Today we’d like to introduce you to Malia Carvalho.
Hi Malia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My musical journey began when I was very young and I would sing with my dad and make cassette tape recordings of myself singing in English and Spanish and create music videos in my backyard. A couple of years after I moved to the Los Angeles area in 2006 I formed an alternative rock band called Safety Toy. We disbanded in 2010, and a decade passed until I wrote another song. It wasn’t until I began my plant medicine journey in 2016 when music was reignited in my life and I began finding my authentic voice in healing ceremonial settings. I picked up the guitar so I would be able to accompany myself and eventually write my own music. I wrote my first medicine music song “Arcoiris” (Rainbow) at the end of 2020 and from then on the flow of music has continued to run abundantly.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The greatest challenge I have faced is me getting in my own way! When I began to become more in tune with nature, my body and my state of mind through Kundalini yoga and other movement and meditation practices, I began to feel a much stronger connection to that mystical place where songs come from. Additionally, playing with and for people in meditative, healing ceremony is completely different than singing “at” people or performing for them in a way where the attention and energy is largely directed at the entertainer. When I discovered the world of holding a container for people to go within to heal themselves and give them that space and musical guidance for deeper connection, I gained much more passion and motivation to keep going!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I play, write and record music inspired by the psychedelic experience, sacred ceremony and Kundalini yoga, which I practice and guide women in the South Bay. I feel incredibly grateful to share my music live with people on a weekly basis through yoga classes and sound baths, ceremonies and retreats. The music I write and cover is an eclectic mix of Hawaiian chants, Spanish lullabies, Kirtan mantras and if I feel like throwing some indie-pop or 90’s rock in there, I will do it! I enjoy reflecting all parts of the human experience in my work.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Medicine music is certainly a growing genre as more people discover the benefits of psychedelic medicine and undergo alternative treatments, experiences and practices such as therapist-assisted ketamine and psilocybin therapy and the deep, sacred work of Ayahuasca ceremony, which is guided by medicine men and women or highly trained and practiced facilitators. Music is an important vehicle for these experiences and the creation of various styles of music which cater to different parts of the journey has just begun.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.maliacarvalhomusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/malia.carvalho.music/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ3xiCIJyf3bmqWCii97sYg
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/malia-carvalho
Image Credits
Caren Chroma: body painter @carenchroma
