by Sari Serodio

When I was little I used to pick up a CD from my father’s Deutsche Grammophon Classic collection and explore the musical world of our ancestors. One day I pressed play and while hearing the first notes of the piano masterpiece, Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G minor, the living room started to disintegrate into a white gold-ish infinite emptiness and I experienced a profound sense of nothingness and oneness, a transcendent experience where all there was emotion and sound dancing in the cosmos of my inner world. 

Child  

My music journey has been intertwined with spirituality from a young age.  I’ve been singing since the age of five when I stepped on stage for the first time. Later I had piano and music theory lessons. My dream was to become a musician, either a conductor or a singer, but due to the pressures of school and my parents, I was directed into architecture. At that time I started developing a  problem with my voice which made me stop singing for a couple of years.  

During the years that I lost my voice and coming into the studies of architecture, I developed narcolepsy a  disease that made me fall asleep in the classroom, driving, and taking public transport… It made me lose my  speech and cognitive abilities, and after several studies that pointed out that this was an incurable disease, I  was put on a heavy dose of amphetamines to be able to live life. 

University  

When I moved to Berlin to study, I was very much emerge in classical music. My partner was a conductor.  My friends were mostly musicians. I work at the Staatsoper Berlin and every week was filled with consuming  music. In my second year at University, I felt a deep calling to express my musicality. That’s when I  decided to buy a guitar to start singing again. Little did I know, this decision would change my life in unexpected ways. 

When I embarked on my first solo trip to Italy at the age of 21, I brought my guitar along as my companion. It  was in front of the Pantheon in Rome, I felt a calling in my soul. With nothing but my guitar and my voice, I  performed in front of tourists and discovered the incredible power of music to connect with people. To my  surprise, I made enough money to cover my expenses for the day. This experience taught me that music is  not only my connection with the divine but as well my source of empowerment and protection. Through music, I discovered my financial independence and started busking every day. Throughout this trip, I noticed that my symptoms of narcolepsy began to lessen and I was able to reduce my medication. I attributed this to the amount of sun I was getting. Looking back, I realize that my body was trying to tell me that I was not living my true purpose. I was choosing to live life from a place of fear, wanting to be accepted by society, a  head space. From that point and a couple of years later, once I started following my heart and soul, living in alignment with my true self and purpose, I was able to completely heal myself from narcolepsy. This showed me the healing power of music. 

As I returned to Berlin, I decided to leave my side job and become a street performer. This decision was hard, as I knew society would look down on me. Still, I found myself feeling more alive than ever before. I was independent, and I was living my dream. However, busking was only a step toward being a  famous rich architect. This was my conditioning. Nonetheless,s I am very grateful for this time as it taught me a  lot of resilience courage, and empowerment, which are big themes of my music. We are stronger than we think and over and over again life keeps reminding me.

India 

In 2010, I embarked on a school trip to India, not knowing that it would be a life-changing journey that would as well awaken my conscious spiritual side. Firstly, as I witnessed the extreme poverty that many people were facing, I began to question my intentions as an architect. It was in traveling around the country and meeting a diverse array of people that I truly began to understand the possibilities of existing realms beyond what we can see with our eyes. In India, I discovered that anything is possible, and my mind was opened to alternative healing and spiritual practices.  It was during this time that I was introduced to Earthship Biotecture, a self-sustainable building system that creates homes that are in harmony with nature and serve humankind. As an architect, I set my intention into working with this company once I graduated. But it wasn’t just my professional goals that were transformed during my trip to India. By falling in love I  started to write my first songs, at Nirvana Beach in Gokarna and I understand now that more than being in love with someone else I was in love with myself and my life and this is the key to unlocking my full potential  & creativity.   One year before completing my studies, I found myself at a crossroads. I felt a strong pull towards music and considered abandoning my architectural studies to pursue this dream. In search of clarity, I embarked on an  LSD trip of my own in my room with music. During my trip, I received a powerful message from music:  everything has its time, and it was okay to finish my studies before diving headfirst into music. With this newfound perspective, I decided to finish my six years of architectural studies with renewed focus and determination. I trusted that once I was ready, music would unfold effortlessly in my life. I felt a sense of  peace and purpose as I continued on my path, knowing that my journey was guided by a higher power. I realized years later that life is not a linear construct, and there are quantum leaps that can happen when our  mind, soul, heart, and purpose align. Magic is real. During my time in Berlin, I co-founded Earthship Biotecture Germany, and after completing my studies in  Berlin, I traveled to the United States to further my education and eventually began working with Earthship  Biotecture In Taos New Mexico, a powerful vortex of creative & mission-driven people. It was there that I  discovered the power of community and my deep love for reggae music. On the slow and steady skank, I found myself transported to a meditative state, allowing me to focus on  repetitive tasks and find a sense of flow. Little did I know that reggae music has its roots in nyabinghi, a  spiritual, ceremonial drumming circle played by the Rastafari. As I pounded tires, plastered walls, and build  window frames, conscious lyrics from artists like Kultiration, Bob Marley, and Marcus Gad spoke to my soul.  Through the work with Earthship Biotecture, I found this deep calling for creating and live in a community, and in 2016 with the german family, we founded “Wir Bauen Zukunft” which means “we are building the future” a  beautiful 10 acres community 2 hours away from Berlin. I was happy that I was able to manifest my dreams,  but something was still missing. During these years, music became just a pleasure around the bonfire, and  my heart yearned for something more. After five years of building and fulfilling my dreams in architecture at such a young age, I finally decided to leave everything behind, quit my job, leave my friends, and my partner at the time take a leap of faith and embark on a new journey: Music. 

