Soul Ladder
Soul Ladder met in the Baha'i community of Manchester, England. Together we were inspired to share experiences and to learn new musical styles, traditions and languages from all over the world. We also found we shared a common desire to write and perform new music for Baha'i devotional gatherings and for Baha'i Holy Days.
We have both new and seasoned performers in the band, and we’ve been experimenting and evolving together to produce an original and magical blend of acoustic world instruments, orchestral tones, modern and traditional drumming, solo vocals, a capella and choral textures.
Our vision was inclusive. Anyone was welcome and we deliberately used a home setting rather than a studio to allow us to record in a very relaxed atmosphere. The band members currently performing as Soul Ladder are: Duncan Thomas, Jean-Paul (JP) Dewea, Michael Jay, Ferishteh (Fairy) Mazkoori and Linda Rootamm. Fairy, JP and Linda wrote and sang songs. Michael played various guitars and drums. Duncan produced the album, sang and played a range of world instruments.
We chose our band name, Soul Ladder, from Baha'u'llah's teachings about music, which say that it is profoundly spiritual, and a 'ladder' for our souls.
Soul Ladder's very first album of exciting and evocative spiritual music. The 26 diverse songs put excerpts from the Baha'i writings to music. The album was recorded during six months of experimenting and playing live at Baha'i events. The Soul Ladder sound is an original blend of acoustic world instruments, orchestral tones, modern and traditional drumming, solo vocals, a capella and choral textures. We sing mainly in English, but have also included songs in Arabic, Estonian and Hindi. Some songs are short and suitable for playing at Baha'i devotionals, Baha'i Holy Days or Nineteen Day Feasts. Others are more meditative built around beautiful passages from the writings of The Bab, Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha. All the songs are previously unreleased. A bonus for this release is that we’ve included 'Light Upon Light', specially written for and performed live at the UK National Baha'i Festival 2005 in Scarborough, England.