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Life underwater inspires songwriter

The talented Amber Spitovski has been showing up in all kinds of places on and off Bowen Island with her wonderful music and vibrant personality. I was finally able to catch up with Spitkovski who goes by Amber Mae, and sit down to chat with her.
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Amber Mae Spitovsky on stage with John Stiver and Cameron Hood.

The talented Amber Spitovski has been showing up in all kinds of places on and off Bowen Island with her wonderful music and vibrant personality. I was finally able to catch up with Spitkovski who goes by Amber Mae, and sit down to chat with her. She is a busy lady, dividing her time between creating  and playing her music and diving under water to clean boats, change zincs, and create beautiful underwater videos, which are all part of her day job (her business called Underwaterangel Diving Services and is known by most boaters on and off Bowen Island). I wanted to ask Amber Mae some questions about her music since we had seen her perform at various events on Bowen this past year and we were impressed by her sense of style and powerful voice.  

Can you tell us how you became a musician and your background in music?

Amber Mae : I’ve always been interested in music, from my earliest memories as a kid until now. I was always creating songs and poems and putting the two together. I’ve studied music as an adult and have some training as a music therapist too. Music is in some way a part of every aspect of my life. 

I notice your new CD which you recently produced with Randy Doherty  - called  Buoyancy - has a connection, at least in its title, to your work as a diver. Is there a connection between your music and the sea?

Amber Mae: Yes, there is for sure a connection between the two. It might have something to do with how you have to have a relationship with the water just as you have a relationship with music. When I’m working on a new song, I can’t force it, rather, I just have to wait and listen and work with what rises up inside me. And when you’re diving you also can’t rush to the surface or rush to the bottom, it’s like you have to work with the effects of buoyancy and the effects of a change in perspective, which water definitely creates. Both song writing and diving require patience and an ability to work with the currents and what rises up around us, in the darkness and in the light. 

Can you say what you hope people feel or take away from your music?

Amber Mae:  Yes, I hope my music touches people in a way that opens them and allows them to come into contact with the beauty and the mystery of what it means to be connected to ourselves and other people and this earth. I hope my music has a healing quality too in some way.  And of course, I hope my music inspires people to get up and dance and have a lot of fun!

 

Amber Mae will be playing again on Bowen Island on June 30th at Doc Morgan’s and it’s bound to be an awesome night.  Also, if you are in town, you can catch her at Pat’s Pub on June 22 which is having a fund raiser for the downtown eastside.  As the fundraiser poster says, music heals. Indeed it does. And with Amber Mae, also known as Underwater Angel, her music taps into the depths of all  the oceans within us.
Don’t miss her!