“Let’s meet at the place where you and I begin/We’ll move through water and into stone,” are the opening lyrics to a song titled “Breathe,” written by musical artist Erika (pronounced eddie-kah) Luckett during her last visit to Kaua‘i. Luckett
“Let’s meet at the place where you and I begin/We’ll move through water and into stone,” are the opening lyrics to a song titled “Breathe,” written by musical artist Erika (pronounced eddie-kah) Luckett during her last visit to Kaua‘i. Luckett has returned to Kaua‘i and will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 28 at the Church of the Pacific; the event signals a close to Luckett’s busy touring schedule and also a return to family, friends and the serenity of the Garden Isle.
“Being here in many ways is a great recharge,” said Luckett. “I don’t always perform when I come here but this felt like a good way to close out the year.”
Some destinations on Luckett’s current touring schedule were Mexico, Guatemala — where she collaborated with artists from the Buena Vista Social Club — Croatia and Italy; in Italy, Luckett met quite a few people who had been to Kaua‘i.
Luckett’s voice has been likened to Annie Lennox’s and French singer Edith Piaf. Her style crosses all genre borders with a mix of folk, jazz, world rhythm and Latin grooves in her albums and skips across continents with songs in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
In addition to filling the role of musician, Luckett is largely a worldwide fountain of creativity and positive energy. Luckett brings her audience to the landscapes of her childhood in Mexico, Venezuela, the Caribbean, the streets of Paris, from large metropolises to the Amazon and her music weaves the listener into the layers of global experience and consciousness.
Eileen Pedersen of Luckett’s label BirdFish Records said that when people go to an Erika Luckett concert, “It’s more than a beautiful source of entertainment” because Luckett inspires and awakens people’s source of creativity. Concert revelers have often expressed the feeling of “peace washing over them after listening to Luckett’s music. They are left with a feeling of hope or possibility,” Pedersen said.
At the Dec. 28 concert, the resounding music from Luckett’s finger-style playing will be like sitting amidst a full orchestra, yet the sea of rich multitudinous sound comes from only one person: Luckett.
It’s a style that Luckett developed over the years and is influenced by the guitar playing of her youth and her education at the Berkelee School of Music where Luckett received a degree in film scoring. Through composing pieces to tell vibrant stories by using sounds from a company of instruments and a room of musicians, it propelled Luckett to form a band of her own. And seven years ago, after the continual plight of inevitable schedule conflicts arising from a band of eight or nine musicians, Luckett wanted something more simple and bare yet still embodying a multi-layered sound.
Amid much fear, Luckett went out on her own as a guitar soloist.
“I yearned for all the different colors” and through experimentation learned how to incorporate many different sounds, Luckett said. “Necessity is the mother of all invention,” she said. Without the trained musicians to sit on stage with her, Luckett was forced to create them in her sound which continues to evolve. Even so, knowing as much as she does musically only makes her realize there remains plenty to discover. “I find that on the guitar I’m always wanting to learn more,” Luckett said.
The results of her solo venture have been astounding. Luckett has been honored with numerous accolades and a slew of awards including: Best Album of the Year (2006-“Unexpected”) from the Just Plain Folks music awards, which take over 25,000 albums into consideration from over 100 countries; Best International Album (2006 “Unexpected,” World Art Celebrities Journal); Best Independent Release of the Year (2003, “My Little Crime,” Acoustic Guitar Magazine); and Best Jazz Vocal Album (2003, “My Little Crime,” JPF Music Award).
Luckett is also using her touring and music to raise awareness by incorporating different venues into her tour lineup. Last October, Luckett attended the Bioneers Conference, which Luckett said consists of “people creating positive shifts around the globe.” There she held creativity workshops with the intent and “idea being that the greatest natural resource is the untapped potential inside of everyone,” Luckett said.
It’s getting over the fear that holds people back from creation and enabling them to unlock their creative ability that would contribute to the community at large, Pedersen said.
“Part of the work as a touring musician is to be a connective tissue for all of the different communities,” Luckett said.
On March 7, Luckett will have the opportunity to connect a global community when she performs at the 20th Annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum which will honor the work of Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank which provides low-cost loans to individuals in Bangladesh and counters the effects of poverty. It will be another opportunity to “integrate music into the community by stitching together different threads and raising awareness,” Luckett said.
Now back on Kaua‘i, Luckett is visiting her brother Palo who lives and works on Kaua‘i along with close friends and musicians who Luckett has met over the years. “We left Taos and there was over 12 inches of snow,” Luckett said, referring to her hometown. Luckett plans to enjoy her time in the warmer climate by getting in the ocean water as she is an avid body surfer and also enjoys longboarding.
Luckett has been asked quite often who her musical influences are and being on the island of Kaua‘i reveals that sometimes it’s not people that make the biggest impression on musical consciousness. “The taste of that ripe papaya, the way the light hits the clouds or the mists over the mountains at times speaks music more monumentally than artist influence,” said Luckett.
While here Luckett may be filming a video for the track “Breathe” penned in Hawai‘i. She performs at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, at The Church of the Pacific in Princeville. Tickets are $20 at the door, or in advance at Majestic Gems in Princeville and Cake in Kilauea. Online ticket purchases can be made at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/24632.
