KH: I have just heard your song right before I got on; it is absolutely beautiful.
You have a most amazing voice. Tell me about the song you are doing for
the benefit concert coming up.
KW: It is a song with music written by Peter Boyer, who is a young and extremely
talented composer. He has set this wonderful poem by Supreme Master Ching
Hai to music that I just can't imagine how it could be captured better.
He has done a wonderful job at capturing the sort of bittersweet element.
It is a love song, with a very tender longing element to it, and it just
floats and soars over the orchestra so you can really feel the words in
your heart. I like to sing from my heart, and it is easier to do it when
you have words and music like that.
KH: When you first got it, what did you think? How do you go about to preparing?
KW: Well, I always read through the poem a few times first, and sort of just
sleep on it and daydream on it, and sort of see what images it conjures
up for me before I actually look at the music. So, I got the poem a few
weeks before I got the music itself. I got the music, and sort of hummed
through it and then put it to the words and it all came together just like
that. It is really easy to fit it and it also is very "singable."
It is easier when a composer writes music that has a melodic feel to it.
Well, we say, "It fits the voice; it just sings itself." So,
this song really sings itself. I don't think I could take credit for it.
