Posted: May 2, 2007
Reviewed by: Renee Robertson
Band: Pisces Projekt

I found in the mail a plain envelop, nothing special, but who was to know what was inside. It was from the band Pisces Projekt. It was their CD OPERA and songs from two upcoming albums SPELLBOOK and PLANETS. Words, and this doesn't happen often, escaped me the first time I heard these songs. I listened over and over again. I shared them with others because really I wanted to know if other people thought they were as wonderful as I did. I share my life with a wonderful group of people, all from various backgrounds, and each person resonated what I felt about the music. Each song offers something different, a view or a story for the listener to take hold of. The music is unclassifiable. It is something unique and different all unto itself. The range from traditional pagan sounds to those of classical legends can be heard teaming with industrial to rock to jazz to R&B running with new age as well. It is something unlike you have heard before but it is a pleasure to be lost in these sounds. The music has something to offer every listener. It is hard to compare them to anything else out there, either pagan or mainstream. Pisces Projekt is a compilation of sounds feeding the listener a vision or emotions. The lyrics and the music are harmonious and expansive. This duo is couple that offer more then music to their community and seeks to expand their audience. This band is someone we should all know, support and share. When new music enters your heart you are given a gift of finding out more about yourself and what moves you. You will not be sorry if you check them out! It is a consensus...Pisces Projekt is AMAZING!

I had the chance to ask them some questions about themselves, their music and the vision of Pisces Projekt. The interview below is for you to learn more about this musical duo and the music the make.


Interview with Pisces Projekt, for Aural Bard on The Pagan Activist.com

Q: Can you tell me about your spiritual paths and about the work that you do in your community as far as spiritual offerings?

Z: I think that it would be difficult to define what my "spiritual path" is as it cannot be called a path. My spiritual nature would be more to the description. I follow the way of the Universe in its positive aspect. I serve the Goddess, and do what she tells me to. As for my work. It is my intention, and task to help by any means necessary, humanity to evolve, and grow in love, and light. I am doing what I love to do, and I help others to discover what they love, and then do it. So I guess that you could say that I help others to keep their soul promises to themselves. Practically, I help people get off of drugs, alcohol, and toxic relationships. I find homes for the homeless, and jobs for the jobless. I am a "Telepath", and this gift gives me the ability to do many things, and I do them all for the sake of "Faith, Hope and Love" and in the service of the Goddess...

Sinari: I agree. Many people like to ascribe to a specific religion, belief system or path, if you will, as an outlet for their own spirituality. We listen to the God/dess and do what we're told. It's as simple as that. Zakhuur was doing this long before I met him, and gets better and better at it all the time. I'm a student. I'm still learning how to listen, how to hear and how to help.


Q: As I read your web page and bios I noticed there is a great deal of work that both of you do to teach and offer support and education in self discovery. Do you mind talking about that?

Z: Everyone has a gift that is usually rooted in what it is that they love most. The problem is getting a person to sift through all of the programming that others have shoveled on them all of their lives. They are convinced to do what "others" think that they should do, and never what they themselves truly want to do with their lives.

So the first thing that you have to do is get them to get everyone else's thoughts out of their heads and help them find their gift, and show them how to start. The trick is being the example, consistently showing them that the impossible happens daily, so nothing is unattainable, and they therefore have nothing to fear. If you have a gift, and we have already established that everyone does, you owe it to yourself, and ONLY yourself to master it.

Those that I teach can attest that we give you the forum, and help you to discipline yourself to do so.

One of the things that I teach, that my teacher taught me, that I have found to be true is: Discipline is Freedom. The more disciplined you are at what you do, the more free you are to do it, and be the best at it. It is in this that true fulfillment occurs. Sorry I have indeed been known to rant...

Sinari: I am in the process of learning how to develop myself so that I may, one day, teach others as well. I'm not there yet. As I said before, I'm still a student, I'm still learning. He's been at this a lot longer than I've been around. The majority of what I do is to support him in his work to help others and do my best to learn as much as I can along the way!


Q: How do you think your work in your community and with spiritual seekers impacts the music you create?

Z: In every way. The music that we do is meant to inspire, and to liberate. For those that feel as if their backs are against the wall, we will let them know that we will be their voice. For those that need a love song, we will sing our love for each other to them. We will teach, and rock them to sleep, and make them know that they are safe in the arms of God, and Goddess, and that nothing will harm them. If you need motivation we will compel you to move, and energize you. Pisces Project is Strength, and Beauty Spirituality, and Magic and it is all that we teach....


