Tina Turner has an amazing voice and knows how to put on a powerhouse performance. And recently, Turner provided her talents to a spiritual album.

Awakening the world

“Awakening Beyond”, which was released November 24, 2017, is a musical project that embraces spiritual insights from around the world. The album is the fourth album from the Beyond Foundation, a non-profit that supports causes that unite cultures worldwide. So, in that vein, “Awakening Beyond” features the voices of women from six different backgrounds and traditions. Those histories include the United States, Israel, Syria, Nepal, Switzerland, and India.

The album creators hope “Awakening Beyond” will spark worldwide spiritual transformation via diverse women’s voices.

Tina Turner brings the power

One of the voices on “Awakening Beyond” belongs to Tina Turner — yes, that Tina Turner. Turner and Regula Curti—Curti and her husband founded the Beyond Foundation in 2007—were brought together because of their mutual love of music, healing, and spiritual change.

“Turner feels equally strongly that it’s time for us to all move beyond the division, into greater spiritual connection and mutual recognition,” reports the Beyond Foundation.

“I’ve had bad times, as we all have, though I hope it doesn’t show,” says Turner. “But now the good times are here and I’ve made the decision to go beyond and I would like to take as many people with me as possible.”

“When we pray, we’re all sending it in the same direction,” Turner adds. “I believe that that fusion can help change the world.”

Getting spiritual

Many of the songs on “Awakening Beyond” are energetic and uplifting. However, other tracks—most notably the album’s last song—are serene.

“Music can work wonders,” says Sawani Shende Sathaye, one of the other vocalists on the album. “It has meditative values and it can bring peace to those in trouble or in illness.”

In addition to featuring flawless female voices, “Awakening Beyond” also features an orchestral score composed by Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom. The Philharmonia London Orchestra performs the score.

“Awakening Beyond” also features the voices of Regula Curti, Ani Choying, Dima Orsho, and Mor Karbasi.

Related on EcoSalon
What Your Favorite Music Says About You, According to Science
Women on Film: Ike, Tina and The Realities of Domestic Violence
Sex and Intimacy: What’s Love Got To Do With It? Sexual Healing

The post Tina Turner’s Latest Collaboration is Full of Female Power appeared first on EcoSalon.

Any music lover knows that a favorite song can make your brain feel warm, fuzzy, and invigorated.

A group of scientists have discovered that feeling is real.

This is your brain on music

A recent study found that musical pleasure comes from the human brain’s self-made opioids. These “homemade opioids” also get released when a person has sex, eats, or does recreational drugs.

Daniel Levitin, senior author of the study from McGill University in Canada, and other neuroscientists asked a group of 17 college students to bring two songs they enjoyed to the research group. Half of the students took naltrexone, a drug that blocks opioid receptors. The other half took placebos.

During the study, students listened to their two songs and two emotionally neutral songs. Researchers selected the emotionally neutral songs. The scientists observed the participants physiological and subjective reactions.

Physiological observations noted how many times students frowned, smiled, or moved muscles in their face. Subjective observations noted students’ enjoyment with a slider device participants could move that was attached to a computer.

The researchers eventually discovered that taking the drug reduced musical enjoyment. A bigger reduction occurred during the songs listeners brought with them, New York Magazine reports.

“The findings, themselves, were what we hypothesized,” Levitin says.

“But the anecdotes—the impressions our participants shared with us after the experiment—were fascinating. One said: ‘I know this is my favorite song but it doesn’t feel like it usually does.’ Another: ‘It sounds pretty, but it’s not doing anything for me.’”

The findings

The most obvious finding this study was that natural opioids increase a person’s pleasure when he or she is listening to music.

“This is the first demonstration that the brain’s own opioids are directly involved in musical pleasure,” Levitin says.

Researchers also posited that this “good feeling” is why music is part of every known culture. “The fact that music listening triggers a well-defined neurochemical response suggests an evolutionary origin for music,” the authors of the study state.

