California has a new vocal wonder: the young singer Toni Pope with her deep soul voice is taking the way of the avant-garde! She steps sovereign in the footprints of Meredith Monk and Laurie Anderson. Not hiding the origin of her voice, the gospel, she carries the capability of performing with the vocal power of Aretha Franklin.
...And something new comes with it!
Toni Pope has intensely studied the singing tradition of the Siberian shaman, the Mongolian overtone and undertone-voice; the katajag singing of the Inuit, Indian, and African guttural pressed techniques which require highest precision and power. Aim of those techniques are not just for the "beautiful" sound, but the expansion of vocal horizon in ways which go further than the usual singing voice. Equipped with that, she soars her voice to heights others only dream of.
She climbs dizzy heights effortlessly, speaking exactly. She sings the four-stroke C which is higher than the highest piano key. Below she delves in vocal spheres that have never before been sung by a woman; and where she only can go by having developed the diatonic vocal techniques of the Tibetan/Mongolian skill Kharkhira. As overtone singer she belongs to the small elite group of women in a male domain.
Rudiger Oppermann Klangwelten 2005The Experience of Toni Pope's sound
is beyond words. If one is actually fortunate enough to make her acquaintance for any length of time, the realization soon surfaces that the sound/music she creates is a direct extension of her vibration. One may argue of course...such is the case with all artists and musicians concerning their chosen modes of expression. Thusly I will only attempt to describe what I felt during, and briefly in the presence of Toni Pope after hearing her voice.
Toni is like a force of metaphysical nature! If it were not for her natural beauty and smile inside and out, those more conventional types may find her a little uneasy to be around. Her beauty and sound can be paralleled to the vastness of the unknown, similar only to a pure virgin matrix calling forth Light. Pope emanates so much light power, she herself may find life on Earth at this stage of the game quite challenging, but what is to bear light must sustain and endure the burning.
She is the living Irony of it All! She seems reluctant to call herself a healer, when that is exactly what she is and does. And I don't mean one of the fluffy new age types. She is the real thing. How she manages to live from such a non-judgmental faculty is extremely beyond mundane human capacity, hence her access to these enormous heights of sacred sound.
If one were to simply allow her/her-sound to exist without being triggered by the controlling arms of ego, that individual would have made extraordinary leaps into his/her own personal evolvement and quite possibly the evolvement of the planet. Toni Pope is Remarkable!
Reed Brandon - Radiance Magazine 2007Defying convention is common among "break-out" artist...singers and musicians who make quantum leaps into a virtual "twilight zone" of harmony and resonance, but once in a great while, an unconventional artist's work is so profound that connoisseurs of the truly different worldwide sit up and take notice. Toni Pope is such an artist!
Toni Pope is an amazing vocal artist and sound healer who invokes sounds ranging from Tuvan throatsingers to Tibetan monks. She began her career in San Francisco and met with larger audiences in Europe, playing large halls and Berlin's Philharmonic. While in India she experienced night-long meditations in the caves of the Siddha sound yogis. Friends and associates describe the youthful Toni as an "old and gentle soul" who channels ancient harmonics from the deepest part of her being.
Toni continues to perform a limited number of concerts annually but has lately turned her attention to the art of healing...or "vocal tone and meditative sound therapy."
Dave Powers 2007
you are beautiful! what are you working on these days? I'm going to put on a show in SF next year, wanna come perform? we'll work out details down the line...would love to see you! can u send me your email?xo,lily
