Fluyendo

Album: Silent Voices (2020)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Fluyendo," the Spanish word for "flowing," was inspired by Ayla Schafer's conversation with the flowing waters of an Italian river. "A beautiful river valley, turquoise water with many rocks, this splashing, dancing water," the English singer-songwriter recalled in a 2022 Songfacts Podcast episode.

    Once Schafer recognized the water as a living entity that had something to teach her, she yearned to take on its qualities of purity and transparency. She elaborated: "So I went into this conversation, like, teach me, and this longing in my own being to be more like water - to be pure and transparent and clear, learn to let go, learn to just trust in the direction and the flow.

    And I don't just mean this casual, go-with-the-flow kind of thing. Like yeah, go-with-the-flow is good, but what is that? That actually is something very profound - to go with the flow. We use it so lightly as a phrase. It's easy to go with the flow when everything's just nice. But when it's like, ouch, and things are really, really challenging, like, can I let go and just surrender? Water is an amazing teacher of trust for me - of trust, surrender and letting go."
  • Schafer's travels to South America in her early 20s opened up a whole new world of music to her as she witnessed the ceremonies of many native tribes who used the voice and other sounds as sources of power and healing.

    "I think in all native traditions, we can find almost like these threads that they're all woven together in an essence," she said. "There's an essence to them where they're connected and with music, with songs, sound, rhythm - I so far have not come across a native culture that doesn't have sound in some form at the center of its culture and at the center of its traditions and its rituals."
  • This first appeared on Schafer's third album, Silent Voices. In 2022, a remix by fellow New Ager Steffen Ki was released as a single. Schafer told Songfacts she was initially hesitant to give Ki permission to revamp her song because it was so precious to her and she was worried it would be ruined. As it turned out, she liked Ki's version even better than the original.

    "He took about a year because he said he just went so deep into the song. He put so much love into it," she said. "It's one of the remixes that I've been the most touched by because I really felt his dedication to the song. It comes back to the same thing, like to the song itself, like this kind of entity, this being, this force, and how delicate it is to start interfering. When something's complete, what do you add? What do you do? How do you shape this so that it can actually be a kind of expansion, like lifting the wings up to the sky? I almost like it more than the original. It just opens up with the beats and the rhythms."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World

Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat WorldSongwriter Interviews

Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.

Weezer

WeezerFact or Fiction

Did Rivers Cuomo grow up on a commune? Why did they name their albums after colors? See how well you know your Weezer in this Fact or Fiction.

Wedding Bell Blues

Wedding Bell BluesSong Writing

When a song describes a wedding, it's rarely something to celebrate - with one big exception.

Eric Burdon

Eric BurdonSongwriter Interviews

The renown rock singer talks about "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors Examined

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors ExaminedSong Writing

Doors expert Jim Cherry, author of The Doors Examined, talks about some of their defining songs and exposes some Jim Morrison myths.