“Creating this album, Awakening, has rooted and strengthened my trust in a power greater than myself, and in my own abilities.”
-Michael J. Downey
It’s been difficult for me to write this story about my friend Michael J. Downey. After trying three different angles for the last eight months, I finally stopped fighting the process and began looking for the cause. The answer was right there in Michael’s interview; let go, trust the process and be in service to the work, not to my own ego. I will be writing more on this topic in my next blog post.
In the meantime, only Michael’s words can convey his story with the authenticity in which he lives. He is a musician, philanthropist and entrepreneur, (a cool person, doing cool, creative things) and he will make you want to do more, and be more.
Q: Who is Michael J. Downey, in your words? Please share some back story.
A: Wow, great question! Throw in ‘why am I here?’ and ‘what makes me do the things I do?’ and we will both have PhDs in psychology and the tools to achieve world peace. In a nutshell, I’m just a work in progress. I started playing guitar and piano at around 13 years old, and grew up in a family that attended church every Sunday. That proved to be a recipe for gravitating towards music with big vocal harmonies and a message, like the Eagles, CSN&Y, etc. So these questions have always been central to my path. And in that self-seeking and realization, on that long and winding road that we walk, the recurring themes of love and service keep coming up, and hopefully as time goes on, we get better at it. For me, right now, that has meant a new direction in music, reaching out internationally with my non-profit ‘hashi.org’ and maybe most importantly, working on having compassion for the person standing right in front of me.
Q: You are educated in psychology and in 1994, using the carpentry and general maintenance skills you learned from your father, you started Cypress Construction Services in Santa Cruz. You were also the lead guitarist for Femme Fatale and The Sharks. How and where did performing music come about?
A: In my 20s, making a living playing music meant going on the road with a Top 40s band, playing in hotel lounges and road houses. What a great education! Later came the big-hair days in LA with Femme Fatale, record labels, and I learned the all-important ‘inversely proportional rule’ of music – “The more you like the music, the less money you make at it!” Since then, there have been various incarnations in between the previous extremes of playing Neil Young covers in a coffee house, and making a living playing 6 nights a week. In the mid-2000’s, after earning the psychology degree, I established my construction company here in Central California (“Don’t quit your day job” as they say) and saw an opportunity to extend the hand of friendship internationally with my music, at a time when our country had hit an all-time low in the eyes of the international community. So, in 2004 and 2007, I released two solo albums, and toured Japan and Korea regularly for 4 or 5 years. What a blessing that was, and continues to be, with friends made on those tours, and through the scholarships and opportunities available through hashi.org. Again, at a time when I believe we need to do all we can to put something good out into the world amidst the volatility here and abroad.
Photo courtesy of Michael J. Downey
Q: Kirtan and mantra is a very different style of music than your past work. How were you introduced to it?
The kirtan and mantra art form as explained by kirtan artist and bhakti yoga educator, David Newman: “Kirtan is Sanskrit and means “to praise that which is exalted”— or, the divine. The word “kirtan,” also from a Sanskrit root, is a practice for “cutting through the idea of separation, for connecting to our hearts and connecting to the moment through sound.”
A: So often, it seems that the seeds are planted before the time is right for them to grow. I started doing yoga about 6 years ago, and after a while, my yoga teacher asked me to learn a song/mantra that we could do in class. I didn’t totally ‘get it’ at the time, but it felt good to sing and play guitar with everyone joining in with their own spirits and voices. It wasn’t until much later that it really started speaking to me, and unfolding as it is now. When the student is ready.
Q: I gave basic definitions of kirtan and mantra, but what do they embody or mean to you, specifically?
A: There’s something in the sound, the repetition, the time-honored singing of the names and mantras of the divine that reaches a place in me that nothing ever has. It’s not in my head, and the Sanskrit, Hindu, Gurbani languages that these mantras are often in are not about intellectual understanding. And I know that can be a little off-putting at first. It wasn’t long ago that even simply making the sound of “Ohm” was not something I could wrap my head around. All I know is that when I’m singing and playing these songs and mantras, this feeling of connectedness – to those around me, to the world, and to a power greater than myself – just ripples through me, and it’s pretty awesome!
