Much of the
last decade was very tumultuous. My personal melt down started
around the time that Dark Fire came out. De
Ann and I separated. The unraveling of our life
together was a long and hellishly difficult process which ended
abruptly and tragically with her death in December 2000. Death
took other very close family members and friends. It was a
time of deep inner Regrettably,
we never got good professional video or film of De Ann when
she was at her peak. After Dark Fire I kept writing music, but I didn't feel like I had a firm enough foundation to start on a big project like a new CD, so my creativity went into a huge variety of other people's projects. I did some work as a studio musician, contributing to over 25 albums and 2 videos.
I've done
yearly performances at the Rakassah Festival in Richmond,
California and at the Chamizal Theatre in El Paso,
Texas sponsored by Lorraine & Dance
Alive. Dance teachers around the country have brought
me in to play with their dancers and percussionists for a night
of Light Rain music. I went to Seattle where
I played for Delilah, and to shows in Phoenix
with Yasmina and Albuquerque with Jennette
Benadon. There's an annual belly-dance cruise to Ensenada
that Light Rain has performed on (we're going again September).
I love my job! There are a couple of albums on which I sang some of my songs. One was Leaving Yesterday by the Highway One Ensemble, a beautiful acoustic album with a celtic feel. Another was Doug Adams & Dan Hayes-Blues Duo in which Dan Hayes and I play guitars and harmonicas and sing blues. I wrote three songs that were recorded by Dr. Elmo of 'Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer' fame. Those songs are titled 'Bernardo's Serenade', 'Uncle Johnny's Glass Eye' and Chucky Got A Chainsaw for Christmas' (he he he). Easter, spring 2002, I quietly celebrated what felt like a rebirth for me; like I am on the other side of a trial by fire and the phoenix is surging out of the ashes. I have new projects that I have been wanting to do for a long time that are starting to happen. There are some new Light Rain songs that I am looking forward to recording. One is "Secret Song", a guitar piece that I know that dancers are going to love. I want to do a "Light Rain"" version of one of the songs I wrote for Gypsy Caravan; "Gypsy Rain". ~~~
Music is
the language of the heart, and if the heart knows anything,
it is love. As artists, as musicians, we can send messages
across borders. I choose to send a message of love and of peace.
When I first started playing for belly dancing the album I listened to the most was by an oud player named Munir Bechir. I don't know anything about him other than the deep soul that I felt on that recording--and that his home is Baghdad. There's much
I could say about the struggles the world faces now. There's
much to be learned that requires research; the kind of information
you will never, ever get on the evening news. It's helpful
to do a bit of study of the cultures whose dance forms we love
so, and our own country's interactions with those cultures.
For now I'll simply say that my prayer is that the light of
love will grow in the hearts of people here, in the United
States, Since the completion of this interview, Doug Adams has composed and recorded three songs that speak out against war. They are titled 'War Is Not The Answer', 'Ain't Gonna Fight Your War' and 'Contempt of Court'. The three songs are available on a CD from Magi Productions P.O. 356 Larkspur, California 94947 (415) 892-0181 HeyDidl@aol.com.
Have a comment? Send us a letter! Ready
for more? 2-8-03 Glass-Dancing
Revisited by Yasmela/ Shelley Muzzy
2-1-03 How
I came to Turkey by Kayla Summers 1-28-03 How
I Accidentally Became a Successful Belly Dance Teacher
(and you can too!) by Michelle Joyce |
Interview
with
exploration
and questioning; an avalanche of emotions. 
That
was before someone was pointing a video camera at you everywhere
you went, and film was very expensive for a couple of struggling
artists. But after Dark Fire was released De Ann and I put
together a documentary type video of her dancing called De
Ann's Dream. All we had to work with was a collection
of amateur videos taken by different people at some of our
shows. De Ann's Dream is a collage of the very best moments
that we could find from that collection. We edited them together
to try to give people a glimpse of what it was like when De
Ann was dancing. It's a beautiful remembrance of De Ann but
falls far short of her impact as a performer. The movie Gamil
Gamal has a few seconds of her dancing back when we were
performing on San Francisco streets. That film has some of
the very first music that became Light Rain. 
I
traveled to Oregon to work with Gypsy Caravan,
playing on their album Migration, for which I wrote
some music (Gypsy Rain). I went to Utah and joined forces with Allen
Bachman of Desert Wind to co-write 'Desert
Rain' for his album Sarasvati. Wonderful friendships
were forged during these excursions. I flew to Los Angeles
to make an appearance in 
In
conclusion I would like to say that Light Rain has been described
as pioneers of World Beat music and, indeed, we were among the
first American's to record our own, original music specifically
for belly dancing. This was really as much an accident of fate
as anything else (if you believe in accidents of fate). Many
ingredients combined to make it happen; not the least of which
were simply lust, love, a desire for magic and fun and an irresistible
pull to the exotic. There was something else at play, though;
something that I haven't written about before, but now seems
like an important time to do so. 
and
that love will give us courage to say 'no' to the killing and
conquest of our sisters and brothers across the world. I've
always hoped that the music of Light Rain would, in some small,
magical way, help build the bridges of understanding and peace. 
2-6-03 