Music

In 2017, when I was about to turn 30, I embarked on a trip to Southeast Asia, first India where I deepened-partner my studies in mantra singing, and then Cambodia and Myanmar where I formed a reggae project called  COCOPILOTS with my ex-partner Shamo. It was an exciting time filled with endless possibilities, as we started from the streets and worked our way up to play in festivals. We released an EP and an album in 5  languages called “Follow your wild dreams” 

However, as we progressed, I found myself becoming increasingly driven by ego. I felt the need to prove  myself to society, my family, and even to myself, which led me to put financial pressure on the project. I was  so focused on the success of the project that I lost sight of the spiritual path I had been on. My connection  with spirituality began to diminish as I became more controlling and ego-driven. I lost the easy, effortless flow  that I had experienced in India, and became tense, angry, and controlling. The places where we played were  filled with alcohol and drugs, and I felt my soul becoming increasingly weary of the lower energy field. At this  point, my music had become less about self-discovery and emotional release, and more about selling out for  festivals and having fun. I lost the purpose of music. 

Conscious Path  

In 2021, I decided to take another leap of faith and embark on a spiritual quest to the Americas, exploring my  music more consciously. I contacted the singer from Kultiration as I knew he was living in Colombia,  putting my intention out into the universe, but without any expectations. To my surprise, he answered my call,  and we started collaborating remotely on one song. This collaboration was so effortless that I bought a trip to  Colombia just to have a coffee with Marcus, in the hopes he would make time to record the rest. To my  surprise after meeting me, he cleared up some time with his wife, I extended my trip and we recorded the rest of my EP a collection of medicine music in 4 different languages and genes. I named it “Back to Source” as it was a coming back to my spiritual path while dedicating this work to spirit.  Those two weeks spent recording were truly explorative and transformative. With Marcus’s guidance, I w   able to tap into the subtlety of my voice that I experienced only as a child, to the point of crying, as I felt I was  connecting with a soft side within myself I had forgotten, my yin side. Another manifestation of the healing  power of music.  Hey Ma, a mantra for Durga and Kali representing the divine feminine crystallized itself as the pearl of the EP  and it was my first release as a solo artist. I used this song later on to create a very vulnerable videoclip  where I exposed all my sides the light and the dark and by doing so I feel I started to accept myself more  completely. As Marcus’s former band introduced me to reggae I decided to create a fifth song in that style as this music led me to this moment. I then realized I want as well to pursue and we started planning the next upcoming album.  From there, I continued my path, taking every opportunity to grow and learn, no matter the cost. I traveled to  Brazil to study sound healing and then to Costa Rica to meet music guides who further inspired me. I met  Mose, who is doing a remix of Hey Ma, Uria Tsur who initiated me in the world of singing circles and voice  activation, and got introduced to the music of Alex Serra, which spreads conscious messages of love and  healing who greatly inspired my new album and a new music genre which I call MEDICINE DUB.  My upcoming album is called “Rise from the Ashes” inspired by a line of Marcus Gad, another great  conscious artist, and is the continuation of my musical story. I feel since COCOPILOTS my message has evolved to a higher level of consciousness, as I have come to realize that there is no rivalry between men and women. Where with my previous lyrics there is a feeling of  competition of struggle, my new album takes a more positive approach. With the song “Wild Woman,” I am to remind women and me of our inherent strength and power, and embrace our wild side that we often  suppress to conform to societal norms.  I also explore the idea that both masculine and feminine energies exist within us, and gender stereotypes are  unnecessary. Nurturing both fiery and watery energies, or Yin and Yang is crucial for unlocking our full  potential. Additionally, my music touches on themes of relationships and family trauma, as I use it as a tool to  shine a light on my pain and hopefully heal from it. I am currently working on Agnayee Swahaa a chant to the  holy fire. I feel very grateful to be collaborating with Estas Tonne on a song called Cura Medicina.  

