
Welcome! I am Asha, also known as Asha Elijah and Asher Quinn. You will find 27 albums here, from my very latest collection of songs on Grail Songs in 2018, going right back to my debut album Open Secret in 1987, which was predominantly instrumental. You can also listen to samples, read descriptions, buy CD's and downloads, watch YouTubes, see galleries and find out about concerts and forthcoming events in these pages! My songs, instrumental pieces and piano vignettes are spiritually themed, intimate and heart-centered in intent. I sometimes also re-interpret traditional songs and great love ballads by other troubadours of our times, like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, and combine this musical output with a private practice as a transpersonal psychotherapist.
Please scroll down for the latest news about forthcoming albums, projects and so on.
My poems also have a page here, and some have been set to music on YouTube.
"Your music takes me on a glorious journey, Asha. Thank you!"
~ Jenny Hanna Plummer, Melbourne, Australia
"Every song of yours I hear gives me a soul lift š Please keep singing to us always šāļøāļøāļø"
~ Sanson Ani Elle, Subotica, Serbia
"You are one of my musical heroes because youāre not afraid to sing from the heart and spirit!"
~ Dano Pierce, USA
Latest news
30/10/18 ~ New album out now āGrail Songsā
My new album Grail Songs is now available here as aĀ CD and a download. There are 12 original new tracks, with the total running time a super 77 minutes⦠almost 2 albumās worth!
Guesting, are 2 Hungarians: female backing vocalist Yloush (SzĆ©kely Ilus), and GĆ©za Kremnitzky of the folk-duo Hungarikum Együttes, who provides extra guitar and mandolin. Iām now based predominantly in Budapest, and the whole album was inspired by, composed, recorded and pressed in Hungary! The artwork for the beautiful CD digi-pack was also graphically designed by 2 Hungarians, Szabolcs DĆ”vid, and Christian artist AndrĆ”s Simon.
The songs are spiritually-themed expressions of love, loss, sacrifice, magic and mystery on the path of higher truth.
1. Dance with me (5.13)
2. I need to be loved (9.06)
3. The giver (5.38)
4. Budapest (6.33)
5. I canāt take you out of my heart (5.49)
6. All my mistakes (6.55)
7. Iām so sorry (5.33)
8. White and gold (7.52)
9. Wedding day (5.42)
10. The letter (4.25)
11. Carry me home (9.02)
12. Song of peace (5.48)
Total running time: 77.38
30/10/18 ~ Latest YouTubes
~Ā Take this love
~Ā All my mistakes
~Ā Avila concert highlights
~Ā White and gold
~Ā Stay close
~Ā Carry me home
~Ā Budapest
~Ā The giver
~Ā Iām so sorry
~Ā Song of peace/Pachelbelās Canon
~Ā I need to be loved
~Ā Hallelujah
~Ā Sailing on the silk blue sea
~Ā Dance with me
~Ā Until we meet again
~Ā Magic
30/10/18 ~ Filming and recording with Hungarian actress and singer Katinka Egres
Katinka and I have begun to evolve a mini-CD project that was her inspiration⦠to record some duets around the theme of the word āHallelujahā in the title! I have a new song called āHallelujah prayerā; there is Leonard Cohenās iconic āHallelujahā, and there is the Pachelbel Canon which Iāve set to a Hallelujah chorus in the past.
Thatās for starters! We have already made a YouTube for the song āDance with meā from my album Grail Songs, which is almost like a Renaissance ballad of courtly love where Truth sings to Love! Katinka has made several films, including appearing with Brad Pitt in a zombie film, and recently with Kiera Knightly. Her best known film in Hungary is where she plays the feisty gypsy girl Bƶske in Megy a GƵzƶs (The Train Keeps a-Rollinā). The word āHallelujahā means God is present.
30/10/18 ~ Book of lyrics in English & Hungarian, with CDās, photos, biography and artwork!
If I can get the funding I would dearly love to present a book of my lyrics (in both English and Hungarian, because those are the places I commute between), that contains a CD of selected tracks, and also a CD of the spoken word in Hungarian, set to gentle background music.
