Send Brandi on a Spiritual Journey to Italy

Send Brandi on a Spiritual Journey to Italy

Hey friends, please help me raise $7,000 to cover the tuition and travel costs for a pilgrimage of the Black Madonna in Southern Italy and study the ritual music and dancing of this deep and ancient tradition. 

For the past year I have been studying this instrument, the tamburello, with world-renowned percussionist, singer, choreographer, and author, Alessandra Belloni, learning traditional rhythms and songs of Southern Italy. 

All of this has been in preparation to make a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to the region of Italy where my own great-grandparents migrated from and to participate in music and dance rituals there, celebrating the feast days of The Black Madonna, under the guidance of the teacher with whom I have been studying (and author of this book). In case this is the last year that she offers these guided trips, I feel a deep sense of urgency that I just cannot miss this opportunity.  

On this tour, which will span July 31st through August 8th, I will also get to learn the dances that go with the songs, and I will get to study with my teacher’s teachers, deepening my connection to these traditions in their place of origin and helping to preserve them for future generations. I will be welcomed into spaces that a tourist traveling on their own would not likely have access to, which is also why I really want my first journey to Italy to be with her. 

I am especially loving learning these songs and rhythms because, through them, I feel connected beyond time and space to my own immediate ancestors and their musical traditions. This feels like an important part of my soul journey and self-awareness, especially at a time when so many of us are trying to find our appropriate relationship to cultural identity and facilitate healing there. 

Most of you know that I have studied, taught, and performed different ethnic music and dance styles for most of my adult life, especially styles from the Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Balkan, and South Asian regions of the world. I have also always tied my research of Goddesses and Goddess traditions to what I have done with music and dance, to honor and embody that energy. 

I have studied percussion for a long time with River Guerguerian (and still do) and I work with River at Asheville Rhythm, where I help to host all kinds of percussion workshops and events, I broadcast River’s intermediate and advanced drum classes and I teach the beginner frame drum classes. I also play with a Zimbabwean-influenced marimba band. I organize the rotating cast of dancers and musicians at Jerusalem Garden Café, where I have been performing bellydance for 20 years; and, I have worked with various dance and yoga studios and festival organizers over the last two decades to keep global music and dance events happening in Asheville. 

I have always cultivated community through sharing these passions. Many of you have gotten to participate in that sharing in some way, either by attending my classes and performances, attending events I helped host, or even by performing with me. 

I wholly believe that music and dance are an essential part of human experience and expression. Through participating in music and dance, we reach beyond our perceived barriers and remember that our natural state is connection with each other, with nature, with Spirit, with the people who came before us and the people yet to come, with the cosmos, and beyond. As our world gets increasingly modernized and homogenized, I think that artists have an important task in preserving the expression of our humanness so that we do not lose sight of that. 

I am inviting you to be part of this learning and healing process and help me explore and preserve the ancient traditions of my ancestors by helping me fund this journey. I can’t do it without you! 

GoFundMe does not allow its fundees to offer prizes, perks, or incentives with their campaigns, so I can’t lure you in with fancy swag for your contribution. However, I can assure you that this journey is already pushing my growth edges. It is inspiring and informing me artistically and I will continue to harness and share that inspiration with all of you.

Thank you in advance for any support you can give this fundraiser, by donating any amount and/ or by sharing the link to this fundraiser with your networks to help generate enthusiasm. Thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me make this dream a reality!

Update: I have now paid the tuition with a combination of funds I have saved from picking up extra massage shifts and from the generous donations of friends and family who have already chipped in. Now I need to secure my plane tickets and travel expenses. Please donate if you can and please help spread the word by sharing this campaign with others who would understand and appreciate what this journey is about.