Martin Wolff

Namaskar everyone

I have had the good fortune and blessing to join voices with Martin many times in singing and chanting. Like his presence, his voice was gentle, soothing and meditative. It grounded me and the music that came out was always richer for it. Martin often dismissed, with a laugh, that his voice was too soft - not enough power, but that is not true. It was this quality of softness and meditative quietness that pierced the heart. It was like the light at dawn, which does not have the blazing sun, but which connects deeply with one's spirit.

I remember he used to come before the 'live vedas' to practice. He and Billee came and there was laughter and teasing, and I made tea for him, his 'Fantasy Tea', which he liked so much. After laughter and talking we sat down to practice so that we always sang in harmony. Martin insisted on this, he a perfectionist about the fine tuning so that the voices sounded as one. In learning to cwjoin his voice with my own was like a sadhana because you have to be very present and out of your head for the music to come out as one.

Later on Martin generous enough to try to teach me the vedas. He was extremely patient - as Peter said - and he was a stickler for the pronunciation and intonation of every word. To honor his memory, I would like to sing a sloka that I used to sing with him, and just to feel like I am singing with him again, I'm going to sing along with a recording from his CD 'Shakti Bhakti'. Thank you Martin - for your friendship, your wisdom, for enriching my music and my life...