However, researchers also noted that music may have developed to exploit an already existing reward system, New York Magazine adds. This system could have evolved from other purposes, “such as recognizing and responding appropriately to various human and animal vocalizations.”

I suppose we don’t care why music makes us feel good when we hear it. We’re just happy our favorite tunes bring us joy.

Related on EcoSalon
Breaking into the Boys Rock Music Club (Girls Can Like Rock, Too)
Hey, it’s the Sh!tty Music Industry and Kesha is Living It: #NowWhat
What Your Favorite Music Says About You, According to Science

The post No Love Life Right Now? That’s OK, Music Makes Your Brain Orgasm appeared first on EcoSalon.

Here’s some beautiful, empowering music from renowned Malian vocalist Oumou Sangaré to get your day started right.

Related on EcoSalon
What Your Favorite Music Says About You, According to Science
Muppets Kill it at Music Festival [Video]
Hey, it’s the Sh!tty Music Industry and Kesha is Living It: #NowWhat

The post Oumou Sangaré’s ‘Yere Faga’ is a Hefty Dose of Groovy Girl Power [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

We all know H&M isn’t exactly the most responsible company in the world, but at least it’s trying to do some good and change its ways.

One of those good things is the company’s new initiative it has launched with the help of M.I.A. It features the song, “Rewear It.”

The video below shows “M.I.A. perform against a backdrop of tents constructed using recycled textiles,” Dazed Digital reports. “Created in collaboration with H&M, its release coincides with World Recycle Week (April 18-24), an initiative instigated by the Swedish retailer with the aim of collecting 1,000 tonnes of unwanted clothes to recycle.”

Related on EcoSalon

Playlist: Indie Rock Covers by Female Vocalists

H&M’s New Fashion Campaign is Different (and That’s Good) [Video]

For H&M, More Animal Love and Recycling are Fashionable

The post M.I.A. Wants You to ‘Rewear It’ [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Anyone who has ever followed  Erykah Badu’s career knows that the artist is talented and very opinionated.

In November 2015, Erykah Badu went on Zane Lowe’s Beats show and released an amazing song list. Recently, that song list, along with “who” the artist dedicated the list to has received some attention.

Now, you may be thinking, “I bet she dedicated those songs to her loved ones, family, or friends…” Not so. Badu decided to make a statement — one we happen to agree with — and dedicated her music mix to the bees. Yes, bees — as in honey and bumble.

“+++BEATS BEES LIKE FOR B-BOYS AND B-GIRLS+++,” the title of Badu’s mix, is filled with amazing tunes from artists such as Sun Ra, DeBarge, and more. Badu published the mix with a pretty hilarious and quite poignant note: “Save the bees, else we aint gone have no where to fight and discriminate… cause they aint have’n that shit on MARS.”

Badu’s mix became even more… appropriate? needed? … this past week.

On February 26, CNN published a post that reports that “bees, birds, butterflies and beetles are among a growing list of pollinator species in jeopardy of global extinction, a United Nations study warns, a trend that could threaten the world’s food supply.”

According to the two-year study, titled “Thematic Assessment of Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production,” these creatures as well as other pollinators could face extinction thanks to “diverse pressures, many of them human-made.”

“Pollinators are important contributors to world food production and nutritional security,” Vera Lucia Imperatriz-Fonseca, Ph.D., co-chair of the assessment and Senior Professor at the University of São Paulo, says. “Their health is directly linked to our own well-being.”

You can read more about how pollinators are at risk here. And while you’re reading that sobering research, you may as well stream Badu’s killer mix on MixCloud.

Related on EcoSalon

Who Runs the World? Beyoncé (and a Little Taylor, Too): #NowWhat

David Bowie and My Broken Heart

OMG, MISSY ELLIOTT IS BACK! [Video]

Image of Erykah Badu via Shutterstock

The post Erykah Badu Loves Bees as Much as You appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Thin White Duke passed away this weekend and we have no words.

