Born I, Music and Mindfulness
In This Moment: A Music & Meditation Experience
Arts Barn, March 1, 7:30 pm
Tickets: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36017/performance/11510008?performanceId=11510008
Article by Cindy Majane
Meditation teacher, author and musician Ofosu Jones-Quartey (music name Born I) brings a unique combination of meditation, sound bath, and hip hop to his performances. His music has received more than 20 million collective streams across platforms, with a presence in hip hop, EDM and hybrid genres. An experienced meditation practitioner and teacher, Ofosu is the male voice on meditation app Balance, and leads mindfulness retreats across the country. His emphasis is on self-compassion, mindfulness, and self-acceptance.
Ofosu grew up in a household full of music from all over the world. His parents are from Ghana, so he grew up with Ghanian music and highlife, but also a lot of soul and jazz. “I think I got the bug of creativity from my parents’ love of the arts. When I discovered hip hop in high school, I fell in love with it. By the time I was in college, I was experimenting with making my own music… I was really impacted by the way hip hop was able to articulate people’s thoughts, feelings, and worldview – whether it was bright, or dark, or somewhere in between – and how the music and lyrics were able to convey so much.” Attending American University in D.C., Ofosu was fortunate to meet a supportive community of artists who inspired each other to create. Artists from the city would cut their demos in a makeshift studio in his dorm room; they inspired each other and worked on each other’s projects. “After college, the hip hop scene in the D.C. area was pretty vibrant, starting on U Street in Northwest. [I was] performing at open mics alongside my friends and formed a group called Shambhala. We did pretty well as an underground hip-hop group and we toured a bunch. From there, I decided to branch out and work as a solo artist.”
Along the way, his spiritual practice as a Buddhist and meditator became so important in his life that he had to talk about it in his music. Ofosu’s mother introduced him to Buddhism when he was young, “… so I had a concept of myself as a Buddhist person from a young age, but I also had a lot of opportunity to explore what was calling to me. When my wife and I were expecting our first child, of course, that brings up a lot of searching and seeking, deep questions.” He re-discovered Buddhism as an adult when a chance encounter on the bus with a Buddhist teacher resulted in Ofosu and his family being welcomed into the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. At the time, mindfulness was becoming recognized as a valuable support for people’s mental and emotional health. He was invited to work with young people teaching mindfulness. “…it was just happening organically. I really did not have any ambition towards becoming a teacher and merging these worlds. Of course, I was happy to talk about my spiritual life in my music, but not necessarily make the two things almost the same. But over time… being true to myself and being true to what I want to put out in the world, it’s been a gift to have my music be an expression of my spirituality and vice versa.”
The sound bath concept was a pandemic gift. “I was re-evaluating what my approach to music was going to be. I had done a lot of work in electronic music. When the pandemic happened, it was an opportunity to pause and see if I wanted to continue to go in that direction, or if I wanted to do something different. First, I bought one singing bowl… And then one turned to two, and it kept happening like that. Because of my hip-hop background, I’m always interested in the percussive potential of an instrument, so instead of playing the singing bowl as a long, singular tone, I was tapping on the bowls rhythmically and experimenting with rapping to rhythm… but they were also producing tones, so there was this really beautiful tonal expression. That was an
eye-opener for me.” As a meditation teacher, Ofosu saw the singing bowl as something that could enhance what he was offering meditation students; but as a musician, he saw the musical potential. “I could create something where people could feel relaxed and meditative, but also enjoy a musical expression.”
At his March 1st concert at the Arts Barn, Ofosu will begin with a short, guided meditation for the audience, then move into a sound bath experience with singing bowls, accompanied by Kim Sator on the harp. He’ll share songs from his most recent album Amida and debut some new songs from an upcoming album Komorebi (Japanese for “sunlight leaking through trees”). When asked to describe the performance, he said it will be “an offering combining the meditative art of the sound bath with a unique expression of lo-fi spiritual hip hop” and says he and harpist Kim Sator will have a good vibe going – “We’ll be having a lot of fun!”
“One of the main goals of the work that I do is to promote self-kindness and self-compassion. It’s my hope that, when people come to experience one of my events, they come away feeling inspired to be kind to themselves.”
Born I, Music and Mindfulness
In This Moment: A Music & Meditation Experience
Arts Barn, March 1, 7:30 pm
Tickets: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36017/performance/11510008?performanceId=11510008
