Tempe

In the afternoon, Nicholas took us to one of the apartment complex in the north side of Scottsdale for a home visit( an activity where Baha'is visit friends and new believers at their homes to share prayers and sacred writings)

This was in the company of Ali with the guitar, Nicholas our guide, Anya and Jessica from Chicago with their voices, and I was with my djembe as always. We went to the first apartment the guy wasn't ready for us, we then went to the next apartment. As we were searching for the right apartment number, a lady with a Jamaican accent, her head peering through her door, asked us which apartment we were looking for. We told her and she pointed at the next door. We knocked, the guy was not ready for us as well. As we were about to leave, the Jamaican lady said, "He didn't want to listen to your music?"

She came out of her apartment. She invited us. We sat at her porch and shared some prayers with her. We improvised music to accompany a prayer for Forgiveness and an incredible rendition of a Healing prayer. These were prayers of her request. Our harmonies and on the spot compositions were such a lift to our spirits. The lady had tears flowing down her face-- she was moved, we were moved. We did a Caribbean calypso song Ali had written long time ago on Unity and Peace-- the core message of the Baha'i Faith. The lady loved it and sang along.

I saw the power of music at work, especially with the use of Music in conveying the message from Sacred Writings.

Third Concert

In the evening was our third concert for Music for the Soul. It was at the Baha'i Information Center in Tempe-AZ. There were about 70 people in attendance. The acoustic of the room was amazing.

We started the show with a Persian prayer, then went into full swing with the music for Music for the Soul. The crowd was digging our songs. The response was enthusiastic. Smiles on peoples faces, others came and wanted to learn some of the songs to share with their communities and others asked us to come up with the next CD as soon as possible.

One of the noted points of compliment was that people thought the three of us, Ali, Amelia and I had been singing together for a long time. To their surprise, actually we started performing as a group as of May 29 2008 when we had the first Music for the Soul concert in Santa Fe-NM.