This would be a large hard-back book, and would also have photos, graphic art-work and biographical details. Maybe itās a kind of lifeās-work project! Volume one, at least! Iāve been producing songs for 31 years now, and have over 300! Many songs have already been translated by Yloush, but if sheās unable to complete it with me, I have other possible translators. So a lot has already been done, but I would need more funding to complete it!
30/10/18 ~ Five other albums currently in the making!!!!!
My various projects tend to be rivers that can change their course, but they all still lead to the sea! I had almost finished an album of duets with my friend, colleague and female backing vocalist Yloush (Székely Ilus), called God Gave us Flowers⦠where we sang some cracking cover versions⦠buy Yloush needed to shift the focus more to her own things, and so it will no longer be an Asha & Yloush album, but a solo album with her singing backing vocals on some tracks.
We were also embarked on making an album of songs in Hungarian (her native tongue, and Hungary is now where Iām predominantly based), called Songs of Truth & Grace, but Iām not quite sure what will happen there now. Maybe we can resurrect it a bit later, or maybe other Hungarian singers can contribute. We have five songs already recorded. My plan was to do the musical arrangements and play the music, but to support the Hungarian singing rather than take the lead as itās not my native tongue. Some of the songs are traditional Hungarian folk songs, and some are my own songs translated into Hungarian.
And as itās turning out, Iām collecting piano versions of some of my latest songs, and also instrumental versions⦠plus new piano and instrumental compositions⦠so I hope to have both a new solo piano album, and a new solo instrumental album released in 2019. These both are very exciting projects for me. Itās so tempting to write lyrics for everything I compose, but sometimes the music alone is enough, and I have to practice restraint. I donāt have titles yet for these two projects.
And finally Iām already five songs into a new solo studio album called āSiriusā, which will probably be finished by next spring!
15/01/18 ~ Poems and translations
There is now a page on my site with some poems I have written, several of which have been set to music and imagery on YouTube. And my musical friend and neighbour Yloush also translates some of my songs into Hungarian (as I live there!) Several of these translated songs also appear on YouTube, but itās a long project⦠I have over 300 songs and rising. This may be completed by 2060, by which time I will be over 100! I take my cue from the pianist Arthur Rubinstein who, reputedly, on being given a new 15-year contract to record by Sony when he was 90, complained that it was not long enough.
Eventually, I would like to publish a book (or books) with my lyrics, and volumes of poetry... both in English and Hungarian⦠when I can afford it!
15/01/18 ~ Kindness button!!!
You may notice that I have a āKindness buttonā here (top right on the home page, with a āKā in a heart as an icon). Any contributions you may ever feel inspired to offer, help enormously to manifest the songs and films you see here. The big costs I have are for the studio time, and the pressing of the discs, and the smaller costs are for travel, accommodation, artwork, website updates and maintenance, and insurances. From start to finish a new album might cost about Ā£5000 to get it from my heart to the market-place, but my main motives are to create music for love, art, truth and spirit, not to get rich! I have a basic infra-structure so my CDās and downloads sell (here on my site, and through distribution, and sites like i-tunes, amazon, spotify and so on), but it only just about covers the costs or⦠more often... falls a little short. This is the way of the artist! I am an amateur in the truest sense⦠from the words āama teā⦠to do something for higher love, but my products are very professionally produced.
To provide for my family I earn income from being a transpersonal psychotherapist. The music has to pay for itself! And yet somehow Iāve managed to create over 30 albums in 30 years, and to make over 333 films (lots of ā3āsā!!) Occasionally benefactors help out, and this has been a great blessing. So if you are touched by my songs and feel so inspired, then all contributions to costs are gratefully received! And you will be loved not only by me, but also loved in heaven! You know it makes sense!
"I adore your songs and their teachings. Thank you dear messenger of God, angel Asha Elijah."
~ Iona June, South Africa
Singing Stone Music is now the record label on which I record, and which houses my current catalogue. Click here to read the legend of the singing stone and about the mythology of the heart with wings that I've chosen as the logo