~ Bless Our Waters Album ~
Aloha! Pray you are well and in light. First of all, thank you for your time, and mahalo for you Light. I am grateful that you are Here, and in this beautiful journey of Life with me. :)
My name is Ishle Yi Park, also known as Kehaulani (Lani), and I am a mother, a poet, and a singer~songwriter, and wild dolphin and manta swim guide living in Hawai'i.
I once wrote a book called the Temperature of This Water, published by Kaya Press, which is the winner of three literary awards, was the first woman to become Poet Laureate of Queens, and toured the country as a poet & singer for the past decade.
For the past few years I have been singing and recording music on my own, and recently I have been very blessed with the opportunity to have my first album produced by the legendary, multiple Na Hoku award winning producer Kenneth Makuakane!! So here we are, two Asian Pacific American musicians collaborating to create beautiful island music for Hawai'i and beyond.
In order to make this album truly special and to give it da time, attention, and mana it deserves, we are looking to mana~fest the means to record and market this project beautifully. $15,000 is the entire album goal, and we are looking to do it in stages. So we first plan to raise $5,000 to have the seed money to begin this project & so we can start recording this summer and keep you updated along the journey. Your blessing would be greatly appreciated, and you will be part of this waka sailing new uncharted waters in Hawaiian island music!
Now is da time for positive vibes and sharing pure aloha in music again. I am recording this album of conscious positive, island vibe reggae songs about love, water, and sustainability so our keiki can see another world is possible, to Be da Light, and sing Love into open hearts.
For da first time in my musical career, a well-known, well-respected and pono Asian Pacific Islander musician (& pastor!) with decades of experience and numerous Na Hoku awards for album production!! ~ Kenneth Makuakane ~ is taking me under his wing, and has agreed to produce my first island album!!
By donating to this campaign, you will be helping to create new, quality Asian Pacific Islander music in the world. Our voices, our songs, are necessary and beautiful, and needed on this planet. Asian American artists are still pioneers and visionaries, creating our own culture in this country. Let us help each other create soul~nourishing, positive music for da world.
Grassroots. Soul~full. Conscious. Island. Natural. CommUnity, your kokua, your help in mana~festing this album is GREATLY appreciated ~ we invite you to be a part of this collective movement to birth songs of love & water.
Together, we can make beautiful music. Teamwork makes the dream work, fam! Come be an elemental part of this musical, spiritual journey with us, and help make a positive difference for our people, our oceans, and our planet. All the songs for this album are written, raw versions made & ready to be recorded.
Bless Our Waters. Proceeds from da album will go towards ocean awareness & conservation, and also to 1% for the Planet. Album cover art is already done. The money will go towards a quality audio recording ~ good enough to play on the radio, to play for my children and hopefully, our children's children ~ marketing and production. No plastic, using eco~friendly materials.
As a single mother of two daughters, I normally have my hands (& ears) full of keiki love & sounds. This summer, da elders are watching da keiki, so I will be blessed with a precious spell of time to create this album.
We Asian American overachievers, haha. Kenneth and I both got plenny, creative awards under our belt, simply for doing what we love in life ~ telling stories and paying tribute to the humble, hardworking & loving souls in our lives. Sharing pure aloha. You know we wanna do this right, and that takes time, money, & resources. I've tried in da past to take da easy way ~ the D.I.Y., low budget, no marketing way ~ and it was a great & humbling lesson in how not to go about making & releasing an album, haha.
Now I am blessed to have a professional give me a map & be my guide on this journey. This time is for keeps. This time is to make musical HERstory. I'm old enough to be wise, young enuf to maybe entice some young souls to listen deeper & hear da messages of aloha, ohana, respect for our 'aina & waters, da power of prayer and Akua and the importance of natural sustainability that is engrained deep in these songs.
I've awakened to my true calling, my purpose in this lifetime, on this journey. Time to get to work. Work is Love. The mystic poet Tagore says, God respects you when you work, and God loves you when you sing. I love my God, I trust my God, and I have faith that I am on this musical journey for the right reasons ~ to Live * Learn * Grow.
Let's do this together, fam. For our ancestors, for our starseeds, for da next seven generations. Big journeys always start with da first steps. We can do this. I have faith. I trust, I trust, I trust, I believe, I believe, I believe.
And I have so much gratitude for You!! And this Life, and want to give back in the form of music. I pray to Akua to be a vessel for Light and Love, and to make medicine music that soothes da souls of people, lovesongs that inspire da birth of new starseeds, and movement songs that reflect the reality of our times.
This album will be part of my legacy, a gift for my daughters & da oceans that have blessed me, for You, for Hawai'i, and da Mama Earth.
MAHALO nui loa for your kokua. AKUA bless You always, and thank YOU for the ways you are of loving service to our world. ALOHA! Kehaulani
