The Gita for Peru Ensemble

Selfless Service

Gita for Peru is a music project truly rooted in the embodied practice of karma yoga: selfless service. Everyone contributing to this project - from the musicians, to the video/photo/graphic design, to the spaces for our events - is offering their contribution from the heart, and asking nothing in return. I am deeply moved by the open-hearted generosity of this work, and am grateful to everyone who has offered so freely to serve this project. It feels so amazing to just show up and give in this way! If you would like to contribute to Gita for Peru in any way - whether a donation of any amount, or the contribution of your own gift of service, I would love to include you. Please be in touch if you are so moved: gitaforperu@yahoo.com

Singing Bowls

One of our Gita for Peru event photographers is Jiho Sohn, and he is so amazing! Please check out his work at www.jihonation.com

Above, Lance David Bergerson's amazing Tibetan singing bowls

The Gita for Peru Ensemble

Meet the Musicians: Angela Blueskies

Born in the rolling hills of Appalachia, Angela Blueskies began playing the flute at age nine, and followed her passion for music to Baltimore, where she received her B.M. at the Peabody Institute. In recent years, her love for music merged with her quest for the Divine, leading her across four continents, flute in hand. During this quest, Angela received her M.A. in Pilgrimage Studies at Goddard College. Along the way, she fell in love with Peru – the land, the culture, and the people – and she has continued to journey there as often as possible. In connecting with ancient sacred traditions in Peru, she has found her own path as Song Keeper, merging music and prayer in connection with the traditions of her own indigenous ancestors.

Meet the Musicians: Liz Robinson

At the age of 5, Liz Robinson began her dancing career and has never stopped. She studied modern dance at the University of Maryland and has trained with several DC choreographers including the late Ed Tyler, Deborah Riley and Carla Perlo. Liz fell in love with sacred poetry eleven years ago after reading the Tao Te Ching. Since, she enjoys sacred texts from all religions and corners of the world, delighting in the many ways to honor the divine. Liz is currently studying acupuncture at the Tai Sophia Institute. Her hobbies include dance, hula hooping, Qi Gong, yoga, sewing, knitting and writing. She is engaged to be married to her beloved this June.

Meet the Musicians: Lance David Bergerson

Lance David Bergerson, born and raised in Baltimore, has travelled around the USA and lived in Massachusetts, Texas and California. He has been a meditation practitioner since 1972 and currently practices and teaches fundamental Buddhist philosophy at the Medicine Buddha Sangha in Baltimore, MD and the Tibetan Meditation Center in Frederick, MD. Lance completed a Buddhist pilgrimage to the Four Holy Sites in India and Nepal in the Wood Monkey Year 2004. He now enjoys playing the Himalayan singing bowls and bells to accompany meditation sessions.

Meet the Musicians: Owen Okie

Owen Okie began studying traditional Chinese music and pipa in 2002 with Gao Hong in Northfield, MN. He has played the odd gig here and there, most notably with Levialora and the Noumenon, a Baltimore area belly-dance and music troupe. Owen's hobbies include martial arts, rock climbing, scuba diving, hiking (Appalachian trail in 1999), meditation, travel, sailing, home brewing, cooking and baking, and writing (poetry and science fiction). Currently, his musical studies are on hold as he completes his M.S. in Herbal Medicine at the Tai Sophia Institute, as well as a program in Buddhist Psychotherapy.

Meet the Musicians: Sean McCutcheon

In the past sixteen years, Sean McCutcheon has played percussion and bass guitar in various bands, workshops, and drum circles, and he considers pro- gressive rock and world music to be his principal musical influences. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Mary's College of Maryland, and a M.S. in Computer Science from Florida Institute of Technology, and has also completed studies at Naropa University and Antioch College. Sean enjoys writing software and creating visual art, and also teaches kung fu, tai chi, and meditation in the Baltimore area.

Gita for Peru - our first event!!

Our first event was a tremendous success! I want to say more about it later, but want to just put it out there that so far, we have raised almost $700! Thank you to all the amazing people who have come together to receive our music, to support our project, and to bring our love into the world in selfless service!

