Artist profile: If you want the stars to hear your soul

Hey my brothers and sisters
This is we, connected at the roots
The roots that grew us, the roots that grew us, the roots that
Grew these trees, that lit these lights, that lit these lights, that lit these lights
So if you want the stars to hear you
If you want the stars to hear your soul, you got to
Go as the stars go, let all your life show

Take the darkness from my eyes

We sit cross-legged on the ground in front of the live stage. It is dark but the stars wink above us in blurred, glittering bundles. The night chill drums across our bare arms, against our cheeks, like fingertips. The stage lights are bright as Ayla emerges, luminous. Her voice, dense and clear, orchestral, the tone of bells and birds, floods the pitch. We are quiet and illuminated. We breathe in a circle. Ayla, our galaxy guide.

The roots that grew us

“My music is for these ones.”

The afternoon before her set, I interview Ayla Nereo. When I ask her who she makes music for, Ayla gestures up at branches, turns her eyes toward the rare and welcome shade the trees offer in the midday, late-July heat. We sit on couches so squishy we sink, in the media zone behind the Mighty Oak Stage. She is headlining the Live Lounge Sunday night here at Enchanted Forrest Gathering in Laytonville, California; her partner, David Sugalski, is headlining the Mighty Oak tonight. Today is scorching—we both arrive at the festival only a couple hours earlier and rush to meet after a panel where she spoke on women in the music industry.

Smiling as she lowers her gaze, Ayla continues, “It is my intention to be a receiver for whatever will help, for those who don’t speak in the human-tone, or for children who don’t speak in the human-adult tone. For women who are oppressed, and anyone who isn’t able to communicate in a way of speaking that is listened to.”

Ayla’s songs take root, reach, and burrow / bloom and blossom / fertilize earth.

“My music is for all of us in our human family, to remember that right relationship, which I also forget. I get caught up in the human things, and I feel my music is for remembering the right relationship with all beings on this planet, especially the non-human ones. We’re really powerful. We get to take care of this amazing garden planet.”