Songs of Inspiration and Solace
T R I C YCLE
MUSIC REVIEW
PERFECTING FOLK
Buddhist music from the heart
by JEFF GREENWALD
COMMENTARIES ON PERFECTIONS
OF THE HEART by EVE DECKER
THE FREIGHT AND SALVAGE is the oldest
acoustic music club west of the Mississippi,
but when the MC introduced the headliner,
she was a bit baffled.
“We’ve been presenting the best in
acoustic and traditional music since
1968,” she said. “But what you’re
going to see tonight isn’t acoustic, and
it isn’t traditional—I don’t know what
to call it.” The audience helped her out,
shouting in unison: “Dharma folk!”
Commentaries on Perfections of the Heart
was conceived in 2003, during Eve Decker’s
three-month retreat at the
Insight Meditation Society in Barre,
Massachusetts. In the spring of 2005,
Decker enrolled in Bonnie O’Brien
Jonsson’s “A Year to Live” course,
inspired by Stephen Levine’s book of
the same title. Faced with the notion of
imminent death, Decker realized
that her priority in life was to create
an album based on her retreat,
where she practiced theten paramis,
or perfections, of Buddhahood.
The paramis (or paramitas, in the
Mahayana tradition) are the attributes
of an open, awakened heart.
“When a being is perfectly enlightened,”
the CD liner notes explain,
“these ten qualities are fully ripened
and realized.”
There are over five hundred Christian
rock radio stations in the U.S.,
but not one, so far, showcasing
dharma folk. If there were such a station,
Decker would be a mainstay.
Many of the songs on her previous
albums, with a female trio called
Rebecca Riots, had Buddhist themes;
but Commentaries cuts to the chase,
stripping away metaphor and
diving directly into the basics.
There’s a disarming
literalism in the ten
songs (one for each
parami), which begin
with “Generosity” and continue
through “Equanimity.” The refrain to
“Virtue,” for instance, seems like a
teaching set to music:
Do no harm to other living beings
Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t use
Hurt no one with your sexuality
And you’re on your way to virtue.
Lyrics always seem flat on the page, yet Decker’s melodies, and her luscious,
inventive phrasing, give them the power of a transmission. I try to imagine my own lama getting up in his robes and singing about formlessness and practice, but it’s easier to
visualize him in a karaoke bar, belting out
Hotel California.
At The Freight & Salvage CD release concert,
I saw almost no one between the ages of
twelve and forty. It makes sense; people in
the breeding window would rather hear ballads about bouncing in the back seat of a Chevy
than Buddhist odes forbidding sexual misconduct. But a few of the songs on Commentaries cross over, and could be
covered by anyone from The Postal Service
to Emmylou Harris (whose songs are sometimes covered by Decker). One of these
is “Wisdom,” a haunting song adapted from
the thirteenth-century Genjokoan of the
Zen master Dogen.
Another is “Patience,” written by Decker’s
younger brother Joe. (Joe’s twin, Ben, is her bass player and co-producer.) It’s as beautiful
a ballad as I’ve ever heard, and definitely deserves a few weeks of national airplay:
Here I go on another road to nowhere
Try to learn that patience is not just
quiet despair
If I can bring the storm into my
open heart
It won’t have the strength to quietly
blow me apart
Decker has terrific backup support,
from the sharp, powerful accompaniment
of Lisa Zeller on guitar to the rich harmonies supplied by singers Kathy Kallick, Andrea Prichett, and Patty Spiglanin (whose own
band, the Naked Barbies, doesn’t shy from those backseat ballads I mentioned).
While cuts like “Wisdom” and “Equanimity”
are almost dharma lullabies, some of Decker’s tunes will have you bouncing on your zafu—
even when they address the toughest nuts of
dharma practice.
“Renunciation” is one example: it’s the kind
of song that even a career cynic like me can sing along with (in the privacy of my own
home, of course). And listening to
“Determination,” you can’t help but admire
the stark simplicity of unadorned Buddhist
truth, coming at you in 4/4 time:
Listening to wisdom,
Enduring the body’s pain
Careful investigation of whatever’s happening
Peace is not our birthright,
But it’s not a siren’s call
It’s in unwavering dedication
To the welfare of us all
Marin Independent Journal San Rafael, CA
by Paul Liberatore
May 14, 2009
Marin has a national reputation for its contributions to rock history. Now the county can claim the distinction of being the birthplace of a new and esoteric genre - dharma folk music. Because Marin is also known for its alternative spiritual practices, it seems only natural that such a musical style would evolve here, springing from the pastoral surroundings of West Marin's Spirit Rock Meditation Center, the phenomenally successful Buddhist community in Woodacre.
"Dharma folk music in the west is a relatively new thing," says singer-songwriter Eve Decker, a retreat manager at Spirit Rock. "Buddhism in the East has chanting, and there is lyrical music for other spiritual traditions, but dharma music as a popular form for regular folks is just being born in the last decade or so."
Decker grew up in Mill Valley, has recorded "Commentary on Perfections of the Heart,"
an acoustic folk-pop album based on the 10 paramis (teachings) of Buddhism - generosity, virtue, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, determination, loving-kindness and equanimity.
"Eve Decker writes a wise and witty lyric, and has a voice that carries our deepest longings and fulfillment," said Wes "Scoop" Nisker, a radio personality, meditation teacher and author. "She is one of the true artists of our new Western dharma spiritual movement."
Inspired to write a Buddhist song cycle during a three-month silent meditation retreat, Decker collaborated
on the songs with friends, fellow musicians and family members. Con't. Reading
Marin Independent Journal San Rafael, CA
Staff Report
May 15, 2009
With the ascendance of Buddhism in Marin over the past couple of decades, it isn't surprising that the county that embraced vipassana (insight) meditation and other forms of Eastern religion would be the birthplace of a new form of spiritual music. Singer-songwriter Eve Decker retreat manager at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, has recorded a dharma music CD, "Commentary on Perfections of the Heart," an acoustic folk-pop album based on the 10 paramis (teachings) of Buddhism.
Decker, a member of the feminist trio Rebecca Riots for the past 15 years, writes and performs the songs in a familiar acoustic folk-pop style that she describes as "contemporary music based on Buddhist teachings in the Spirit Rock/Marin County context."
Decker wrote these songs as part of a "one-year-to-live" exercise, and didn't have the time or the wherewithal to complete them all herself in that limited time. So she's co-written many of them with fellow musicians, friends and family.
She's also brought into the studio stellar acoustic musicians such as Mike Marshall, Kathy Kallick and her bandmates in Rebecca Riots: guitarist Lisa Zeiler and singer Andrea Pritchett.
The harmonies on the chorus of songs like "Generosity" ring out like a Buddhist bell and "Energy," co-written with Pritchett, is more rock than folk with an electric guitar, wailing organ and driving drums. Decker sings with just a harmony vocal and percussion on "Lovingkindness," a simplicity consistent with its subject and tradition.
There's enough musical variety and instrumental texture on the CD to keep it from being a testament to treacle, and the lyrics avoid being preachy or pedantic."
The Buddha would dig it.
Buy It: "Commentary on Perfections of the Heart," independent, $15 at CD Baby or send a check for $17 (includes $2 postage) to: Eve Decker, P.O. Box 3536, Berkeley CA 94703
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