I am deeply grateful for all my journey. 

It is the hard moments for sure that have shaped me, not the sweet ones, to be the one serving this music, in this blessed land, with my people , for my people and I am so grateful .

It has all been worth it, and I would do it all again if I had to—as the song Grateful says.

These songs have been healing, leading and teaching me so much, and their themes —Freedom, Black glory, the Light, and the Resilience—are everything to me.

I am so grateful for all the people of the Bay who have been showing me the way since I moved here: the way to love with no judgment and including our own selves—the most challenging part— the way to choose love, happiness and respect, and to trust giving the leadership to the heart.

I have learned so much from you all, I still keep learning every day, and I wish to spread some of this light back into the world with my music.

I am also deeply grateful that I have brought this music into the world with Narada Michael Walden, who by his talent as producer and arranger has dressed these songs in magic. I have learned so much working with him and I am so grateful for the time we have spent together with the team at Tarpan.

I am so grateful to the magical band we formed in our live sessions: this was the happiest, most ecstatic time of my life: the energy was so high we were sparkling gold and joy.

This band I called the Soul Family because the music brought us together as if  we all belonged together in the service of some higher energy.

We had Vernon Ice Black my soul brother on guitar, the old soul king Alvon Johnson on guitar also, Troy Lampkins on Bass, Justus Dobrin on Keyboard, James Henry on percussion, Charles McNeal on saxophone, Tony Lindsay, Cornell Carter and Larry Batiste on background vocals, and of course Narada Michael Walden on drums. Thank you all so much for being part of these songs—Sparkles of light.

I am so grateful for my dear friends who have supported me since the beginning, when I was only just receiving these baby songs. Danny Armstrong was the first to play them with me, and it is always a great joy to play with him.

I am so grateful for my daughter, the phenomenal little Alma: her name means soul in Spanish, she is a firework, and I am so proud to be her mother.

She has been my biggest teacher of all, and has given me this music in so many ways, having allowed me to do the work of deep healing,  bringing all back to the surface and this was the only way ….

The Road of the Soul, La Ruta del Alma :

Collection of texts from which these songs are part.