Asha Elijah ~ Fields of breeze

Asha Elijah (aka Asha & Asher Quinn) sings ‘Fields of breeze’ from his album “Songs For A More Meaningful Life”. CD & download here: http://www.ashaquinn.com/songsforamoremeaningfullife.htm

‘Fields of breeze’ is both a song and a place! The place (‘Szellõs rét’ in Hungarian) is in the sleepy village of Bálványos near one of Hungary’s great jewels, Lake Balaton, run by my friend Livi.

https://szellosret.hu
https://www.facebook.com/SzellosRet/

I wrote the song there last summer. It’s a lovely, dreamy, sunny, playful place in breezy fields (as you might imagine!) and I’ve visited a few times now, originally for a weekend cathartic dance event, but later also just with friends.

There’s an outdoor, circular event/meditation space (with a roof), and an outdoor communal kitchen completely open on two sides (with a roof), plus swings & wooden climbing stuff for kids. You can camp or book beds, and there’s a lovely indoor meditation space as well, with loads more mattresses. And there are outdoors showers & loos (with a roof and not open on two sides!)

So it’s ideal for themed groups, but also just to hang out on your own, in a couple or in a family. Pets are welcome, in fact pets are part of the staff! There are home-made jams and juices seemingly always available, and much of the fruit & veg is home-grown. The resident puppy & kittens are also home grown!

Right next door is a handsome church, and indeed the name ‘Bálványos’ means ‘a whole village as a sacred site, or altar’ in the old pre-Christian, shamanic sense. I do get that feeling there! This land somehow feels especially blessed and protected.

The porch, kitchen and circular space certainly have something very compelling about them… you just feel great going to-and-fro between them. One’s soul feels fed!

I wrote the song when some friends met up there to discuss future plans, on a baking hot August day, and whilst the children & animals were chasing each other all around and through the groves. We ate together, and played music together, and watched the sunset together. That day had such a feel-good factor about it, that I was inspired to write the song by the Oleander tree, whilst the puppy chased the kitten through the ramshackle play areas, sheds and organic vegetable patches.

Within an hour the song was complete, and this month I finally recorded it in the big studio, and filmed some more footage ‘on location’ to complete the YouTube.

The land here is very fertile. On the north side of the lake the soil is volcanic. Grapes grow in abundance… it’s seriously grape-y round these parts… as well as apples, pears, apricots, melons, tomatoes, squash, walnuts and all sorts. Ancient wisdom locates the Carpathian basin (which Hungary tucks nicely into) as the original Garden of Eden, the Carpathian mountains sparing the ‘bowl’ the ravages of the ice-age.

Within 100 kms are the borders with Austria, Slovenia and Croatia, the latter on a latitude with the Adriatic, so the summers are long and hot, and the southern breezes deliciously warm.

I was pleased with my guitar-pick in the song. Piano is my natural instrument and I kind of understand the sound geometry of a piano without being able to read or write music… but the guitar? My fingers can just do it, without my mind fully understanding how. A guitar is like 3-dimensional chess to me, virtually unfathomable, (like learning Hungarian!) but I play by feel. I guess I taught myself to play by trying to emulate Bob Dylan. That was urgent to me when I was a teen, so it was a necessity not a choice!

Видео Asha Elijah ~ Fields of breeze канала Asha