Life is a Cycle
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When I was living in the United States during the 90s, I was studying with a very wise, very generous Cherokee medicine woman. We were learning many beautiful things, especially about nature, the universe, our own nature, all mitigated with science as a balance. Quantum physics was a favorite subject. But along with all this, we were going to wonderful, sacred places. During our walkabouts, often there would be beautiful teachings. We would learn about the Cherokee and native traditions, culture and spirituality, which is deeply fascinating. Grandmother (an endearing term for a person considered as your elder) would tell us stories about her life with her own grandmother. Their life was one of service and full of adventure. We loved hearing these stories. |
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| At one point grandmother shared with us an ancient prayer; this was for a special ceremony. Somehow, as it happened at times, a song would come into my head. Inspired by the beautiful words of this ancient Cherokee prayer, I wrote the music for “Life is a cycle”. I recorded the song on my piano and showed it to our friends and of course Grandmother. Her son recorded this version with a group called ‘Prizoner’. |
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Prizoner was formed in 1980 by Tim Keyes, Paul Hoffman, Chuck Campbell, and Bill Parsons in northeastern suburbs of Cincinnati. Between 1980 and 1984 there were few changes to the group. 1984 saw the emergence of a “one of a kind vocalist” Greg Anderson. Greg had the range and style the band had been looking for. | |
| My own style is more like a troubadour, easy going, music of the heart. When I heard the version Prizoner did, I was amazed and realized then that you could take a song and style it the way you want, blues, rock, jazz etc. After the recording we were told that their lead guitarist, who had just lost his dad, felt great relief with the message of the song. | ||
| These men did a beautiful rendition and I am honored to present you “Life is a cycle”. | ||