Web3 

During the pandemic, as an artist, I faced many challenges in making a living, especially since most of my  income came from live performances. During this difficult time, I found a temporary job online working for a friend.  However, after a year, of coming back from America, I realized there were a lot of things that were not aligned anymore with my values, so another major shift happened. I quit my job, I terminated my relationship,  COCOPILOTS seized to exist. I began envisioning a part-time income that aligned with my values that were complementary to my music.  That’s when I discovered NFTs, the Blockchain, and I saw that it had the tools to create a better world based  on trust, cooperation, abundance, and decentralization.  I believe that as a human specie, we passing a shift in planetary consciousness from an era of competition, scarcity, mistrust, and centralization to an era of abundance, collaboration, trust, and community. I  believe the blockchain is a manifestation of that and so I wrote a song called “Crypto Love Song,” which put me on the radar of the Cosmic Universe, which mission is to raise the frequency of the heart through powerful storytelling through Avatars. I resonate with the mission of inspiring people to transition from head based to heart-based decision-making.  I’m launching my first NFT collection, which I hope will help finance the end stages of my album. On this note just want to address the readers that I am aware of a lot of bad actors in the web3 space, but I choose to focus on the positive. Many people are afraid of technology and the future, but I believe that we can shape it to be of service to nature and humankind, not the other way around. It’s our responsibility to pour our hearts and our values into technology and use it for the greater good. That’s why I take the responsibility and action to share what I believe is important in technology: create from a place of love. My wish for music. Through my messages, I want to remind myself and women of our inherent strength and power. We all have  a wild side that we often suppress to fit in with societal norms, but it is important to embrace that part of ourselves and let it shine. This is the theme of the upcoming reggae song Wild Woman. I touch as well  themes of relationships and family trauma and pain as I use my music to shine a light on my pain to  hopefully heal myself from it. By sharing my vulnerability with the listeners it is my wish to create a safe  space for others to total into their emotions and heal themselves. It is my mission as a conscious artist to continue to work on myself, to love and accept myself fully, to use my  music as a vehicle for self-exploration, for emotional release, and to connect with the audience. That my  music may help others tap into their emotions as so many artists did with me.  

Singing Circle 

It was In Costa Rica, I had the honor of connecting with Uria Tsur and his nurturing singing circles and voice  activation workshops. My soul was stirred, and I knew that I was being called to do similar work in service of  my community. Through this work, I strive to become more humble, keep my ego in check, and deepen my  unconditional love for myself and others. My goal is to open a space for people to connect with their voices –  for the voice is a primal instrument that can unlock deep traumas stored within our bodies and DNA. When  we sing with consciousness, it is a powerful form of self-therapy that can heal our souls and uplift our spirits. As Bob Marley once said, “One good thing about music, is when it hits you feel no pain.” When we begin to  sing collectively, we tap into a universal language that transcends all barriers and connects us to each other  and the divine, there we open a portal for healing to begin. 

Recap

As a conscious artist, I am deeply aware of the gift I have been given. I see myself as a vessel through which  the messages of the highest flow, and I am committed to honoring this gift to the best of my ability. To do so, I know that I must continue working on accepting and nurturing the best version of myself so that I can be a clear channel for inspiration and creativity. And while my art is deeply personal, I also understand the  importance of being of service to my community. I strive to create spaces where people can discover their voices and fall in love with the power of self-expression. Through my art and my actions, I hope to inspire others to embrace their gifts and live their lives with purpose and intention.  

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