My personal journey through sound

I was born in Vienna in the late 1980s. My Nigerian father was a DJ, and my Austrian mother ran the shop “Soul Fashion” alongside her main profession. Records were everywhere in our multicultural household. When my father moved to the United States in 1993, my mother kept our connection to him and to our roots alive through her love of reggae music.

At my grandmother’s house, folk music played all day long. As a teenager, my cousin took me to techno festivals. Today I attend rock concerts with my stepfather. He was the one who brought classical music into our home. During my years at the business academy, I found true soulmates through R&B and hip hop. In this way, music became a kind of home for me, a tool for belonging.

After finishing school, I studied acting and, alongside that, linguistics, specializing in Afro Cuban rituals and drumming rhythms as a form of communication, probably as a way of exploring my Yoruba roots.

In my twenties, I felt that the traditional theater songs and chansons in my acting studies were no longer enough. So I began studying jazz vocals at the conservatory. During that time, I was also active as a pop singer in a band and initially financed my education and first music productions by working as a street caster. In total, I spent 13 years in the industry and eventually worked as a casting director for cinema, film, and television.

However, in this stressful job, my passion for music often fell by the wayside. At some point, I felt that I was no longer fully myself. Leaving seemed impossible, not least because professional success was there.

At the same time, I took private lessons with African and Native American opera singer and spiritual vocal teacher Hannibal Means, a protégé of the legendary Nina Simone. He introduced me to spirituals and gospel music and explained the true meaning behind the lyrics. He regularly had me paint images of my voice to show me the connection between sound, color, and form. Through him, I understood for the first time how much power lies within the voice and what true empowerment really means.

During this period, my sister founded the awareness and lifestyle brand Kids of the Diaspora. For her, I wrote poetry to empower marginalized communities, which was printed on T shirts and products. This brought us international attention in media, museums, and shops, as well as support from well known artists.

In my seventh month of pregnancy, I suddenly became a single mother and, due to the risk of premature birth, spent a great deal of time hospitalized. On the very evening when the doctors declared a red alert, a summer concert took place in the hospital, where physicians played jazz pieces. What happened next was unbelievable. After the concert, my medical values normalized as if by a miracle, and I was allowed to go home the next morning. The doctors called it “the miracle of healing.”

I was not surprised, but deeply moved, because I was certain it was due to the music, and I had already sensed the immense healing power of sound. In the end, my son was born right on time in the 40th week.

The early period of single motherhood was challenging. The successes I was still able to celebrate as a casting director after my maternity leave suddenly meant very little to me. My son suffered from the constant rush, so I let go of this profession for good.

At the same time, my interest in psychosomatics and generational themes grew, especially because my son does not develop neurotypically, which drastically changed my living conditions. I completed trainings in psychosocial counseling, spiritual healing, guided affective imagery, Advanced Energy Psychology with a focus on resolving generational issues, Energy Diagnostics and Treatments, and Mari Mandala. I wanted to understand how emotional blockages manifest in the body or in the external world and, above all, to find ways to communicate with my son and better understand his symptoms.

Yet despite all these insights, the shift still did not happen.

In search of answers, I traveled to Jamaica, where I experienced my first sound bath with an Indigenous spiritual healer. This experience was so profound, intense, and healing that I knew this was it.
I felt as though sound took me to the place of all answers, beyond the mystery of quarks and quantum physics, without fully understanding why this sound bath was so powerful.

The healer advised me to purchase crystal singing bowls to soothe my son. That was the turning point. I decided to pursue a solid professional education at the Sound Medicine Institute Germany.

Finally, everything made sense. Songs would constantly come to mind when people told me about their lives. I perceived music as a kind of invisible magnetism. Today I know why music has such a powerful connective force, and I bring all of these experiences together in my work as a sound healer. I now even teach at the Sound Medicine Institute.

As a retreat leader, I guide you on journeys through your generational themes, through any form of grief, or during phases of reorientation and talent discovery.
I look forward to meeting you. With love,

Cherrie