So, let’s remember David Bowie in a positive way and listen to his music and admire his art. RIP, Starman.

Related on EcoSalon

David Bowie Wants You to Do Whatever You Want With Your Hair [Video]

Never Say Never: Why I Bleached and Cut My Hair

An Interview With That Guy Living as David Bowie for One Glorious Year

The post David Bowie Passes but His Legendary Work Lives [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

Missy Elliott is making new music!!And she just released a music video for her song “WTF” that well, will make you say ‘WTF’ because it’s so all that.

I don’t think I need to say anything else…

Watch the video for “WTF (Where They From)” ft. Pharrell Williams below…

Related on EcoSalon

Hey, it’s the Sh!tty Music Industry and Kesha is Living It: #NowWhat

Music Festivals Introduce Ecstacy and Ketamin into the Water Supply

Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz Fight to Save the Great Barrier Reef

The post OMG, MISSY ELLIOTT IS BACK! [Video] appeared first on EcoSalon.

I don’t hate Taylor Swift.

As far as her music goes, I can’t say it’s moved me really. Although, I have shaken it off on a few occasions. As a forty-something working mom, pop music is not a priority (unless it’s a duet with Elmo), and truthfully, it just isn’t all that relatable anymore.

We sing cheery folk songs to our daughter at bedtime—the same ones my dad sang to me when I was a little girl. We’re also steeping our daughter in Edith Piaf’s collection. The Velvet Underground. Bjork. Howlin’ Wolf. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Fela Kuti. I assume when she’s old enough to buy her own music she’ll be the one teaching me about artists who were influenced by Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus. Well, that is, if artists are making music for sale anymore.

And this is where Taylor Swift—regardless of whether or not we’re fans of hers—has just made history.

If you haven’t heard by now, Ms. Swift penned an open letter to Apple on her Tumblr page (“To Apple, Love Taylor”). The letter, I imagine, if handwritten, might have come on pink paper with scented ink and adorned with pretty stickers.

In her sweet-yet-fiercely-confident way, Ms. Swift explained to the mega-technology corporation why she’d be withholding her album “1989” from the new streaming Apple Music service, just as she did with Spotify. The reason, she explained, is the program’s three month free trial period (for consumers) won’t pay artists who are streamed during that time. Ms. Swift says, and many agree with her, this is unfair to artists who are considerably less profitable than Ms. Swift herself. As she explains:

This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.

These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much. We simply do not respect this particular call.

Some critics are calling Ms. Swift’s bluff on this—that her motive is more selfish than it is in solidarity with lesser-known artists. While she insists she is able to pay herself and her massive staff, certainly she wouldn’t be taking this stand if she didn’t have concerns over the long-term viability of selling music. She may be transparent, but she has a point.

And it seems, Apple has listened.

Apple’s senior VP of internet services, Eddy Cue, spoke with Ms. Swift over the phone after her blog went viral and told her, in essence, that Apple would be immediately changing its policy and paying artists during that trial period. This is kind of huge.

Not only does it cement Ms. Swift’s power as a voice for her generation (Proof we’ve evolved: nasaly-awkward-looking-kinda-grumpy Bob Dylan was the voice of his generation just fifty years ago. You can suddenly see the parallels between “Blowing in the Wind” and “Shake it Off’, right?), but it also validates the struggles of real musicians, those who are often willing to give away their music for free in hopes that sooner or later, it will help them earn a livable salary doing what they love.

I know quite a few people in the music business (my writing career actually started at a world music magazine). Most of them don’t make very much money at it. Some of them have other jobs while making music when they can. Some prefer to live with less so they can make music full time.

