An Inspiring Conference in Manila

A few days ago I returned from a wonderful regional Baha’i conference in the city of Manila – the capital of the Philippines.  There were over 1,000 Baha’is attending from 8 different countries in Asia to celebrate achievements that have been made and to consult about how to be more effective in our service to humanity.  The conference was a short and intense 2 days, yet very inspiring as there were talks and workshops to enable the participants to plan and set goals for the upcoming months.
I had the bounty of being asked to sing at the conference so I chose a piece from my CD, Fire and Gold which I sang in English and Arabic.  I was informed the day before the conference began that I would have that blessing and realized how important it is for a musician to be prepared to perform at any given time.  I had a couple of hours to think about which piece I wanted to sing and managed to practice it several times.  Luckily I brought a CD of backtracks for the pieces just in case I needed them.  The performance went very well and I felt extremely blessed to be able to sing at the conference.
I had an unexpected gift during those 2 special days – and that was knowing how many new friends I met at the conference appreciate my music.  I had no idea that ‘Melodies of the Nightingale’ and ‘Fire and Gold’ have spread so far and to so many countries.  I met one woman who mentioned that she has tears in her eyes when she listens to ‘Fire and Gold’ every morning.  Another lady recounted that her daughter has memorized and can sing all the pieces on ‘Fire and Gold’ word for word!  This brings me so much joy as my goal for my music has always been to bring upliftment and inspiration to the listener!