Q: In listening to the music you create I hear eclectic sounds, varied influences and great emotion pouring fourth. What musical influences do you feel have helped you create your sound? What or who do you feel influences your process in creating music?

Z: Mozart, Vaugner, John Denver, Marvin Gaye, Freddie Mercury, Mario Lanza, Enya, Homelessness, hunger, fear, Joy, Love, Pain, Need, Hope, Faith, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Sinari's voice, Women, and the need to serve the Goddess... My list is long and real. I met Freddie Mercury when I was in college, and it was he that told me that I had real talent, and to keep singing no matter what.....


Q: The music on Opera, Spellbook and Planets is deep, mystical and truly a wall of sound created by just the two of you, what roles to each of you play in creating this sound? What talents do you feel each of you bring to the project?

Sinari: I sing. That's what I do, and that's all I do. As far as the creative aspect of Pisces Projekt is concerned, it is entirely him. He writes and plays the music, writes the lyrics, records and balances all the tracks, sings and engineers it all himself. No help, all him. People always want to give me credit for the creative aspect of our music. And they insist! It's really funny, it happens all the time. People will ask if I wrote the lyrics, or if I came up with the music (even though all the CDs and even our bio say that he does all the work). Nope. I just sing. And I love it!

It's fascinating to see the process when a piece comes to him. Many times, he goes from concept to completion of a song in a single day. I'll hear him playing with different sounds on the keyboard and then all of a sudden it's a composition. Then the music tracks are laid down and recorded. The next minute he's intently scribbling down lyrics. Then I'll hear him recording his own parts. Then he'll sing MY parts so I hear what it's supposed to sound like, and he'll record me singing. After the recording is done he goes to work balancing and perfecting and then, voila! a finished piece. It's very cool to watch him work, to see it all come together like that. And knowing all the work he puts into his music, it bugs me that people always want to assign credit to me for it.

Z: That being said. Hers is the voice that I have heard accompanying mine all my life, and every song has been written with her in mind. So without her voice, there would not be a Pisces Projekt would there? Remember...Men do sing, but Women are the song.....


Q: I shared your CD's with a couple of people I work with and a few friends that are on a similar spiritual path that I walk. This group of people all found something amazing about your music. What do you feel your main musical audience is? With your music who would you like to reach or feel you are reaching?

Z: We would like to reach everyone, but our main audience are those people that are Mystically, and spiritually minded. We are practitioners of positive magic, and are not afraid to reflect that in our music.

Sinari: I believe, because of the nature of our music, that we have the ability to appeal to a wider audience than, say, music that falls into a particular niche. I mean, as you can see, the tracks from Spellbook have a very different feel than the songs on OPERA, but they all stay true to our message. Given the fact that the music of Pisces Projekt is so varied, it's difficult to say who our main audience is. But I agree with Zakhuur, it would mainly be people who are mystically and spiritually minded that our music would appeal to overall. But perhaps someone who never considered themselves to be particularly spiritual, for example, may be touched by what they heard in our music and begin seeking for themselves...


Q: Seeing as you are a creative duo and a couple how do you find that these two dynamics influencing each other?

Z: Most people think that you have to work on a relationship. This is incorrect. Ours is easy, as all relationships should be. I never had to ask anyone if they thought that Sinari was my "soul mate", I knew. Who we are is who we are, and creativity is included in that. If there is a way that we have influenced each other it would have to be that, she knows that she is safe to do what ever she wishes creatively, and I will support her, and woe be unto anyone that tries to tell her what she cannot do based upon their fear. And her influence on me is knowing that I am in fact deserving of beauty in my life......

Sinari: And that, I believe, make us an ideal vehicle for delivering our message. Our love for each other is evident, we are the perfect compliment to one another, and God and Goddess are both represented in our music.


Q: How, when you met, did you discover your interests in creating music? How did your musical partnership come to be?

Sinari: About 6 years ago I happened to walk by a little place called Unicorn Cove in town (his very first shop) and decided to go in. It was just after my birthday and just before his. We recognized each other instantly. We had met about a year before, briefly, when he was teaching classes at another local metaphysical shop. He asked if I was doing anything with my music and showed me the keyboard he had. We talked for a long time and the very next week we were singing together. We've been together ever since! We both knew we were supposed to be together right from the start (actually, he knew it before I did--he had been waiting for me!). Our voices are the perfect compliment to each other. And it was pretty obvious we belonged together anyway. Even complete strangers would comment that our energy was perfectly matched, could tell we were meant for each other. It's funny, sometimes, how the Universe works...

