“Deeper self knowledge, true potential of the human, self realisation, happiness, suffering… it doesn’t belong in narrow places any more – in monasteries – it needs to be in the hospitals. Now is the time for it to be in the schools, in our lives. I really believe that.” ~ Nick Mulvey

(above photo by Brian Naughton) 


E63 NICK MULVEY ON SELF KNOWLEDGE, SONGWRITING AND CEREMONY 

A VOICE FOR NATURE: PLAYING FROM THE HEART STRINGS


Listen to the conversation:

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About this interview:

How can we create the conditions for something universal to be expressed through us? 


In this episode, Amisha shares a moment with Nick Mulvey, a musician and songwriter whose music and performance speaks directly to the times we are in. His most recent album ‘Wake Up Now’ is a rallying cry to humanity. It features themes of fracking and the refugee crisis, weaving rhythms and melodies from across the globe with heartfelt and deeply personal lyrics.

Nick shares with us the intimate details of his songwriting process, speaking about the resonance between his guitar strings and ‘heart strings’ and how following the inner resonance has led him to then broadcast outwards the musical messages that come through him – reframing performance as ceremony. Nick speaks about his own journey towards deep self knowledge, tracked through the highs and lows of his career as a musical artist.  He speaks about walking the line between a personal, spiritual journey and all the trappings of fame, how the ‘ego journey’ of broken expectations led him to question more deeply what it means to do his work well, and how this led to an appetite for depth over breadth in his connection with audiences.

We hear stories of Nick’s experiences leading the funeral procession for Polly Higgins, working alongside Wisdom Keepers from indigenous traditions around the world at Glastonbury Festival and channeling the words of a whale for a new song.

“Often when we are talking about becoming humble, we mean becoming smaller. But at the same time knowing your place in the scheme of things means to know that you are the rings of Saturn, you are the wind, you are everything. I’m learning to abide in that knowledge. Failing every day, learning all the time.”  ~ Nick Mulvey    

 


 

Nick Mulvey (born 4 November 1984) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He played the hang as a founding member of the band Portico Quartet. In 2011 started his career as a singer-songwriter releasing the EPs The Trellis (2012) and Fever to the Form (2013) and his studio album First Mind in 2014 which received a Mercury Music Prize nomination. His second album, Wake Up Now, was released on the 8th September 2017.

 

To find out more about Nick, visit nickmulvey.com

To connect or work with Amisha, visit www.amisha.co.uk  


Links from this episode:

Amazon Fires:

Some positive news on deforestation:

1.Following decades of deforestation, Costa Rica has doubled its forest cover in the last 30 years. Half of the country’s land surface is now covered with trees, creating a huge carbon sink and a big draw for tourists.In 1940s, more than 75 per cent of Costa Rica was covered in mostly tropical rainforests and other indigenous woodland. extensive logging meant that by 1983, only 26 per cent of the country still had forest cover. Through a sustained focus by policymakers, today forest cover has increased to 52 per cent: double the 1983 levels. Positive news, July 30, 2019

2.May 2019 Thailand using military  planes to ‘bomb’ the forests with seed bombs made with native species in order to recover degraded areas. Government plan to implement project for 5 years . Expectation is that benefits will be visible by end of this year. Scienceinsanity.com

3.Peru passes momentous ban on palm oil deforestation to come into action by the end of 2021. Peru has joined Columbia in making this promise.

 


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