Qureshi’s performance at Waynesville Music on Saturday, June 7 will be an intimate listening room experience. She plans on two sets, the first featuring a classically-influenced and original new age guitar repertoire on steel and nylon strings; the second, an ambient “sound immersion” with ancient instruments designed to evoke a state of calm.
The venue can only accommodate an audience of 30 people. Tickets are on sale now.
Combining her formal training with intuitive and improvisational elements, Qureshi is both a solo guitarist and a presenter of ambient sound experiences. Her “Harmonic Sound Immersion” events are transformative sound meditations created by the healing vibrations of ancient and modern instruments, which she describes as a kind of “horizontal concert.” This introspective and alternative program is highly sought after by yoga and meditation retreats because of the spiritual and contemplative mood it sets for an audience.
She’ll be bringing her crystal singing bowls, Native American flutes, guitars, capos, alternate tunings, and looper pedals to create layers of sound, to form an improvised and meditative composition for the listeners. It’s quiet, mindful, with room to breathe within the music.
“I’m just going to invite people to sit and relax,” she said, of the horizontal concert part of the show. “They’ll probably still be in their chairs with their eyes closed and kind of go within. It’s just about comfort.”
This idea of combining her two distinct modalities — improvised guitar and sound immersion — into one show is something she’s experimenting with in Waynesville. It will be peculiar for the audience, too, likely a singer-songwriter audience typically not exposed to singing bowls on the regular. But as a trained musician, Qureshi’s two modalities inform each other: both use her musical intuition and knowledge of improvisation to create, both are peaceful compositions.
“This will be a freer interpretation of what energetically is going on in the world,” Qureshi said. “You’re just in the flow with these people and different things come to you. If I’m brought somewhere, it’s really about playing intuitively.”
Later this year, Qureshi will be packing all of her non-fragile instruments in a suitcase to do a similar split show at a retreat in Costa Rica.
As of next month, she will have released 18 albums digitally, along with myriad EPs and singles. Since 2012, Michelle’s music has had tens of millions of streams on global platforms.
Professional awards and nominations for her music include recognition from Zone Music Reporter, New Age Music Guide, New Age Notes Radio, Echoes Radio, One World Music Radio, the River of Calm, and many independent and public radio programs. She has several tracks on Sirius XM and Editorial Playlists on both Spotify and Pandora.
“Typically around here, anyone else doing it is just somebody who has a set of singing bowls. They may be in the yoga community and designate themselves as a sound healer,” Qureshi said. “Mine really is a music event because of the music background I have. It’s unique in that way.”
Michelle Qureshi is immersed in sound, and invites us to experience the intrinsic harmony around us, too.
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: Michelle Qureshi
When: 7 p.m. June 7
Where: Waynesville Music, 198 S. Main St., Waynesville
Cost: $20 (tickets online at eventbrite.com/e/michelle-qureshi-live-at-waynesville-music-tickets-1297788102149)
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