Singer/songwriter Toni Childs is in Cape Town this weekend to hold a number of unique yoga and music sessions. She talks about her journey from rock star to restorative healing, environmental activism and dolphin singing with KAREN RUTTER
MANY South Africans will remember American singer/songwriter Toni Childs’ debut album Union, from the late 1980s, with tracks like the feisty Stop Your Fussin’ and the anthem-like Zimbabwe.
The world-beat record ranked pretty well when it was released here. Childs went on to collect several Grammy nominations and tour with the likes of Bob Dylan, as well as releasing two more albums and having her songs featured on soundtracks including Thelma and Louise.
But that was back then. In fact, it took Childs 19 years to record again. In between, she battled illness in the form of Graves Disease and mercury poisoning. It was her healing process, along with a profound meeting with The Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler, that was to change the course of Childs’ life in a substantial way.
“I met Eve in 2003 when I was performing a version of the Monologues in Kauai, Hawaii, where I was living,” says Childs. “It turned out she was quite a Toni Childs fan, and she asked me to compose a song about violence against women and children. She wanted it for her documentary film Until The Violence Stops. And Eve is from New York – you just can’t say no to her!” Childs smiles.
She thought about what she wanted to say, and eventually wrote a song that emphasised the positive side of being a woman, or girl-child. She called it Because You’re Beautiful– and it became a huge hit, picking up the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics.
“At that point, I began to start playing gigs again, after a long break. And I recorded an album, called Keep the Faith. I was touring that album, performing in nooks and crannies all over Australia, where I’d moved. And I noticed that a lot of the women in the audience looked really checked out – like they’d left themselves on the side of the road,” says Childs.
“It’s like they’d put all their energy into being mothers, or maybe stayed in a situation when they should have left. I’m not sure. So I would ask these women to come onto the stage, and I’d sing Because You’re Beautiful to them. And they’d start crying – it had this massive effect,” Childs recalls.
“I realised that there was something here, but I needed to take it into a safer space. It wasn’t really appropriate for a date night out – suddenly your partner is having this cathartic experience,” she smiles gently.
Because Childs had been doing yoga for some 30 years, as had close friends and family members, she decided to incorporate the Because You’re Beautiful experience into a series of powerful yoga sessions that she calls “Yin Heart Restorative Practice”.
“I’ve done various types of yoga over the years, including Ashtanga and Vinyatha. My Because You’re Beautiful sessions draw on all these different styles, as well as the yoga teachings of Saul David Raye, whom I am very close to. This is very a playful, loving, kind, mindfulness practice,” she explains. “It includes improvisational dance, storytelling, music and silent mediation. And it’s about self love and self growth.”
Childs includes live singing in her classes, and her husband guitarist Mik Lavage acts as DJ to create a specific soundscape.
The two of them are currently engaged in a “low key, high impact global tour” to 28 countries, where they hope to connect with kindred spirits and share their learnings. South Africa is one of the stops on the tour, with sessions in Jo’burg and Durban this past week and three in Cape Town this weekend.
Childs, who is now based in Byron Bay, Australia, has also been in the studio, working on a new album called It’s All a Beautiful Noise. And to celebrate its debut, she plans a “very futuristic” series of concerts which, says, are something she has always wanted to do.
“On September 18 this year I’m going to be giving an underwater concert to the dolphins and whales in Hervey Bay, Australia (where Humpback whales give birth and mate). And the following week I’ll be doing it on the Great Barrier Reef!” she excitedly reveals.
Childs explains that she will be using a “bubble helmet” that will allow her to sing underwater. “The band will be above the water on a boat, or deck, and I’ll be singing underneath them, hoping to get an aquatic audience. It’s going to be amazing. Twenty five years ago I saw a documentary about a marine biologist playing a synth underwater to a group of dolphins, and I’ve always wanted to try this. Now it’s finally happening,” she smiles.
Childs says that it’s very important to continue to work, as an activist, contemporary musician and artist (she is also currently engaged in a 3D music and visual animation project). “Having had a break of 19 years between albums has given me a lot of time to grow. It’s one reason why I really want to lose that label of being a singer from the 1980s and 1990s. It’s a marginalised position, as though that’s all I ever was. But I have been doing so much since then, and continue to do so,” she explains.
That said, she has been pleasantly surprised by reactions to her visit to South Africa. “A lot of promoters are keen for me to do a Union tour.
Having just said that I want to move away from my previous ‘label’, I would actually consider this. It’s different. I recorded the album in Swaziland, but I never played here. I would like to do it,” she admits.
So look out for a possible Union reunion – but in the meantime, join Childs for a special yoga experience in Cape Town. Booking essential.
The singer’s Because You’re Beautiful sessions will be at The Source at 11 Townsend Ave, Constantia on Saturday from 10am to 12am; at Kalk Bay Community Centre On Saturday from 6pm to 8pm; and at Claremont Civic Centre at 231 Main Road on Sunday from 10am to 12pm.
l Information: www. becauseyourebeautiful.yoga Source: 021 794 2640, www.thesource.ca, [email protected] Kalk Bay event: 082 733 5939. Book: Quicket. Claremont event: 074 100 9865. Book: Quicket.