Marina Raye and the Magic of Music
I was born in the Congo, the third child of loving, dedicated parents. I was given the African name, "Mujinga" which means "The Loved One." Ma and Dad loved classical music and taught me to understand and love it. When I was about eight, I had an unforgettable dream that I was playing music to a large audience, and I could feel the love flowing back to me from my listeners.
My earliest exposure to music was learning to play our pump organ, while listening to the sounds of nature and distant native drumming. It was a fairyland setting, complete with tropical flowers, banana trees, deadly cobras and leopards. Life was full with rhythmic native music, exotic beauty and primitive danger. I loved it! Africa filled my soul with the magic of music.
When I was ten years old, we left my beloved Africa and moved to America. I continued music lessons on the piano and classical flute. I continued dreaming of playing music, music that would enrich the lives of those who longed for peace and beauty.
The magic of music reentered my life when I was shopping in a Native American gift shop in Colorado and bought my first Native American flute. It was a magical encounter that changed the course of my life. The native flute has allowed me to express the music of my soul. I am very blessed to be living my childhood dream of being a musician of the heart. I have come full circle to that gentle, childlike wonderment that I had in the Congo.My husband, Charlie Oakwind, has become one of the best 5-hole Lakota style native flute makers in the world. He provides me with a range of flutes that fill an album with beautiful and unique sounds. We make a great team!
When we are in the recording studio, the magic begins in earnest. I never write out my songs, only the first few notes to get me started. I close my eyes, hang on to the flute and soar. It is effortless. After my flute tracks are laid down, we add other instruments or nature sounds. Many of the nature sounds are very personal to me because I have recorded them myself. For example on Liquid Silk, all of the water sounds and the crickets and tree frogs are sounds that we captured using our digital field equipment. That is high fun!It is very fulfilling to build relationships with our customers around the world. We receive many messages that let us know how our music and flutes are touching people's lives. I am honored to be able to serve in this way, and I can feel the love flowing back to me just like in my childhood dream.
Charlie and I have recently moved from the high desert of Colorado to the mountains of Western North Carolina. It feels like I have come home because we are surrounded by forest. We are building an Earth-friendly home on a beautiful piece of land. Our home will be powered by solar energy, and we will use sustainable, nontoxic building materials. We are both committed to living gently on the Earth.