(RNS) — With a global pandemic raging, political upheaval in her partner’s home of Myanmar and dramatic polarization at home in the U.S., Erin Kamler, an American musical theater composer and scholar who lives in Thailand, found herself in search of refuge.
She found it in the Pali, Sanskrit and Hebrew mantras of Buddhism and Judaism. Humanity has “always had to deal with how to move through loss and grief and upheaval and change,” Kamler said. “These prayers and chants are reminders that we have the tools we need to overcome these struggles.”
Those tools are both “timeless and timely,” she said: collective empathy, love and resilience.
No stranger to these ethics, Kamler has used feminism as a “spiritual framework” in her wide-ranging academic research on gender equality, working with nongovernmental organizations and civil society groups across Southeast Asia. Her award-winning musical projects, including “Divorce! The Musical” and “Land of Smiles,” combine her expertise in music composition and international diplomacy to shed light on women’s rights through the arts.
Drawing from her early 2000s journey as “Mantra Girl,” the composer and activist weaves together piano-vocal melodies, devotional chants and cross-cultural styles in her newly released album, “Refuge.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
When did devotional music first come into your life?
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