12. Gypsy Nada

Gypsy Nada, the final track on Coloured Wings (1998), is an experimental and deeply personal piece created without lyrics — just four musical voices: piano, cello, violin and the human voice used as an instrument in its own right.

The title carries particular meaning for me. Gypsy reflected movement — the sense of a life that would not always remain in one place — while Nada refers to inner sound. Looking back, the title feels almost premonitory. In the decades that followed, work, housing and circumstance would require me to move many times and develop an enormous sense of detachment from my surroundings. Yet through all that movement, music and singing became some of the most enduring and stable threads of my life. Wherever I went, music travelled with me. It allowed me to sing and create with people from many cultures and in many parts of the world.

I still love travelling. What I came to long for was something different: a home to return to — a place of belonging from which I could venture into the world to teach, sing, create and contribute, knowing there was somewhere waiting for me when I came back.

The recording itself came from a wonderfully blessed day when four of us gathered to create something without words.

The piano, cello, violin and voice each carried its own character, representing four qualities named in the original album notes:

Compassion. Truth. Clarity. Courage.

Each musical voice remained distinct, yet together they became something larger — yearning, ethereal, searching and, to me, glorious. During this period I was exploring the possibilities of the human voice beyond lyrics, influenced by artists including Norwegian singer Cecilia, whose work opened my ears to new possibilities of atmosphere, sound and expression.

There is something fitting about Gypsy Nada closing Coloured Wings. After an album born from experimentation, intuition and the courage to make something I had never made before, the final piece leaves the door open. Four voices meet without one needing to overpower another — and then the journey continues.

At the heart of the album was a dedication that remains important to me:

“Coloured Wings is dedicated to all abused or neglected children everywhere. May you find your light again. To all people who know the sanctity of life, no matter the path each chooses to take.”

More than twenty-five years later, Gypsy Nada remains a small piece of that larger story — four musical voices, four human qualities, and the possibility of finding light beyond darkness.

Vocals • Piano • Cello • Violin

Listen to the 45-second preview, then purchase the complete original recording.

Written and performed by Jaya Khoobsurat.

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