Connection Matters Podcast

Music as medicine with Damien Mahoney - Conversations about community, healing, transformation, unity and growth

Episode Summary

In this raw and authentic episode with Damien Mahoney we explore the amazing unifying potential of music and creativity. Recorded deep in lockdown this is a snapshot of life as it was in that brief unprecedented time between the life we had before and what we have now. Unpicking what we believe are some of the struggles of our time Damien and I share our thoughts and hopes for transformation to a culture where people value simplicity, community, ceremony and connection more than ever.

Episode Notes

Things we talk about in this episode

• Gratitude for technology that allows us to connect and create
• Womens and mens circle - connecting and unifying
• The power of transforming space through dance
• Music is a leveller
• Music as a way of bringing community, social justice, togetherness
• How can we bring accessibility to music and creativity?
• Music as medicine
• Voice work - vibrational expression or our essence
• Natural Voice Network
• The value in diversity and openness
• Learning to respond - understanding where we are and what is needed
• Finding the genius in everyone
• Healthy community is inclusive and also celebrates peoples individuality
• Power of ceremony to connect
• Between polarisation - what is between the rejection of spiritual practice and cynical use of ritual and ceremony disguised as religion
• The value of communal spaces
• Polarisation of views relies too much on there being definitive right and wrong.
• Everyone wants a tribe - communities of acceptance, shared core values and belief systems but can this limit our curiosity and growth
• Attachment to our ideas can be limiting
• The power of accepting that we don’t know the answers
• Elemental connections- Water as a healer, water flows, responds, changes form, how can we learn from water?
• Surrender and letting go of attachments
• The opportunity to imagine that we really have the opportunity to create something different
• Inequality of lockdown experience
• Random acts of kindness
• The shadow - and the light - All the aspects of humanity being exposed in lockdow
• Privilege related to conscious community
• Healing power of creativity, grounding and getting our hands in the ground
• Gratitude for the simple things in life - simplicity over too much doing
• Connecting to the sacredness of life in the smallest of everyday things

Links mentioned in this episode

Join our community and support us on Patreon here; www.patreon.com/connectionmatterspodcast

Damien's links

https://www.facebook.com/caulbearers/

https://www.facebook.com/soulsoundsmcr/

https://www.facebook.com/musicasmedicinemanchester/

https://www.facebook.com/theorderoflove23/

https://www.facebook.com/damien.mahoney.3

https://www.instagram.com/caulbearers/

Our website is www.livewild.org.uk/connectionmatterspodcast

Connect with us on instagram https://www.instagram.com/livewilduk/

My personal instagram is  https://www.instagram.com/leona.connection.matters/

The music for this podcast is -Hermosa Dia by Ray Johnson https://soundcloud.com/visionray

Biography

Damien is a vocalist, percussionist and producer based in Manchester with a passion for community and collaborative projects.

He is the writer and co-lead singer with Caulbearers, an 8 piece Manchester ensemble creating archaic funk fables and soul migrations.  Described as ‘roots music from the rainy city’, and ‘psychedelic soul with poetic, social observation’  an album of their material is due to be released later in 2020.

He is the curator of 'Music As Medicine', a live music event started in 2016 aiming to bring communities together through the healing power of sound and music, performance and dancing, drawing on world influences and encouraging collaboration and improvisation between artists.

Passionate about the healing power of sound, Damien regularly provides live music for therapeutic events including meditation, dance, breathwork and yoga sessions, retreats and ceremonies. This work includes the live improvisation trio, The Order Of Love.

Damien is a trained Natural Voice Practitioner and has facilitated communal singing groups in a variety of scenarios from his regular ‘Soul Sounds’ sessions and nature retreats to specialised work with lung health patients, social workers and prisoners. He is part of a collaborative project to bring music and voice work for staff & patients into a Manchester hospice in 2020.

Damien has performed, produced and recorded music in many styles. His creative output and collaborations span from funk, soul, and reggae, through acid house, balearic dub to Indian and Afro beat influences. Commercial releases range from remixing a major R+B artist for EMI through to underground DIY collective projects, with international compilations and radio documentary soundtracks along the way.

He has over 20 years experience in the film + TV industry and lecturers as a freelancer on a BA Hons course for Manchester Film School.