In an era where the cacophony of modern life drowns out our inner rhythms, a quiet revolution is unfolding - one note, one ceremony, one song and collective breath at a time. At the heart of this movement is “medicine music”.
My name is Tony Moss and I am a visionary artist whose life bridges the worlds of activism, spirituality, and sound. As the founder of the I AM LIFE Music label and a creative force behind the musical collective Bird Tribe, I’ve now dedicated over three decades to exploration of music not just as entertainment, but as a profound medicine for the soul. Through my work, I invite a reclaiming of our connection to self, community, and the cosmos, with the intention that music can heal.
My journey into the world of music as medicine began in the fertile ground of a musical family. Born to Rejoyce Moss, a member of the 1960s gospel group The Stovall Sisters, I grew up immersed in the soul-stirring harmonies of R&B and gospel. California's psychedelic undercurrents further shaped my later years, exposing me to the expansive possibilities of altered states and collective ecstasy.
But it was in the 1990s, amid the raw intensity of activism - protesting war and inequality - that I encountered ayahuasca, the Amazonian plant medicine known as the "vine of the soul." Nearly 30 years ago, my first ceremony shattered the barriers of my worldview. It was a profound recalibration. As I’ve shared often in interviews, the brew induced visions that healed ancestral wounds and ignited a passionate decades long commitment to entheogenic exploration fueled by the power of music.
I didn’t know it at the time. But this pivotal shift marked the end of “the protester” and the birth of the medicine music artist. No longer content with shouting against the darkness, I saw that the front lines of my activism could be expanding consciousness. In 2012, I founded I AM LIFE (iamlife.music), a youth empowerment initiative, now non-profit music label, dedicated to fostering unity through the synthesis of modern science, indigenous wisdom, and artistic expression.
Our mission is deceptively simple: to help cure humanity's epidemic of disconnection. As I often share publicly, "At the core of most problems facing humanity is a lack of connection - with ourselves, the cosmos, and certainly nature." Through events, retreats, and music, I AM LIFE invited people to integrate ancient practices into contemporary lives.
Central to this ethos is Bird Tribe, the ephemeral musical collective and recording project I co-founded in 2012 alongside collaborators Sunny Solwind, David Daniel Brown (Deva Runa), and Shireen Jarrahian. What began as informal ceremonial gatherings in Los Angeles's bohemian enclaves - cacao ceremonies in Venice Beach art galleries, tea ceremonies under canyon stars - evolved into large, well attended, public ceremonial music events presented by I AM LIFE.
The heart of those events were and are medicine music. Bird Tribe isn't a traditional band; it's a flock of souls converging to share medicine music - original compositions inspired by shamanic traditions, designed to support psycho-spiritual healing. It didn’t start off that way - it was realized along the way. Our sound defies easy categorization: a fusion of world music, devotional soul, and traditional and contemporary medicine music, infusing contemporary pop production.
The pinnacle of our work to date is the 2018 album Birds in Paradise, an 11-track album I produced, released on I AM LIFE MUSIC. Structured like a ceremonial arc - opening with invocations of love and flowing into ecstatic dances and reflective codas - the album is a sonic journey through a very contemporary medicine ceremony, and Amazonian rainforest of the spirit. Tracks like "All My Love" pulse with invocations of gratitude, while "Amazonia ∞" evokes the infinite heart & beat of the jungle. Many of the album songs, along with the single "Grateful," an ayahuasca inspired, gospel-infused hymn, to our surprise, have become staples in ayahuasca circles worldwide. We never saw that coming.
At its core, Bird Tribe's music embodies the philosophy of music as medicine - a concept I have championed since those early entheogenic encounters. In indigenous traditions, particularly those of the Shipibo people who steward ayahuasca ceremonies, icaros (healing songs) are not mere accompaniments; they are the medicine itself. Sung by shamans (curanderos & curanderas), these melodies - more often than not shared with just the human voice - guide the psyche through visions, dissolve traumas, and realign energies. Drawing from two decades of study with various indigenous ayahuasca using peoples, we were inspired to adapt the role of icaro and join the community of artists who are bringing this ancient healing art - some say, technology - to a now global audience. Music, especially in the context of ceremony, can profoundly shift states of consciousness. And the right melody can mend what words alone cannot.
This isn't abstract theory; it's been our lived experience. Bird Tribe's live performances often double as ceremonial spaces, where attendees sip ceremonial cacao or journey with breathwork. It became fairly common for participants to report subtle healing experiences and profound releases: long-held grief dissolving into tears of joy, fractured relationships mending through shared song.
Scientifically, this aligns with emerging research on sound therapy. Studies from institutions like Harvard's mindfulness programs show that rhythmic entrainment - syncing brainwaves to musical pulses - reduces cortisol, enhances neuroplasticity, and promotes emotional regulation. We bridge this understanding with shamanism, creating "fusion ceremony" music & events that honor tradition while innovating for accessibility. Not appropriation - adaptation. I think Bird Tribe's popularity mirrors the broader psychedelic renaissance, where plant medicines like ayahuasca are gaining legitimacy for treating PTSD, depression, and addiction. Understandably, many want to preserve indigenous practices - we do to. AND we’re in a renaissance where modern medicine music extends tradition, reaches more people, and invites modern hearts to heal.
Inspired by that, with the current project, the 2025 album JOY, I wanted to push the medicine music boundaries even further. With collaborations from multiple artists, including Stanley Clarke, Ksenia Luki, and Fabiano Do Nascimento, JOY is a concept album that features eleven interconnected compositions designed for a modern, yet familiar sounding, contemplative, soulful, sound journey. My intent was to harmoniously bring all the music genres that most influenced me growing up into a “medicine space”. It was a bit of a gamble to follow the Birds In Paradise and Grateful releases with this album. Because I knew some of the albums tracks would depart from the sonic feel of those earlier, popular works. But so far I'm thrilled and encouraged with the feedback. Working with such amazing musicians to synthesize my love and passion for music with the science of sound healing into a psycho-therapeutic, soulful-ceremonial album was, well… one of the great Joys of my life.
Encouraged by that, as we launch into production for the next Bird Tribe album, we are constantly reminded and empowered by music's alchemical power to heal, transform, and meet people wherever they’re at. In the symphony of existence, where dissonance threatens to overwhelm, music whispers a healing truth: we are life. And sometimes it’s our most potent elixir - mending minds, bridging divides, and harmonizing the human mind and heart. I was asked in a recent podcast, "There's only one of you in all eternity. How can we empower that unique essence?" My answer: through sound that vibrates at the frequency of love. Yes, I know that can be easily dismiss as woo-woo. But it’s grounded in pragmatism and life experience. I am a very modern mystic.
In a world grappling with multiple challenges and social fracture, I’ve found that medicine music, particularly in concert with ceremony, offers practical solace. It doesn't promise utopia; it inspires us to build it. Life itself is ceremony. And a playlist can become prayer.
