Home Where Everyone Is Welcome Poems & Songs Inspired by American Immigrants with poems by Deepak Chopra and Kabir Sehgal, and songs by Deepak Chopra, Kabir Sehgal, and Paul Avgerinos is a collection of thirty-four poems and twelve songs inspired by a diverse group of immigrants who have made significant contributions to the United States. This unique collaboration will be available on August 22 as a keepsake hardcover book with a CD of original music. Among the notable names in the collection are Yo-Yo Ma, Martina Navratilova, Celia Cruz, Madeleine Albright, Carlos Santana, and Albert Einstein. The poems exemplify the diversity that makes the United States such an extraordinary place and symbolize the many roads that lead to this nation.
Offering a welcoming feeling intended to inform our cultural conversation and enhance our national dialogue, Home also includes twelve accompanying musical pieces that serve as personal meditations on the essence of home, in which you can reflect upon where you feel most welcome, whether it is a place or state of mind.
As noted in the news release, not only are Deepak Chopra, Kabir Sehgal, and Paul Avgerinos immigrants or the sons of immigrants, they are also artists. They created Home: Where Everyone Is Welcome to inform and elevate the cultural conversation around immigrants. Combining poems and songs, Home reminds us of the contributions of all immigrants and why it is important to make our fellow neighbors, friends, and citizens feel welcome.
Deepak Chopra, MD, FACP, is an immigrant who was born in New Delhi, India, moved to the United States in 1970, and became a citizen in 1984. He is an American author, lecturer and music composer who has contributed to seven albums and written over eight-five books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.
Kabir Sehgal is a first generation American, and his parents are both from India. Among his works are children’s books that he has written with his mother, The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk and A Bucket of Blessings. A multi-Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winning producer, he has collaborated with jazz artists such as Chucho Valdés, Arturo O’Farrill, and Ted Nash. Kabir is also a composer and musician. A US Navy veteran, he works in corporate strategy at First Data Corporation in New York City.
Paul Avgerinos is a first generation American, whose father Costas emigrated from Greece to the US in 1938. Avgerinos is a Grammy winning artist, composer, producer, and engineer with 23 critically acclaimed New Age albums to his credit. He is active in creating scores for a variety of television shows and has also collaborated with Jewel, Run DMC, and Willie Nelson. Avgerinos’ multi-step, intuitive creative process includes archetype and style guide development, meditation, mantra and prayer.
He told The National Herald, “As a first generation Greek-American, I know first-hand how people all over the world see America as a beacon of freedom. My father came to the United States in search of a new life, and he always spoke about his special fondness for his new country. For these reasons, Home is deeply personal for me, and it’s been an honor to work with Deepak Chopra and Kabir Sehgal on this production. We hope that Home feels like a fresh breeze of kindness and love in these turbulent times.”
Chopra stated in the news release, “Many have bravely emigrated before me and will continue to come to America with the dreams of making a new life and a new home. As an immigrant and US citizen, I have experienced my share of social resistance, suspicion, fear, and prejudice that many other immigrants in this country have also faced. And I have also experienced warm receptivity and appreciation of my contributions and efforts. But until the recent sharp shift in this country’s attitude toward immigrants, I have never been so dismayed or disheartened. For the first time in this land of immigrants, the leader of the country is encouraging fellow Americans to fear and reject immigrants. People are regarded as threats just because they look different or come from somewhere else. So, to address this concern, we bring you Home, a timely reminder that the intellectual and cultural vitality of immigration is the heart of America. Immigrants find that sense of belonging, or “home” in America through diversity and connection, not division and fear. Only by working together, living together, and respecting each other can we make America’s future stronger and brighter.”
Russell Simmons, the Chairman of Rush Communications / Founder of Tantris Center for Yogic Science, said of the collection, “A beautiful compilation of poetry manifested into music which resonates and transcends the human spirit – we are all one and are at Home.”
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