California-based singer/songwriter Ariel invites her listeners on a musical journey filled with beauty, light, and hope, rooted in a passionate commitment to empowering the authentic voice within us all. With an eclectic style that combines soaring piano ballads with raw spoken-word poetry, Ariel weaves themes of love, spiritual awakening, and reverence for nature into her songs. Reminding us of our own innate wisdom and capacity to shine, Ariel is a powerful voice in the movement of personal and global transformation.
On Ariel’s latest CD, Behold, she is “looking beyond the girl-with-guitar mode of traditional coffeehouse folk with the notion to move into territory once gloriously occupied by such icons as Joan Armatrading and Laura Nyro by performing songs of depth and passion married to nuanced musical arrangements.” — Wallace Baine, Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Not only is Ariel a dynamic performer but she is a true songstress, possessing a unique gift at blending fresh poetic imagery with evocative melody. It is no wonder that she continues to win fans from around the globe in over seven years as an independent artist. Mega companies such as Starbucks and Kodak have also caught on to the power of Ariel’s message. Music from Behold can be heard in over 4,000 Starbucks stores as well as in the popular Kodak program PhotoShow.
At around the age of eight, Ariel started writing poetry and playing piano. At ten, she began singing on stage alongside her mom, then-A&M Children’s recording artist Linda Arnold. After nine albums recorded with her mom and concerts around the country, Ariel decided it was time to do something on her own. At the age of fourteen, she met two other young songbirds, Jemila Alldis and Natalie Bridgeman, and together they created the award-winning a cappella trio Mayim. You can explore the Mayim page on this website to read more and hear their music.
During her early years with Mayim, on stage, and in the studio producing two CDs, Ariel’s love for writing poetry continued. At the piano her poems began to find their way into song. Soon after, Ariel met guitarist Michael Kraus. Influenced at an early age by the great Michael Hedges, Kraus was a dynamic compliment to Ariel’s vocal talents. Their authentic work together is evident on Ariel’s first solo CD, My Art is a Bird, showcasing the rich song writing that took place during that period. “It’s a remarkable collection, a set of songs loaded with uncommon music.... The kind of introspective and dreamy epics that could hardly be pulled apart and disconnected from each other — a loose song cycle from a highly talented young woman with the world at her feet.” — Rob Pratt, Santa Cruz Metro.
When Ariel is not touring, songwriting, or recording, she spends her time leading vocal workshops and singing circles, and teaching privately from her studio in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “I believe in a world where people feel free to express their voices. There is nothing more transformative than getting a room full of people to sing together. Music has the awesome ability to cut through the illusion that we are separate and to help us return once again to the heart of ourselves, each other, and life.”
Ariel is currently in production on her third solo CD, to be released in 2007.
