we are just starting to understand this concept and its importance. That’s why I feel a certain place, sound or smell can trigger a familiar feeling when experiencing it for the first time. It’s like time travel but the technology is not some advanced machine created on the outside, its the human body and its infinite wisdom on the inside.
The way we tap into this wisdom is not through the mind and its brilliant ability to calculate but through the heart and it’s effortless ability to navigate.
So as far as technique goes it’s all about feeling throughout the process. Playing with ideas, visions and concepts and feeling them as you create. It’s a feedback loop between your body and your art… always.
I intend to translate this process deeper into a video or course one day.
- Sampling and Appropriation
In recent years, there has been a debate over the act of appropriation versus appreciation within electronic music production. When incorporating samples from other cultures that are not your own, where do you see this line drawn with regards to appropriating traditions versus honoring them through music?
The fact I stated earlier sums it up. Through DNA testing we can see and know that we are ALL connected. Through awareness of the lines of wisdom from ancient Tibet, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Africa, and so many more we hear a human story of reincarnation. A story that for thousands of years has told us that the soul never dies and choses to come back into human form again and again. Through these two lines of science and spirituality we are already seeing the story of separation dissolve.
If we look at the history of most countries around the world we see a story of invasion. Tribes conquering tribes, countries invading countries. All ethnic expressions dominating each other and themselves for thousands and thousands of years. Again this awareness gives us a sense of moving from a story of us versus them and into a story of us…. All Humans.
If you understand this you can experience reverence, honoring and intention to all human cultures. These shape the expression, your authentic connection, and awareness of ancient peoples when you choose to echo their sounds or stories. I feel that if your choice is to express an ancient culture’s sound or story which is intentionally done in a way of honoring, celebrating them, as well as respecting their customs, traditions, and rituals then this is extremely positive.
The way that the term ‘cultural appropriation’ is being used nowadays is a form of racism and segregation. Imagine if someone yelled ‘cultural appropriation’ at you because you ate a pizza and you’re not Italian. You see…. It doesn’t make sense. You are a human celebrating being a human and loving your pizza when you eat it.
The ancient stories, rituals, cultures, are becoming lost and forgotten; so it’s our responsibility to assist them to echo back to the future. If an ancient culture does not want their story told, then we need to respect that too.
And the story of the drunk kid at a festival wearing a Native American War Bonnet…. Why waste your energy shaming them when you can take the time to educate and inspire them instead. Teach them something about those ancient peoples that will then show them the doorway to knowledge and reverence.
- Live Elements
Adding a live component can certainly bring more energy and connection to an electronic music experience, just as you introduced with the live performance art and narrative of Eve Olution. How do you feel the crowd’s interaction with your music has evolved now that there is additional live accompaniment on top of an already rich tapestry of sound?
In the same way that music can trigger an emotion and an altered state so can theatre. Through her training and background in classical theatre, Eve brings a cultivated transmission of true embodiment. She invites us into the present moment, authentically modulating her emotion body and subtle energy so that it may be felt by those open to feel it. This assists in creating another, deeper, more subtle layer to the experience on the dance floor. The human energy field extends far beyond the body and we know that humans experience cathartic and empathic connections with one another over distance. So Eve will create an archetype/character or emotion matching the music and that will ripple out through the crowd. The vibe of the entire space changes as people become energetically invited into experiencing the present moment where sensations are heightened and everyone feels more connected & alive.
That’s the magic, power, and medicine of true theatre!
https://soundcloud.com/kalyascintilla/01-evocation-master-2444-full?in=kalyascintilla/sets/ope-ancient-eyes-a-story-book-of-earth
- Serenity’s Size
Serenity Gathering’s relatively small size must be exciting for you to play as it allows for a more intimate connection with the crowd and a unified experience. What about Serenity Gathering and smaller festivals in general do you look forward to as opposed to larger attractions? Do you have an ideal environment to perform in?
Intimate gatherings can and do have a special vibe to them that’s not often found at larger ones. But that said there are some large festivals out there that hold a special vibe overall. This concept of a unified experience is something I feel we, as a festival culture, are still working towards. When you have so many substances available these days to change your filter and perspective, the energy can become quite the opposite of unified. Now I’m not saying that anyone should not do anything if it’s not hurting another human, but imagine what it would be like if when we shift from using festivals, substances and dancing as a way to escape to instead using them to re-connect. Green superfood smoothies for all!
