SECRET STORIES

SONGS FROM THE SANDS OF TIME

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes,
And honoured among wagons I was prince of the apple towns
And once below a time I lordly had the trees and leaves
Trail with daisies and barley
Down the rivers of the windfall light.

And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means,
And green and golden I was huntsman and herdsman, the calves sang to my horn,
the foxes on the hills barked clear and
cold,
And the sabbath rang slowly
In the pebbles of the holy streams.

All the sun long it was running, it was lovely, the hay Fields high as the house, the tunes from the chimneys,
It was air and playing, lovely and watery
And fire green as grass.
And nightly under the simple stars
As I rode to sleep the owls were bearing the farm away,
All the moon long I heard, blessed among stables,
the nightjars flying with the ricks,
and the horses flashing into the dark.

And then to awake, and the farm,
like a wanderer white with the dew, come back,
The cock on his shoulder: 
It was all shining, it was Adam and maiden,
The sky gathered again
And the sun grew round that very day.
So it must have been after the birth of the simple light
In the first, spinning place,
the spellbound horses walking warm
Out of the whinnying green stable
On to the fields of praise.

And honoured among foxes and pheasants by the gay house
Under the new made clouds
and happy as the heart was long,
In the sun born over and over,
I ran my heedless ways,
My wishes raced through the house high hay
And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
In all his tuneful turning so few and such morning songs
Before the children green and golden
Follow him out of grace.

Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that time would take me
Up to the swallow thronged loft
by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

THE WORLD’S TREASURE

Performed live in Auckland, NZ, 2018
Music co-composed by Oliver Kraft.
With Tomislav Skulic and Oliver Kraft (guitars)
Rob Mita (bass), Yair Katx (drums) and Caro Mannins (second vocals)
Based on a poem by Rabindranath Tagore
Cover painting by Omesh Cain

When in girlhood my heart was opening its petals
I felt you as a fragrance waiting to be born
Your tender softness bloomed in my youthful limbs
Like a glow in the sky before the dawn
Heaven’s first darling, twin born with the morning light
You have floated down the stream of the world’s life
‘Till finally you stranded on my heart
As I gaze at your face, mystery overwhelms me
You who belong to all have become mine
For fear of losing you I clutch you from harm
What magic snared the world’s treasure in these slender arms?

A high energy song with the lyrics based on book titles by the Indian mystic Osho.
Dedicated to people on the path everywhere

Alone we fly far beyond the stars, a bird on the wing, soaring high.
Setting forth, letting go, no footprints left just blue blue sky.
A rainbow bridge to the further shore, a taste of the divine, a cup of tea.
Pointing the way to the open door, don’t look before you leap!
Turn on tune in and drop the lot, dance your way to God.

Dimensions beyond the known, behind a thousand names.
Scriptures in silence and sermons in stones, only losers can win in this game.
So lost and so at home, the people of the path, here and now.
At the center of the cyclone, a sudden clash of thunder, the goose is out!
Turn on tune in and drop the lot, dance your way to God.

Chinmaya-Dunster vocals with Oliver Kraft: Electric Guitar,
Rob Mita: Bass and
Seetha Manognya (backing vocals)

I’m not in the mosque or the palace
Not among pure or unpure souls
Neither Moses nor the Pharoah
Who is this Bulleh to know?Bulleh ki janna main kaun?
I’m not in the whorehouse nor the temple
Neither drunk nor fast alone
Nor do I sit with Al-gebra or Bible
Who is this Bulleh to know?Bulleh ki janna main kaun?
I’m not in happiness nor in sorrow
My name I neither chose nor own
No city or country on Earth can claim me
Who is this Bulleh to know?Bulleh ki janna main kaun?
From first to last I search my being
Where no other can be known
No great thinker no lost dreamer
Who stands then in Bulleh’s shoes alone?Bulleh ki jana main kaun?

AT THE EDGE

From now on you leave father and mother
From now on there’s no-one to blame
From now on when you look in the mirror
The mirror won’t answer
‘Cos you don’t even know your own name.

