{"id":6420,"date":"2017-02-18T09:07:57","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T09:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skylight.gr\/administrator_wordpress\/index.php\/2017\/02\/18\/amanda-abizaid-releases-new-project-in-support-of-helpphilippineschoolsorg\/"},"modified":"2017-02-18T09:07:57","modified_gmt":"2017-02-18T09:07:57","slug":"amanda-abizaid-releases-new-project-in-support-of-helpphilippineschoolsorg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/2017\/02\/18\/amanda-abizaid-releases-new-project-in-support-of-helpphilippineschoolsorg\/","title":{"rendered":"Amanda Abizaid Releases New Project in Support of HelpPhilippineSchools.org"},"content":{"rendered":"


Singer\/songwriter Amanda Abizaid is releasing a new EP in support of HelpPhilippineSchools.org, a non-profit organization that helps children get the best education possible through the betterment of existing schools, working \u201cfrom the inside out.\u201d Walking In Twos, featuring the legendary Stephen Stills, is a 7-track EP including two diverse mixes of the titular song, which was inspired by Amanda\u2019s experiences with the Aeta Filipino children. The EP also features other original songs and will release worldwide on all digital platforms March 3, 2017, along with a limited physical release. The project\u2019s goal is to create a self-sufficient revenue stream using proceeds from the song’s downloads and streams to buy school supplies for the Aeta children of the Philippines.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

By making state-of-the art teaching technology available, while at the same time seeing to the need for proper food and clothing, HelpPhilippineSchools.org insures a prosperous, personal and professional future for young minds in the country. Amanda is a professional singer\/songwriter living in Los Angeles, CA and she is the Cultural Ambassador to the organization. Their overall mission is to supply rural government elementary schools throughout the Philippines, beginning on Mindanao, with modern educational equipment, food and clothing. They do this by dedicating profits generated through AEGIS, and from donations by private individuals, businesses and\/or institutional entities.<\/p>\n

Amanda describes her music as \u201cNeo-Soul meets World.\u201d A gifted pianist, guitarist and flautist, Amanda Abizaid was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an American mother and Lebanese father. Upon relocating to Los Angeles in the 1990s, Amanda immediately began working with some of the best musicians on the scene. She gained major notoriety when she lent her voice to \u201cA Place in Time,\u201d the haunting theme song from Paramount’s TV series The 4400, which premiered in 2004. Amanda’s 2010 CD release This Life garnered rave reviews from fans and music press from around the world. Brian Ball of Woman’s Radio touted \u201cThis Life is the perfect half-hour escape from the boundaries of time and space altogether,\u201d and Paul Fleck, former Executive Director of Marketing of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group praised, \u201cThis Life is unquestionably Amanda\u2019s most accomplished work to date.\u201d Tapping into her early musical influences from her childhood, Amanda infuses a sensual and seductive Middle East flair to her music.<\/p>\n

The song \u201cWalking In Twos\u201d was inspired by Amanda Abizaid\u2019s experiences with the Aeta Filipino children in Haduan Village when she was abroad in 2016. \u201cI shook hands with every child and they told me their names,\u201d Amanda recalls. \u201cThis is how the magic of this song began.\u201d The village of Haduan is situated in the Southeastern foothills of the Pinatubo Volcano Range, across the Secovia Lahar River Basin. Visiting the village requires walking a few miles through rugged dirt paths, crossing a wide river, and a tropical wet dirt hike through the mountains. \u201cWhen I arrived at their village,\u201d says Amanda, \u201cI entered their little stone classroom and soon began singing to my acoustic guitar instrumental of ‘Walking In Twos’ walking in between the tables and chairs. They smiled and their eyes lit up. In their indigenous language, they yelled out how much they loved the melody, clapping joyfully and asked what it meant. That’s when I knew I was on to something special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda made a strong impression on the children, and on her way home, a barefoot little girl named Lilibeth walked by her side. \u201cTogether we hiked down the mountain, crossing the unstable wooden roped bridge high over the river to the other side. We walked until we reached the paved road\u2014the main entry of their village to civilization.\u201d The children also made a strong impression on Amanda, and when it came time to record the song she had them sing in their native language on the chorus. \u201cFor the Aeta to agree to perform on my song ‘Walking In Twos’ is a first time event for them, and for the world to hear these children’s voices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda Abizaid wrote and produced the Walking In Twos EP, and sings and plays flute and piano as well. Stephen Stills is a legendary singer\/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. He plays guitar on the title track. \u201cTo have Stephen Stills performance on the project is an amazing honor,\u201d says Amanda, \u201cand together with the support of the Aeta children this project is a wonderful opportunity to share and help them through music.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new Walking In Twos EP features an electronica remix of Amanda\u2019s original title track produced by Lindsay Gillis, a Los Angeles based musician and songwriter who has worked with Ron Fair, Dennis Dreith and Steve Deutsch. The Walking In Twos EP also includes five original songs: \u201cOne Love,\u201d Amanda\u2019s most recent acoustic reggae rock single, featuring bi-lingual lyrics; \u201cPromises Of Love,\u201d a trip hop World beat track featuring Egyptian oud player Ahmed Kamal (creative singer and composer) both co-produced with Raj Ramayya (Cowboy Bebop, Beautiful Losers, Pokemon, Strawberry Hill Music) and Th\u00e9o Nogueira; \u201cSet It Up,\u201d a trip hop track featuring World flute melodies; \u201cLion\u2019s Den,\u201d an acoustic rock track with a touch of electronica; and \u201cRelease Me,\u201d an ambient electronic bi-lingual track co-produced with Mixman Shawn.<\/p>\n

Other featured musicians on this work are bassist Mike Mennell and acoustic guitarist Lindsay Gillis. Mike Mennell is a bassist and singer in Southern California who has been friends with and worked alongside Amanda for the past 16 years. Lindsay Gillis is a Los Angeles based musician\/songwriter, survivor of numerous Southern California gigs and sessions, and collaborates with Amanda on the songwriting project \u201cSomeday Girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other contributions of note include MI (Musicians Institute) students performing drums under Stewart Jean, a drummer and educator based in Los Angeles, California, currently the Program Chair for Drums at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. Also featured are local Buddhist children and the Aeta children from Village of Haduan, Philippines singing in their native language on the chorus, and Mark Stephen Weitz from ’60s legends Strawberry Alarm Clock performing Wurlitzer on the track. Bill Dasheill was the engineer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard work and dedication of Amanda Abizaid shows all over this new track ‘Walking In Twos’! Thank you for asking me to play on this new project. The addition of the Aeta Filipino children’s voices recorded ‘on site’ really brought even more life to an already upbeat and spiritually uplifting song. You are truly a SAINT!\u201d – Mark Stephen Weitz<\/p>\n

Download proceeds will go to www.helpphilippineschools.org<\/p>\n

To purchase Amanda Abizaid’s Walking In Twos EP:
Pre-Order on iTunes: https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/ album\/walking-in-twos\/ id1201027283<\/p>\n

Source: www.AmandaAbizaid.com<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Singer\/songwriter Amanda Abizaid is releasing a new EP in support of HelpPhilippineSchools.org, a non-profit organization…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}