The Story of Zazi Muse and Wisdom Keeper Chabeli Chain
Written by Megan Hudson - 13th October 2022
MEET CHABELI CHAIN
Chabeli is a Wisdom Keeper of her community and of the Earth. We are so honoured to share her message and wisdom with our community! In keeping true to Chabeli’s wisdom, we want to bridge you to her voice as directly as possible. We hope to expand the depth of connection that story-telling creates, connecting more simply and truly to the intentions of the shared words of wisdom.
Chabeli Chain is an artist and indigenous rights activist, weaving the many layers of her creative expression and native roots of the Piaroa or Wötjüjä community, meaning water people in local dialect, from the Venezuelan Amazon into her story.
Currently based in Ibiza, her artistic expressions span modelling, DJing, photography and enterpreneurship. Her creativity now mainly channelled into her musical creation. Currently in preparation, she will soon journey to Latin America, to connect with native communities of the Amazon, bridging their voices to the world. Using her tool of music, she plans to work together with these communities, collecting their sounds and songs to create a collaborative album - platforming indigenous language, lands, animals and sounds.
Weaving femininity, creativity and healing through-out her creative process, Chabeli holds the incredible ability to bridge the worlds she inhabits and shine light on the collective consciousness. Music being her channel to uplift the voice of the native communities of the Amazon and of mother earth.
Having connected with muse Chabeli Chain for our AW 22' campaign shoot for Zazi’s Himalayan wool Knitwear collection, we were so excited to sit down with her and hear more about her story!
CYCLES OF DEATH AND REBIRTH
In coming to her craft as an artist, Chabeli explains she went through many cycles of death and rebirth, shedding skins in connecting to her true self. In this rebirth she found her centre, bringing music forward as the thread to connect all the dots of her journey, story and being. She shared with us ‘The superpower I am activating or artistic expressions that I am working on, are all about bringing nature into musical and human form as an Amazon representative.”
Music being a tool “to bridge the Amazon and individuals who otherwise cannot relate to the Amazon.”, Chabeli expresses that mastering her voice allows her to uplift the message of the elders and of mother earth, as rooted in the wisdom of the healing ceremonial powers of nature safeguarded by her community.
'MUSIC AND NATURE SHARE THE SAME PRINCIPLE..'
"In my experience, nature is always whispering. It could be a poem, or the water overcoming the rock, becoming a song. Music and nature share this gift, to bring us back to the present moment(...)
She draws music back to the essence, connecting with the earth body and its heartbeat. 'Nature is simple', Chabeli says, sharing her practices of tuning in by listening to the birds, the trees and the waters - reflecting the beauty of this simplicity in her creativity.
Music being her channel of expression, ‘it becomes a sort of ceremony’, in connecting to the cyclical wisdom of her roots to bridge with the voice of the collective. ”Letting yourself be taken by music and travelling to the most beautiful places of the universe. When trusting in the intuition, we realise that nature and music comes from the same principles.” Nature is a medicine, channelled through sound and dance as a tool of communication, allowing us to connect to joy and healing.
'EVERYTHING CAN BE TRANSCENDED...'
'Everything can be transcended', and music is a tool of transcendence, Chabeli says. Allowing barriers to be broken down as it ‘..speaks to us all. It doesn't matter who you are, if you are young or old, where you are from, music can speak with everyone and everyone is able to connect through music.'
Music holds the power to transcend illusions of separation based in duality, to bring unity and oneness. She highlights this in many parts of the world, expressing her joy that people from all over the earth are raising their voices, coming to culture and being celebrated in showing their perspectives on life and embodied ways of being.
Music holds the power of transcendence, to allow love without boundaries “ to live in the position of intuitive aliveness that transcends fear to move purely as a loving response to all that is arising”. Bridging the music and medicine of the native people of the Amazon back to the West, Chabeli hopes to bring transcendence of illusions of ‘us’ and ‘them’, of separation of mind and body, and of people and land.
CHABELI'S MESSAGE AS A WISDOM KEEPER
“In these changing moments I invite you to live in a responsible position, to trust in your higher self to be aware of the energies you are projecting out. To pay attention to nature whispering and to not be afraid of their radiance because love is in doubt. (...)
My message as an artist and an Amazonian representative to the world is to heal with nature, as healing is not an option anymore in these times. So let's take action, by making choices to move into the path where values and inclusion lead to changes as we continue to serve as humanity's connection to defending the well being of mother earth, the rainforest and ecosystem.“
FUTURE PROJECTS
Chabeli plans to further deepen her craft of music and bridge the medicine and music of the communities of the Amazon Rainforest to the West. She is producing her first album and plans to connect with the Cofanes community in Colombia, as well as reconnecting with her own roots in Venezuela. Gathering the songs and sounds of these communities, it will form a collaboration in bringing these into play with her own unique sounds.
Before her trip, Chabeli will also be attending the upcoming COP 27 in Egypt in her role as Indigeneous rights advisor for GASP and is looking forward to expanding her experience of collaborating in person and on the ground!
We cannot wait to see the many beautiful gifts and wisdom Chabeli will continue to share along her journey.
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