From now on there’s no tribes or nations
From now on no creed or race
From now on when you look in the mirror
The mirror won’t answer
You don’t recognize your own face

At the edge of the known world
Going on means going in
At the edge of the known world
Trust you find the guide within

At the edge of the known world
Join hands with those who’ve gone before
At the edge of the known world
Many have found the open door

From now on you leave masks and makeup
From now on no disguise to be worn
From now on when you look in the mirror
The mirror won’t answer
‘Cos you’re naked as the day you were born

From now on there’s no leaders or systems
From now things ain’t white and black
From now on when you look in the mirror
The mirror won’t answer
‘Cos there’s nobody looking back

THE MUSIC MAKERS

with Oliver Kraft (guitar), Rob Mita (bass), Tomislave Skulic (electric guitar),
Yair Katz (drums). Vocals and sarod by Chinmaya.
Backing vocals: Koyal and friends from TRSS, Auckland, NZ

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world’s great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire’s glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song’s measure
Can trample a kingdom down.

We, in the ages lying,
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself in our mirth;
And o’erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world’s worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

NATURE’S WAY

You know the way the white clouds
Move on their way to nowhere, sailing
The air is clear in azure skies
Way off to a far horizon
Nature’s way

You know the way the green waves
Break on an empty shore, rolling
The water clear as crystal glass
Way off to a far horizon
Nature’s way

I fear to lose them, I fear they’ll be thrown away
Tomorrow their gone
Unless we keep nature’s way

You know the way the river
Rushes through the forest, sparkling
Birdsong ripples through the glade
The fishes dance in light and shade
Nature’s way

You know the way savannas
Team with living creatures, sharing
The lion and the crocodileThe eagle and the porcupine,
Nature’s way

I fear to lose them, I fear they’ll be thrown away
Tomorrow their gone
Unless we keep nature’s way

Wild deer on an endless plain
We need you
I watch while the forest burns
The last of it’s treasures blown as smoke away
Deep Jungles of mystery
We need you
I watch while our poison nears
O, how can we live while nature disappears?

RIVERSONG

Lyrics by Sadhu Bolland
Cover painting by Omesh Cain

Dance slowly within my water, you riverman
Dance among the stones
Flow with my stream while I’m washing your body
With love, with love
Let me run through your fingers
Take me in your hand
Dance on the water
Make me a circle dancing on water
River of laughter
Waving in circles
Run and run
With waves up and down
Down under water
The riverman’s washing his stones with blue
I rush from the mountains
My crystal arms reaching for you
For you
Let me run……

BE MY LOVER IN DISGUISE

Be the rain that whispers in the leaves
Be the white gull, sailing open seas
Be the one, the one to set me free
Be the wind that ripples in the corn
Be the first cry of a baby being born
Be the one, the one to lead me home

Like the rose-coloured blush behind closed eyes
Or the vast dreamy deep of starry skies
Like the first golden light at sunrise
Be my lover in disguise

Be the storm that cracks the mountain peak
Be the tear on a lovers cheek
Be the road, the hidden road I seek
Be the flame that warms me when I’m cold
Be the death I’ll welcome when I’m old
Be there, just be there, be there for me to hold

Like the rose-coloured blush behind closed eyes….

NU TAKK FOR ALT

Now thanks for all we shared when young
And field and forest held our games
I thought our playing would go on
Until the time our hair grew grey

I thought our playing would go on
Beneath the shining leaves of birch
From where our summerhouse high on the hill
Down to the red painted village church

Since then I’ve waited time on time
Up there where deer and eagles play
But shadows passed over darkening hills
And you – you didn’t find the way.

Nu takk for alt, ifra vi var sma
Og spelte sammen i skog og lade
Ik tenkte spelen den skulde ga
Opp I de granende dage

I DREAM OF A WORLD

I dream of a world where you and I
Can open our wings to an endless sky
I dream of a world with you and me
Love between instead of boundaries
I dream of a world

OH SHYAM (Radha’s song)

Oh Shyam, your beauty like no other
I call upon you as a lover and a friend
Oh Shyam the night is dark and lonely
My trembling sould fears only
That this longing has no end
Oh Shyam I love you

Oh Shyam you hide among the moonbeams
I walk among my dreams
And hear you call my name
Oh Shyam your flute across the water
The world’s abandoned daughter
You called me and I came
Though I may never see your face
You called me
You called me and I came
Oh Shyam I love you