Asha & Yloush (aka Asher Quinn & Asha Elijah, and Székely Ilona) sing R. Kelly’s ‘If I could turn back the hands of time’ at Origo Studios, Budapest, with Cserny Kálmán as the sound engineer. This track will be on Asha’s forthcoming album \"God Gave Us Flowers.\"
Here in Budapest I live amongst a kindred community of spiritually-minded people, many of whom are very talented artists… painters, musicians, dancers, actors and so on.
One day last month, scrolling down on Facebook, I saw by chance a home-made video from a woman within this group who filmed herself singing her own song, acapella… on her sofa! And boy, was she good! Her name was Székely Ilus (Yloush for short!) So I contacted her to offer my congratulations, only to find that not only are we both creative, but we are also neighbours in the city centre. She lives just a couple of streets away in Nyugati, near the Danube. So we met and quickly became artistic friends with much in common, in outlook and expression.
I am recording two albums at nearby Origo Studios just now, (with Cserny Kálmán engineering the sound)… one an album of new compositions called “Knights & Angels”, and the other a third volume of cover songs called “The Mother, the Lover, the Healer & the Muse”. So, as Yloush’s powerful, passionate vocals would grace any album, I asked her if she’d care to sing.
Within a week we had recorded four new tracks, two on each album, and a week later we had also begun to film them, too. The film here was made as we rehearsed and recorded this track. We’ve also been to see other Hungarian artists together, such as Hungarikum Együttes and Misztrál… traditional Hungarian folk minstrels for the modern age… and are having a most productive cultural exchange! This is Facebook at its finest, bringing people together! We hang out at the cute and cosy Bio Cafe in Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út, opposite the western railway station (www.facebook.com/BIO-CAFÉ-Piszke), just round the corner; a perfect haunt for hungry artists!
Visiting the City of Kings, Székesfehérvár, to see Hungarikum Együttes perform, we also filmed there for a couple of tracks. Just a month ago we did not know of each other, but much has manifested creatively very quickly!
We both have day-jobs, and face the struggles all artists traditionally face in trying to find ways to manifest our creativity… there’s no shortage of inspiration, it’s the time and money that needs careful handling! But this collaboration has a great momentum… one idea leads to another, and a flow and rhythm is developing, as one door after another seems to open. As if the choreography of this collaboration is approved of by the Gods of Music!
I took a decision years ago to make music happen come what may, despite all the financial risks… because it feels like my passion; my mission. Once I did that, I found myself in the flow of opportunity that has now lasted thirty years, and is actually increasing in intensity as I get older. Last year, Yloush did the same thing. Neither of us could afford this decision, technically… as in, we had the impulse but not the means to make it happen, but we did it anyway and offered ourselves up to the higher powers for help.
We have in common a pure intention to do it primarily for love only… for art, spirit, truth, beauty and goodness… not for financial gain. To do it for God… as an act of love and devotion. We both write and sing of love in all its manifestations. Money is only a means to keep it going.
Once Yloush made her decision, doors started to open for her… and I am one of them! I am a door! It needed the act of faith, and the whole-hearted commitment for the means to manifest. But as I write, this IS happening. So what you see here is a kind of birth… something beautiful was born on this day. We think we sing songs, but actually we are sung… we ARE the song! And this is the case with all true art born of pure intention, gratitude and devotion; we are the poem that is written; the song that is sung; the picture that is painted.
And the thing is then, to Love it!
As with all my songs and versions of other songs, there is an unseen meaning behind it, like with Sufi poetry... the love of God. I sing of Love, the Lover & the Beloved. So it has two levels; the ordinary level where one imagines a song to a lost lover, and the higher level where... in this case... that lost lover is God. I sing: \"If only I'd been awake and known You before, I'd have done anything for You!\" Yloush and I are on the same spiritual path, so this is a re-interpreted love-song to God!
