Album Notes

"Kiss the Ground" is a colorful pastiche ranging from mystical Persian sounds and gypsy cabaret styles to solo piano confessionals and ballads with strings. Kamile's vocals are at once vulnerable and ballsy, poignant and rapturous.

The album is a collaboration between Kamile Kapel and world class multi-instrumentalist Joseph "Pepe" Danza who plays everything from bamboo flutes to Latin acoustic guitar and psychedelic electric guitar to multi-layered percussion solos. Seven of the songs are based on poems by the Persian mystic poets Rumi and Hafiz.

In the title track, Kapel sings, "Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument and kiss the ground." -Rumi

Kamile Kapel started out as an actress until she discovered that the piano she'd been playing since she was eight made a great prop. She began performing around Vancouver in what people perceived as a one woman show--telling impromptu stories, gonging Tibetan bells, whispering secretively and then wailing from the depths of her soul.

She sang and played her piano at coffee shops, clubs and theatres in Vancouver, California, and India, eliciting both laughter and tears with her confessional, often comedic songs.

"Kiss the Ground" is an ambitious first release as well as a significant contribution to the cause of exposing Rumi to a world that is hungry for his wisdom and his love.