I’m a polyglot polymath: a background as a classical guitarist, singer, actor and visual artist, together with passions for Vedic mantra, martial arts and languages. I’m at my best when fusing and combining all my various creative and spiritual training; everything I am passionate about, to make something new, that has not been done before. I delight in bringing the ancient into the future and in as many languages as possible! (To date I have composed and performed in fourteen languages, in twenty-three countries). I want to entice, inspire and transform, to encapsulate the voice of the Zeitgeist in surprising and entertaining ways to raise conscious awareness. I would describe myself as an eclectic ‘Artist of the Renaissance’ as opposed to someone who fits into one category or genre or discipline alone.
I have been described as a bewitching Ninja* or entertaining Chanteuse. And my music, as a signature ‘Conscious Chanson meets Art-Pop meets Organica’ sound. Let me know what words ring true with you!
(* For my single 'Where Venus Meets Mars', I performed the world's first ‘aerial-pole with swords & nunchaku’ routine, covered by the BBC. A meeting of the female and male energies on the battlefield.)
I am delighted to have been championed by Kate Bush over the years, and to have recently performed alongside Errollyn Wallen CBE (Master of the King’s Music) and Mike Lindup (Level 42) in London.
So, how did it all start? What came first?
Well, I was handed my first guitar by my Romanian father at a very young age. Having been learning violin and all manner of recorders, purely because they were the instruments my wonderful state school had to offer, the guitar immediately took me to a different place. To this day I have written so many songs about the connection I have with my dearly-departed father through the guitar. Devastatingly, he has never heard any of my music, because I only started writing and performing my own music after he passed away. Ironically and with beautiful tragedy, it was his passing that gave birth to my music career. Song-writing and meditation gave me not only ways to heal, but rapidly also showed me I could engage and help others though the sharing of such life-experiences. It has always been clear to me that the stories that form our greatest growth are the stories we have to share.
I was extremely lucky to receive a County Scholarship for private tuition in classical guitar (and violin) from a very young age. And it was normal for me in my teens to be simultaneously living various personas, from performer to athlete to linguist, and earning my pocket money teaching classical guitar to my own pupils on the side. I was in love with acting, playing music, singing, dancing, most sports, learning languages, making friends, travelling and cramming as much as I could into each day. And now more than ever, I continue to be power-charged by my creativity and ability to live parallel lives, connecting and channelling a source and energy beyond the mind. I feel blessed that whenever anything challenging happens, I can harness the experience, express it through my creativity and make a difference to others going through a similar challenging experience.
After years working worldwide under various stage names as an actor, singer and musician, I eventually came back to the UK, in time for Covid.
Covid brought about a spiritual re-branding. I was having more contact with my Jyotish (Vedic Astrology) mentor, who made the revelation that in line with my (Jyotish) chart, I needed a new artist name to ensure I fulfil my potential. After great study and analysis, he conceived my new professional (and spiritual name) from Sanskrit : Ch’Lu.
I continue to grow into this name: it feels really right. Pronounced ‘Choo LOO’, it's all about the vibration; it is activating my spiritual and creative paths, and very much altering the shape and direction my performance work takes me. I no longer feel the need to try and fit in, and can embrace my unique flavour as an artist, following the vibration of ‘Ch’Lu’. This has led me to shape my current Campfire-meets-Kirtan-meets-Club vibe. (And why my social media handle is @ChLuVibration!)
Soon after we first met, my mentor described my life’s purpose as quite simply: “You are here to trick people into consciousness”. And I completely resonate with this. (And his words are even more pertinent since he sadly passed away this year).
So, yes, I like to blend the unexpected to create a new route into conscious awareness.
During Covid, I found myself performing online concerts to global audiences of hundreds on the world's largest meditation app: Insight Timer, taking them on a weekly transformational journey which soon became known as the “Ch’Lu Campfire'.
It was for me, another example of the energy of my name leading my creative direction, which is forever evolving. I would sit with my classical guitar in my home studio space, with my boxing gloves and artwork in the background, sharing comic anecdotes and encouraging audience participation in songs about anything from internet dating to technology stress. Audiences might have a fixed idea about what they need to relax or feel more connected, but when they leave the Ch’Lu Campfire, the feedback I get is how much fun they had and how unexpected and different it was.