According to author, professor and a failed professional musician himself, Timothy Caufield says the average musician makes about $7,000 a year (in Canada), “that is less than half the amount the Canadian government has set as the poverty line for single people and thousands less than the average income threshold for poverty for single people in the United States,” he wrote in his latest book “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? How the Famous Sell Us Elixirs of Health Beauty and Happiness”. There are no all-night hotel room parties for most working musicians—more like unrelenting touring, usually in cramped, hot vans, and lots of couch and floor sleeping. Caufield says that according to music industry expert Moses Avalon, more than 40,000 submissions go to major music labels annually, with only about two thousand of those ever being offered record deals. And just because a musician or band gets a record deal doesn’t mean they’re going to sell a significant amount of records. Those chances are significantly slim, especially in today’s low-record-sales music industry.

But as any artist knows, to limit self-expression by say, having a day job, can be more painful than skipping a meal because the budget won’t allow for it. Starving for art may be the only legitimate reason for starving in this world.

Taylor Swift may never have had to experience this type of sacrifice herself, but that doesn’t matter anymore. What does matter is she’s helping to remind us that most musicians do struggle to work, struggle to provide us with this quintessential facet of the human experience. And even if Ms. Swift’s motivations are transparent, it’s still something worth recognzing.

The point is we really don’t know where the music industry is going—it’s scary and a little bit exciting at the same time. But like Ms. Swift has reminded us, music has tremendous value. It’s critical to the human spirit, to help us make sense of and participate in the world around us. And that is worth something–anything–even if it’s just a few pennies for a few months while Apple tries to steal Spotify customers. Music is a craft, yes, but it’s also a legitimate service like any other we willingly pay for. Just try to imagine a world without it.

Find Jill on Twitter and Instagram

Related on EcoSalon

Breaking into the Boys Rock Music Club (Girls Can Like Rock, Too)

Can I Listen to Sexist Music as a Conscientious Person? The Cognitive Dissonance Two-Step

Animal Rescues Get Celebrity Love: 7 Musicians Who Really Love Animals

Image: Eva Rinaldi

The post Can Taylor Swift’s Apple Victory Really Save the Music Industry? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Just because you like to move your booty to the music doesn’t mean you have to support sexism in the process. Keep your summer vibes strong with this specially curated summer playlist.

With summer parties, adventures, and road trips in full swing, you may have already burned through a summer anthem or two. Not to worry — EcoSalon is here to put a fresh batch of beats in the hopper.

Now, this isn’t just any summer playlist. Inspired by the question “Can I Listen to Sexist Music as a Conscientious Person?”, this mix has been specially curated to include an interesting array of summery songs that also happen to not promote misogyny, objectify women, or blur any lines.

And just because a little bit of social consciousness went into this mix doesn’t mean it lacks any sauciness or fun, so turn up the volume, throw this playlist on shuffle, and keep your summer (and conscience) going strong.

EcoSalon’s Sexy-Not-Sexist Summer Playlist (30 songs)

CLICK TO LAUNCH IN SPOTIFY WEB PLAYER

Track list:

1. “How Did I Get Here” — Odesza
2. “Lemonade” — Fly Moon Royalty
3. “Waulking Song” — Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
4. “Strawberry Letter 23” — Shuggie Otis
5. “Water Fountain” — Tune-Yards
6. “Talk Is Cheap” — Chet Faker
7. “All Your Love” — Hudson Mohawke
8. “Delorean Dynamite” — Todd Terje
9. “Baby” — Donnie and Joe Emerson
10. “Gold” — Oberhofer
11. “I Ain’t No Joke” — Eric B. & Rakim
12. “Mornin'” — Star Slinger
13. “Party” — J Rocc
14. “Let Go” — Little Dragon
15. “My Number” — Foals
16. “Prom Night” — Anamanaguchi
17. “You’re Not Good Enough” — Blood Orange
18. “Sissy That Walk” — RuPaul
19. “Ka Ba Ta Bo Da Ka” — And So I Watch You From Afar
20. “I Wanna Get Better” — Bleachers
21. “Rimbaud Eyes” — Dum Dum Girls
22. “Giving It All” — Bondax
23. “Seasons (Waiting On You)” — Future Islands
24. “So Far To Go (Instrumental)” — J Dilla
25. “Turn Your Love Around” — TOPS
26. “Closer” — Tegan And Sara
27. “Sails” — Hooray for Earth
28. “Coconut” — Benny Sings
29. “Pharaohs (feat. Roses Gabor)” — SBTRKT
30. “Hawaii (Niva Remix)” — Blackbird Blackbird

Thank you to all the wonderful people who collaborated to make this playlist happen.