Directions to Susquehanna Yoga

Take I-83 North to Timonium Road East. Turn right at the 2nd traffic light, which is W. Aylesbury Rd. This is at the shopping center with REI and Superfresh. Continue past the shopping center, and follow as the road begins to curve. Susquehanna Yoga is on the left, with a yellow awning out front, and some prayer flags. If you find that you come to the end of Aylesbury at York Rd, you've gone too far, turn around and come back. It's not the clearest, best lit building after dark, but you should find it - it will probably be the only place on that side of the street with much traffic in the evening!

I found the directions on Mapquest, but with just 12 W. Aylesbury Rd - that is correct, if you want to print door to door directions.

Gita for Peru - Arlington Examiner Article

Check this out!

http://www.examiner.com/live-music-in-arlington/gita-for-peru

Two new events announced

There will be two Gita for Peru events in January 2011:

Saturday January 15th at Baltimore Yoga Village, Hampden, Baltimore, Maryland

and

Saturday January 29th at Coreworks in Columbia, Maryland

Please visit again soon for more information on these two events!!

Here it is, the official info on our first Gita event! Please feel free to spread the word far and wide. And if you are not able to attend the event, but would like to make a contribution, that is more than welcome! Even small donations are received with gratitude and joy.

New email address

Gita for Peru now has its own email address for contacting us about events, music, and contributions! Please contact Angela at:

gitaforperu@yahoo.com

Landslide in Urubamba, Peru on October 18, 2010

Our project is more timely that I could even imagine, as the seasonal rains bring more catastrophe to the Sacred Valley of Peru. Monday brought landslides to Urubamba, which is shared in the following article (Spanish only, unfortunately):

http://elcomercio.pe/peru/655816/noticia-mas-000-casas-afectadas-deja-desborde-rio-urubamba

First event - November 19th, 730pm, at Susquehanna Yoga in Timonium, MD

Please join us this fall and winter for some really inspiring benefit performances - November 19th will be the first of several around the Baltimore/Washington DC metro area. We will set excerpts from the Bhagavad Gita with improvised music - flute, pipa, hand drums and Tibetan singing bowls - and dedicate this work to our brothers and sisters in Peru. We will also lead everyone in some chants and mantras to send our prayers f...orth to our brothers and sisters in the Sacred Valley.

In January and March 2010, many villages in the Sacred Valley of Peru were affected by heavy rains that caused tremendous flooding. People lost their homes, their crops, and some lost their lives. Many of these communities have received little assistance as they work to rebuild their villages, and are struggling to provide the most basic needs for their families - food, water, shelter.

I feel blessed to have spent a significant amount of time in the Sacred Valley in the last few years, and it feels like a second home to me. If I had an endless supply of funds and time, I would already be there, helping these villages to recover. But for now, I don't have those resources to offer. My heart has been longing to find a way to help. That is how this event was born.

Tickets are $20, and higher donations will be welcomed.

If you're not able to attend the event, but would like to make a donation to our efforts, please contact Angela at bianca_blueskies@yahoo.com. Also, please invite others you know to this event! The more people who are able to come, the more money we can raise to contribute to these communities in Peru! Every single penny of the money contributed to these concerts will be donated to individuals who are working on site in the Valley, delivering what is needed to help these communities.


Thank you for your support!
Peace all ways,
Angela Blueskies

Many communities in the Sacred Valley of Peru still live according to the old ways, including this village, Amaru. They grow the plants that they use to create natural dyes, and also spin the wool from the animals they tend. Then, they also do the weaving of such incredible textiles. I asked this woman how old she was when she began to learn the intricacies of weaving - she was fourteen.

This is the view down the Valley from Pisac - the whole valley was flooded in late January and early March, and all the communities along the Urubamba River were affected.

Welcome

Gita for Peru is a project born in the heart, a project of service to my brothers and sisters in the Sacred Valley of Peru. These communities were flooded in early 2010, and a great deal of damage occurred - homes were destroyed, lives were lost. I have been deeply touched by the time I've spent in Peru, I have been accepted as a sister without question by the community there. And I've been looking for a way to help. This project is the fruit of that desire.

I, along with several other beautiful souls, will be creating a series of sacred music concerts. Flute and Tibetan singing bowls, possibly guitar and hand drums, all creating a tapestry to carry recitations from the Bhagavad Gita. Concerts will be held throughout the Baltimore and Washington, DC area, and all proceeds will be donated to these communities in order to help with their rebuilding.

Please stop by to follow our progress, and to check out our dates once they've been set!

Lokah samastha sukinho bhavantu! Om!
May all beings be free and happy!