For me, languages are music, and I pick them up quickly. I am fluent in six, and have composed in a further eight languages. My most recent album ‘The Goddess Within’ (supported by Arts Council England, and the largest music charity in the UK, Help Musicians) explored the experiential vibrations of The Mandukya Upanishads, a set of sacred Sanskrit verses, stemming from my twelve year study of mantra and Vedic meditation. The Mandukya Upanishads create the experience of the journey through Om.
The idea for the album also came about as I was staring at a recent painting of mine called ‘The Goddess Within’, about everything of importance and influence in my life, which then also went on to become the album cover and indeed album name! The fruition of the album also coincided with me learning to self-record and produce my music at home, and embracing new recording techniques, including using in-ear binaural microphones.
I released The Goddess Within album on Global Wellness Day, under my own label, Noroc (the Romanian word for ‘Cheers’). I am proud to say that Sanskrit is being brought to worldwide airwaves via this album, and I’m particularly happy that BBC6 Music’s Tom Robinson picked four tracks for the Fresh on the Net ‘Eclectic Picks’ and invited me to be a guest curator. Tracks have also been played in Ibiza, as a winding down tonic, and selected for all-female albums for ‘Re-enchanting the Label’ (Brighton) and ‘The Sound of Us Vol.2’ (Berlin & Bristol).
I now regularly produce music that is interlacing binaural field recordings that I make on my travels and everyday moments in life; it is a big part of my texture. As is writing almost daily words (in whatever language feels right) and/or guitar parts, based on experiences that range from the hysterical to tragic – and are always relatable.
I always have a feeling or theme I want to create sonically, and often I simply set up my mics in my home recording space, and start improvising on the guitar. Then I add vocals, improvise harmonies, and I then interlace it with hypnotic beats and electronic soundscapes if I want to create further developed sound. The composition always finds itself without a rigid plan. Indeed one of my next albums is further carving out this approach and honing a new sound. (I am currently exploring funding and donation support to make this possible).
One day I asked in a Ch’Lu Campfire if anyone would buy a t-shirt with a Ch’Lu Campfire logo and the response was unanimous….YES! But the surprising twist was that the gig turned into a brain-storming session where people were saying all the Campfire-themed merch they would want: “we’re gonna need Ch’Lu blankets and trousers and jumpers and woolly socks and hats to keep warm, and mugs for hot drinks, and a torch…” and since that night the Ch’Lu store was born. I now have in the region of 150 self-designed products featuring my artwork. And bit by bit, my world-wide sales are growing.
I love how forward thinking and positive my crowd are – recently a fan asked me when the Ch’Lu app was coming out!! And someone else wants a Ch’Lu songbook so they can learn to play my songs…it’s all in the pipeline for sure!
So it’s like a Ch’Lu Campfire family is out there. And together we are finding where the Ch’Lu flame is heading next!
Every online show I do touches me greatly, and my followers tell me how I’ve helped get them out of bed, or through an emergency situation or given them hope…so I can’t wait to grow my reach and get a physical tour going, especially if it is fan-led.
And my ability to create against all odds has grown. I self-produced a single whilst I had also lost my voice (on and off over a period of two years), after devastatingly losing two cousins in the Gaza/Israel conflict. The track ‘Beyond Words’ has helped in a crowd-fund, raising over £250,000 for the now orphaned children of my cousins.
I am also passionate about shifting global trends that can create lasting change in attitudes and treatment of women worldwide.
My new podcast: ‘Ch’Lu Moves’ is a travel documentary meets story-time meets walking meditation. Recorded myself binaurally on my travels around the world, from jungle to temple to street, where unusual adventures unfold around me in real time.
And a TV comedy series about letting go, co-created with my sister and her comedy collective Melon Comedy, in which I will be acting and providing the music.
And a good few albums.
And a tour. Hopefully to wherever you are based, reading this now.
I’ve no idea where it’s all moving. But it’s moving, that’s for sure.