Follow Garth on Twitter @garthinkingcap

Related on EcoSalon

An A-to-Z List of Where to Go When iTunes Doesn’t Cut It

Rocking Out in the Kitchen: Songs To Cook To

Is Live Music Addictive? The Dopamine High of Concerts, Shows, and Festivals

Photo by Chris Zielecki

The post EcoSalon’s Sexy-Not-Sexist Summer Playlist appeared first on EcoSalon.

You’re an intentional, conscientious person, but that same song that gets your booty shakin’ contains elements of sexism, violence, racism, or other flavor of bigotry. How do you deal with this cognitive dissonance? Can you listen to sexist music and still be conscientious?

Admit it: before you gave a good hard listen to the lyrics of Earth’s favorite creeper Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” it kiiind of made you want to shake your rump. Or, in my case, more than kind of.

While the rapey-ness of “Blurred Lines” has been well documented, its infectiously catchy nature causes a difficult tug-of-war between your brain and booty. What do we even call this special kind of conscious confusion? Musicognitive Dissonance? Cognitive Disso-dance? I’ll get back to you when I finalize some new buzzword for this phenomenon.

Even if there are more questions than answers, try on these three perspectives when handling the cognitive dissonance of enjoying sexist music you know you shouldn’t like, but just “know you want it.”

Cultural Context

Human behavior is often merely a symptom of a deeper psychological or societal undercurrent dictating the thought processes behind our actions.

Let’s step away from Mr. Thicke for a moment and look at hip hop as an example. How much of hip hop’s misogyny can be traced back to decades of institutionalized racism, hatred, and poverty? And regardless of context, why would we ever make excuses to be anti-women? And as a U.S.-born white man, what in the world would I personally know about any of this?

Ultimately, where does cultural context end and personal accountability begin? If I had that answer, I’d be the world’s greatest judge, psychologist, or relationship columnist.

Saving vs. Savoring the World

A female entrepreneur friend of mine whom I deeply admire lives her life based on a sage piece of advice: “Balance how much you try to save the world with how much you savor it.”

This perspective on music boils down to how willing you are to compartmentalize your life. You donate money and volunteer time championing worthy social causes; you support local business by shopping in your community; you try to buy organic and local whenever possible. Can’t you have the social consciousness equivalent of a diet “cheat day?” None of us are perfect — we’re all figuring things out and trying our best.

If you’re adamant about liking certain music for the beat but not the message it promotes, you’ve simply got to own it as your guilty pleasure while remaining true to your conscience through your actions and energy in other aspects of life. This perspective, however, can turn into a slippery slope toward one of the must fundamentally flawed arguments commonly used against homosexuality: “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”

So, is it “Love the music, hate the message”? Now my brain’s really doing the cognitive dissonance two-step.

Conversation Fuel

Even though the message behind “Blurred Lines” is decidedly awful, at least it has gotten a worthwhile conversation going. The song provides context and platform for a global conversation, and pushback against it has increased universal awareness about the ills of misogyny and served as a rallying point for thought leaders and supporters.

Some lessons are difficult to teach without real world examples, and though it’s unfortunate the conversation even needed to happen, at least the world is participating.

Follow Garth on Twitter @garthinkingcap

Related on EcoSalon

That Happened: Blurred Lines and Rape Culture

Stop the Slut Shaming Already!

Not Much Fun, is It? Men Stunned by Sexist Woman [VIDEO]

Photo by Simon Ingram

The post Can I Listen to Sexist Music as a Conscientious Person? The Cognitive Dissonance Two-Step appeared first on EcoSalon.