Z: Yeah....What SHE said....


Q: How do you balance your work, creative and personal lives together because these all seem rooted in a spiritual place?

Z: There's nothing to balance. I am a servant of the Universe, and no matter what I will continue to do so. I love my wife, and I make certain that she knows it. As a teacher I must be the supreme example, and fortunately my teacher was a very powerful woman that made sure that I could be just that. I am consistent, and demonstrative. I am an Earth husband, what this means is that I am literally married to Gaia. Sinari is her representation. She is extraordinary, therefore I am, so our personal lives, ARE our spiritual lives....

Sinari: You said it in your question; it's rooted in a spiritual place and is therefore balanced. It's all part-and-parcel. We live what we do, we do what we live. There's always time for us personally, that's never been an issue. Not a day goes by that Zakhuur doesn't tell me he loves me--and means it. And I, him. Like he said before, relationships should not take work to keep them going. Ours is easy. It's easy because we KNOW we're supposed to be together. I didn't have to ask anyone if they thought he was my "soul mate", it was obvious. We never had to "take a break from each other" or any of that silliness because there is no reason to. Our work, our lives, even our wishes and desires, our dreams, they all coincide. That's why we're effective. That's how it's supposed to be.


Q: How do you find you influence each other musically?

Z: We are Strength and Beauty personified...

Sinari: I'm doing things I never thought I would be doing. He encourages me to stretch myself, to sing in ways I may not be used to, to try new things. I grew up singing in choirs, singing in church and all that. It was pretty limiting. I never branched out from that classical sound. But he'll hear in his head how my voice should sound for a particular song and gets me to go in that direction. Having our own studio helps, because we get to play with different effects as well, so we can come up with all kinds of sounds. And, as you can see, it's effective. Singing with Zakhuur has taught me to broaden my musical horizons considerably. You mean you can combine orchestral instruments with drum kits and a didgeridoo? We're going to do some R&B vocals under a musical theatre-type female lead? You want me to improv an aria over a techno track? Yup. And it all comes out really cool.


Q: What are your shared goals for your musical projects?

Z: To make Pisces Projekt a household name in Magic, and Music.

Sinari: Yes!


Q: Are any of you working with any other musical projects outside Pisces Project?

Z: No

Sinari: We sing with each other and with no one else. So, as far as other musical projects are concerned, such as collaborating with other musicians or one of us performing with someone else, no. Not at all. However, Zakhuur records music other than what is released under Pisces Projekt. Remember, we run a school and a record label and part that is using music as a tool for teaching, healing, growth, etc. He has released a Prayer album, for example, and one for meditation and another for Tai Chi. He will sometimes record music for workouts, or belly dance or other classes (and sometimes goofy songs to amuse himself and the rest of us). He also utilizes a technique that he calls Vibrational Frequency where he puts a person's specific vibration to music and records a CD for them to assist in their own personal development. And then there's Life Track, the techno album he's working on (which you will occasionally hear my voice on)...

Music is a big part of his life and what he does. But he wouldn't see it as "working with any other musical projects" because it's really all the same project...


Q: How do you define your individuality since so much of work is related to each other?

Z: Kind of like the Sun, and the Moon, they are but different aspects of the same sky, yet each has its very own attribute. We are individual, but we are the same soul, and don't really need to define what we are...

Sinari: Exactly. I wouldn't say our work is related to each other so much as that our lives are completely enmeshed in the work that we do. As far as defining individuality, we are individuals. There's no question there. The point of the music and the school--indeed, everything we do--is to evolve and to teach others to evolve. It is not to become like everyone else (not even like everyone else we surround ourselves with!). It is learning how to follow you own dreams, which is something specific to each individual. When you have two people who are supposed to be together, often those dreams coincide, or compliment each other, which is the case with us. But as far as individuality is concerned, ask anyone who knows us; we are each undoubtedly our own person!


Q: Have you encountered any other pagan musicians or bands that are innovating or exciting? Is there any one you would like to see profiled at this site?

Z: Unfortunately, there are not many where we are, and if there are we just have not had the honor of meeting them, but hopefully we will inspire them to "come out of the Magic Closet" so to speak. Peace...


Pisces Projekt (Ahura Zakhuur Diliiza and Sinari Diliiza)
Unicorn Cove School of Metaphysics / Unicorn 1 Records
795 Main St., Westbrook, ME 04092
www.unicorn-cove.com
www.unicorn1records.com
www.unicovia.org