Take time to listen to the messages that our dear Sister Yolanda Martinez shares with the world as she uses voice and drum to send healing out to the Great Mother and all the Universe.
This year she has been nominated and is up for her film and DVD Desert Woman. Please take a moment to sign up for free and vote at the Native American Music Award site....
Share the sounds and information that Yolanda shares with us all, and help heal the Great mother Earth and the people that occupy her. Yolanda is a Healer, Sacred Drum Maker and a Voice that is meant to be heard... Please check out her website and see when she will be visiting your area, or book a drum workshop with her and allow her to teach you how to create and birth the Drum!
This is a must for all who are searching for that connection with the Spiritual Within! Yolanda Martinez is one of the most amazing Healers I have met. Her energy is so in tune with the Universe around us.
Her new CD Awakening...allows you to share in that energy . Take a journey with her as she guides you to resonate with the heartbeat of the Great Mother Earth and beyond. Hear it...Feel it...Breathe it...Experience thatvibrational Energy and let it resonate with your heart as well!
Yolanda's new Drumming CD with wonderful songs that she has
composed and written and a great live drumming that she did at her home
in Las Cruces, NM. Another Award Winning CD. Check her out on her website at http://yolandasdrums.com Click the link to hear the Episode of A Walk with a bear and Yolanda Martinez (October 2012) on the Wolf and the bear Network.
Artisan
answers to her Spirit’s calling By Zak HansenLas Cruces Bulletin Some people know what they want to be
from a very young age. Others never seem to find their place
in the world, waiting and wandering their whole lives, while still others find a
calling only after years of searching. For Yolanda Martinez, drummaker and
musician, it struck like a bolt out of the blue. “The gift of the drum came in 1987. It
was a calling I simply could not ignore,” she said. To hear Martinez – who sings, chants,
plays a variety of instruments, makes drums and even paints – describe her
beginnings as a drummaker, what’s clear is that she is driven by a passion that
many only hope to find in their lifetimes. Martinez, who is one of three artists
to be honored during February’s For the Love of Art Month show at the Las Cruces
Convention Center Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15-16, will be giving two
performances that weekend, at 4 p.m. Feb. 15, and 3:45 p.m. Feb. 16. Martinez was born in Carlsbad and
traveled all over the world before coming to Las Cruces in 1999. She has spent
her life following her callings, whatever they present themselves to
be. In 1986, though, after several years
in the title and escrow business, Martinez said she received a message from
Spirit to make drums, and, the following year, she made her first. “I didn’t realize the drum was going
to be such a huge part of my journey and a huge part of what I was to become,”
she said. Martinez’s journey has taken her not
only all over the country, but also all over the world, holding drummaking
workshops across Europe, including an upcoming jaunt to Norway and Ireland,
among other places. While drumming is Martinez’s calling,
her music is just as important – and well received. “The drum came first,” she said, “and
that’s what led me to take music seriously.” In 1993, Martinez made her first
recording, “ResoundingSpirituality,” and has since released 13 albums of her
own music and chanting, including three albums in 2012 alone, “Awakening,”
“Amazing Grace/Sublime Grazia” and “Songs of Joy,” a collection of
Christmas-themed tracks. Martinez is also the recipient of
four nominations and three NAMMY awards, the prize given to winners in the
Native American music category at the Grammy Awards. She took home top honors in 2004,
receiving the award for Best Female Artist for her album “Native Heartbeat,” and
shared honors with other Native American musicians in two separate wins for
collective works. This journey is extremely important
to Martinez, and through life experiences is where she finds her
inspiration. “We have to live, to experience, to
find our niche,” she said. “We have to look for it, work for it, ask for it and
then it will come. “It’s all I’ve ever asked for since
I was a child, and you have to work for it to prove to Spirit you really want
it, that you’re willing to do what it takes to pursue.” Martinez speaks a lot about Spirit
and how important it’s been to her life journey. Another word you’ll hear her
say often is “passion,” and that’s one thing she has in no short
supply. “When we follow our passion,” she
said, “our creativity keeps flowing because we’re following and doing what we
love. Following my passion is what keeps me going … and going and
going. “But these batteries are still going
strong,” she said with a laugh, conjuring visions of a certain drumming rabbit
that never seems to tire of his performance – not an ill-fitting image at
all.
Las Cruces artisan
Yolanda Martinez plays a homemade drum at her home in the foothills of the Organ
Mountains that she said she loves so much. Las Cruces Bulletin photo by Zak
Hansen