Photo courtesy of Michael J. Downey
Q: What inspired you to explore and create in this spiritual style, and ultimately use it as the foundation to Awakening?
A: I had no choice! I was going through a time in my life, with divorce and other challenges, that left me in a place where I was just naturally a sponge waiting for something to fill in what was missing, and to rebuild, redefine myself in a better way. And as I learned more of this music, and the spirituality behind it, songs and ideas started to surface in my writing. It wasn’t as if I set out thinking, “I’m going to write and record a spiritual album.”
Awakening album cover photo courtesy of Michael J. Downey
Q: When you were writing the songs for Awakening, did you find there was a significant difference in the creation process than that of other musical genres?
A: Absolutely, although I’ve always been skeptical of the idea that songwriters create songs from nothing, nowhere, and no one. But now, it’s so clear to me that I’m just the conduit, just trying to be a clear channel through which good things flow from that higher power, to the world around me. Part of the beauty of that for me is that these songs and mantras come so naturally when they come. Very different from how I used to force myself to sit down and say, “I’ve got to write a new song!” That may have been satisfying to the part of me that used to need to feel some degree of control over things, but it’s cold comfort compared to the freedom of surrendering that process to the powers that be.
Ocean Carry Me video courtesy of Michael J. Downey
Q: Because Awakening was such a personal journey for you, what made you change your mind about releasing it to the world?
A: Well, despite the steady parade of doubts I had in the process (when I would forget the surrender and take back the idea of control), it was always in the service of sharing that which was being freely given to me. Much changed in the process – e.g., releasing an 8-song album instead of a 4-song EP, being OK with half the album being comprised of vocal-based songs and mantras and half instrumental, ambient, meditation-type pieces, not to mention getting over insecurities about my voice or my abilities to produce the album, etc.
Hallelujah video courtesy of Michael J. Downey
Q: How has creating Awakening changed you?
A: The writing, recording, and releasing of Awakening has been the soundtrack to the personal journey I’ve been on these last couple of years. And somehow, for me, it’s as if it gives the pain, the growth a blessing, a credibility that reflects back at me and affirms that these changes are good and they’re universal – everyone goes through these things. Also, it’s rooted and strengthened my trust in a power greater than myself, and in my own abilities. And to trust in a process you believe in, because you don’t know what the outcome will be.
Govinda Hare Maha Mantra video courtesy of Michael J. Downey
Q: Please tell me about Hashi.org and the “why” behind it.
A: Hashi.org began after I took my first trip to Japan and South Korea in 2004. Having always had an interest in Asian culture, people, and history, this trip happened at a time in my life, or maybe a time in the world, that called for reaching out beyond my safe, little world in California, USA. It was a time where there was great unrest in the world, and it seemed that our country, in the eyes of the world, had hit an all-time low and sadly, that continues today. So I asked then, and now, what can I do? What started with the music tours, evolved into the non-profit I started – Hashi.org (‘hashi’ means ‘bridge’ in Japanese). We give three $1000 scholarships a year, one to an American, one to a Japanese student, and one to a Korean recipient. This is a way to promote cultural exchange between these countries, via student exchange, volunteer work, home stays, the arts, et al. And the website is a searchable database of over a hundred types of these opportunities for anyone to seek out and avail themselves to. Through Hashi.org, I’ve hoped that something in some small way could make it easier for anybody to reach out and extend a hand of friendship to the world.
Q: If you were give only one wish for this album, what would it be?
A: That’s an easy one – to reach the ears and the hearts of those that would receive it and maybe benefit from it, and find inspiration, meditation, or just peace and stillness at the beginning or end of long day.
I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Michael for taking the time to do this interview, and for allowing me to share his story. Even though we have never met in person, he never fails to inspire me from a thousand miles away.
