A Recap: Marcie Grambeau (Purelands) Interview
The Soundshop’s Instagram Live Series
On Wednesday, August 26, yogini, meditator, and healing music practitioner Marcie Grambeau joined Soundshop founder Akpanoluo Etteh for an Instagram Live interview to discuss finding healing through music. Marcie had previously performed at the Soundshop’s “Music and Mental Health” event, where she led the audience in a call-and-response meditative singing practice. In her conversation on The Soundshop IG with Akpanoluo, she chronicled her journey with mantra music and the songwriting process at large.
Akpanoluo kicked off the chat by asking Marcie how she had become interested in singing healing music. She answered that she initially had tried to break into the music industry by singing pop but “just didn’t succeed at that very well” due to bouts of stage fright. Eventually, she was introduced to mantra music and sacred singing through ceremonies in Northern California.
“I had a gradual but sudden epiphany that I was not here to serve pop music and that I was here to serve a deeper purpose,” Marcie said. She decided to dive deeper into the world of healing music by researching mantras from India and incorporating Sanskrit into her studies.
Marcie noted that healing music became even more important to her when her sister was diagnosed with cancer. Writing and playing songs designed to soothe the soul was a key component of her personal coping journey.
Then it was time for the first song of the night, which Marcie described as “a prayer, almost like a lullaby, to Krishna.” “Krishna is a lighthearted healer of sorts,” she explained. “He has a very playful energy…but he also has this very sacred reverence that I connect very deeply with.” She took out her guitar and performed a serene ballad driven by the “Hare Krishna” mantra.
After she sang her final notes, Akpanoluo asked about her songwriting process: does she find it to be a meditative experience in and of itself, or is it more grueling and intentional? She replied, “I wouldn’t say that these start out as meditations, and I wouldn’t say that the process of writing them is meditative. It’s more like a channeling experience….You have to be relaxed enough to catch the melodies. You have to sit back enough to let them come to you.”
Akpanoluo likened her response to the concept of “effortless mastery,” a meditative creative state of relaxed focus described by musician and clinical psychologist Vivienne Aerts at the Music and The Brain salon.
The conversation then shifted to the many ways of learning and performing music: some artists can read music and some (including Marcie) can’t, and neither way of engaging with music is right or wrong. Marcie shared a story about a composer (Irving Berlin) who had trouble playing the piano and thus had one designed that allowed him to play in his preferred key.
“If this composer couldn’t even play piano,” she said, “I can certainly write music in whatever way I want to.”
Akpanoluo added, “I’m realizing that no two musical abilities are the same. Everybody who has musical ability has it in a different way.”
Next, Marcie played the first single from her upcoming album, which she described as “a prayer to the four directions.” “When you’re saying it, it protects your energy…all the way around,” she said. She emphasized that protection is not necessarily defensiveness but “the essence of wisdom.” “When you’re fully grounded in your spade, you are naturally protected from evil forces…inner and outer demons.”
Although Marcie performed the song with guitar accompaniment alone, she said that the recorded version of the track features three-part harmonies and Eastern and Western instruments. “It’s a big song. The production creates this orchestral choir feel….Very uplifting, very inspiring.”
As the interview began to wind down, Akpanoluo asked Marcie if she has easily accessible resources for those who would like to explore healing music. She recommended listening to Steven Halpern’s binaural beats with a good set of headphones for a calming sensation. She later shared the following resources with Akpanoluo, to be passed along to The Soundshop’s readers:
- An Article on “Music and Moksha” or “Liberation”
- Understanding the Science of Sound — or Naad Yoga
- “An incredible plethora of books, links, and music to check out on this site!!”
Follow Marcie on Instagram at @purelandsmusic or email her at purelandsmusic@gmail.com to follow her on her music journey.
— Brittany Menjivar
Brittany Menjivar is a music journalist for The Young Folks. She is currently studying English and Film at Yale University.
