If you look on the cover of the album ‘Sacred Chants One,’ you won’t see Emily Tessmer’s name on it. That’s because Tessmer, who was signed to her first record label in October, recorded the album under a different name, Orenda Blu. Orenda means ‘divine illumination’ in Iroquois, and Blu is a Cherokee clan that has special medicine that protects children.
‘It’s my sacred moniker,’ said Tessmer, who lives in Truckee. ‘A lot of New Age artists have sacred monikers.’
Tessmer was signed to U.K.-based Paradise Music, which took Best 2010 New Age Album at the International New Age Trade Show in Denver, Colo. After 20 years in the music business, Tessmer is delighted to have her first record deal, which cements the new direction she is going with her music — sacred chanting, or kirtan. She is having a CD release party on Jan. 13 at Tahoe Yoga and Wellness Center.
‘Sacred Chants One’ is a 50-minute album that includes seven ethereal chants, some of which are over 10 minutes long. Tessmer said that length is normal for kirtan music, call-and-response chanting of Sanskrit mantras or hymns that is used in meditation and yoga.
‘It’s all about building energy,’ she said. ‘You start off with a simple mantra and build to an eruption, a climax at the end.’
Tessmer did not write the mantras but did write all the music. She said her ability to pronounce Sanskrit words is innate, which she believes stems from her Cherokee ancestry. Tessmer, 38, who was adopted as an infant, only discovered her Native American heritage after meeting her birth mother 10 years ago.
‘It goes back to an indigenous thing,’ she said. ‘Languages that are ancient resonate with me; I have a natural understanding of them.’
Tessmer, who performs rock and roll and folk songs with the Emily Tessmer Band, discovered chanting four years ago when she saw kirtan artist David Stringer perform at the Tahoe Yoga and Wellness Center.
‘It resonated with me,’ she said.
Tessmer connected with Paradise Music while working at Rainbow Bridge two years ago. When one of the distributors called to ask if the store needed more music, Tessmer asked him about sending samples of her music to the label. The distributor forwarded her songs to the president of the company, who, after hearing her music, agreed to sign Tessmer if she focused on chanting.
‘It’s so perfect that it’s a New Age label,’ said Tessmer of Paradise Music. ‘It’s been my essence the whole time. It affirms I’m on the right path.’
Tessmer hopes to concentrate on her kirtan music, taking it to yoga studios and festivals like Wanderlust and Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree.
‘I want to do more Orenda Blu,’ she said. ‘Chanting is the direction I want to move in the most.’
~ Melissa Siig/Moonshine Ink
