Daily Inspiration: Meet Khabu Young

Today we’d like to introduce you to Khabu Young.

Hi Khabu, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
At age six, I was fascinated by melodic and rhythmic patterns, improvising endless combinations across all the registers from high to low on the piano. I would pick out fragments of music I heard on the radio. This would last for hours at a time, daily. Thus began my lifelong journey in music. The guitar became my predominant instrument, playing jazz and composing while at Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA).

This pointed me to William Patterson College just outside of New York City. During a year hiatus from school, I attended a Vipassana meditation retreat on San Juan Island in Puget Sound which opened up new depths of being and relating to sound vibrations. This lead me to Naropa University in Boulder CO in my quest to bridge my passion for improvised music with my need for the contemplative study. While in Boulder, I formed the Russian Dragon Band with Art Lande and played with luminaries such as Paul McCandless and Jerry Granelli.

Eventually, I returned to NYC for 20 years, teaching and working alongside musicians such as Dan Weiss, Jacob Sacks, Yoon Sun Choi, Kyoko Kitamura, Brian Drye, and Mike McGinnis, as well as collaborations with modern dancers, actors, and visual artists. At one point, I was bitten by the ‘Mighty Flea’ and infected with ‘musical pulicosis’ thanks to all things ukulele! The only cure was to perform at uke festivals around the US, especially with my wife, Elena Camerin Young, singing.

In 2015 I returned to Boulder to teach at Naropa and the Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts (CCJA). Here I’ve been immersed in the rich vibrant Front Range communities of Denver/Boulder and surrounding metro areas. The musical cornerstone is the Nalanda Ensemble with Mark Miller, Bill McCrossen, and Elena Camerin Young, playing open improvised sounds on a stunning array of various instruments.

As a result, I’ve finally been able to include a longtime dream of adding gongs and percussion into my practice. The guitars/ukes & voice duo with Elena has also sprouted gongs and crystal singing bowls, to soon add cacao meditations along with our sonic explorations. Plant medicines have been an integral component of my life, offering deep insights into the nature of resonance. My wish is that the music that emerges during a journey with listeners, will inspire the remembrance of deep connections within the self and others, woven throughout the cosmically comic fabric of time.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
There have many challenges, twists, and turns. When I was young, I dreamed of being an internationally recognized jazz guitarist, following a career path that would look like Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell, having my voice, and making my mark in that world. I had to accept that to do so, meant living in a way that was contrary to my authentic being. I had to give up modeling my path on that of others and simply follow my unique destiny.

How do I navigate expressing what I want and need to say in this world of forms involving family, friends, finance, community, and society at large? What do I have to offer? How may I be of service? What are my values? These are ongoing, evolving questions that guide my path. At times I had to play in situations that were uncomfortable and not fun. Other times I had to earn my living doing things other than playing, teaching, and creating art.

In every part of the journey, there are existential dilemmas and spiritual questions that can feel like the ‘night of the soul’. It’s often painful to ‘give up’ on an idea that seems as if it were the very fabric of the dream itself. In the end, it’s about distilling the essence of the seed impulse, not getting fooled by the appearance. Twenty years in New York City proved a useful laboratory to confront and work with all these things.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
At heart, I’m an improviser which inherently contains a composer, a sound sculptor, and a wizard of directing subtle energies through vibration. Sometimes I incorporate movement, visuals, and text into my unwavering fascination with sound. I know how to hold space, inviting magic into the present moment. I invite my peers and students to fully be themselves and partner with me in co-collaboration. I tell intriguing tales and lead wild journeys unfolding organically from the present moment, filled with surprise and wonder.

It’s none of my business whether I’m the ‘best’ or even any ‘good’ at my creations because ‘iI ‘ is not creating anything, it’s simply being given. Therefore I’m free, and only human, and far from being some so-called perfect master. It’s utterly insane that I live & breathe as I do: it makes no sense whatsoever. Yet, here I am, grateful to be alive, meeting all these wonderful beings each day! I’m most proud of all the artistic and personal relationships that I’ve nurtured over my lifetime, each having its unique way of expression. Looking forward, I’m especially excited about an unfolding solo recording project, using 100% analog tape.

I’ll be playing and multitracking many different instruments such as guitars, ukes, cavaquinho, bass, percussion, gongs, chromatic harmonica, tin whistles, recorders, ocarinas, pan flutes, voice, etc. It will feature experimental improvisations and fully composed pieces alike – all informed by plant medicine meditations. When I was 19, I made my first solo album on cassette, entitled Transformative Resonance, recorded in exactly the way described above. This will be the follow-up album 36 years later!

What does success mean to you?
It’s a miracle that I’m able to be true to my nature and share my art in an artistically rich community, enjoying and loving life to the fullest. I fully accept that my life’s work may or may not be recognized by my name. I trust that whatever is true and essential will have an impact in whatever time or place is needed.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.khabu.net
• Youtube: @khabuyoungdog
• Other: vimeo.com/khabu

Image Credits
Jack Sasson, Mark Miller, Roberto Zanardo, Jane Chun, Scott Friedlander, Blair Reber, Mu Reyes, and Warren Sneed