New-age masters Peter Kater and Nawang Khechog

By April Philips
Correspodent

Peter Kater, one of the founders of the New Age musical movement, believes in listening to his soul. Many of his musical decisions have been based on faith, or a gut feeling he never questions. One of those intuitions led him to record with Nawang Khechog, a flutist and former Buddhist monk. Khechog studied under no less an eminence than the Dalai Lama before leaving the Himalayas to travel and perform using instruments from around the world. When the two musicians come to The American Theatre in Hampton on Friday, it will be only their third live performance together.

Peter Kater

When you helped start the New Age movement, were you consciously trying to start a new musical genre?

Absolutely not. I’m classically trained and I grew up listening to pop and rock and Top 40 music, but I was a pianist and not really a singer. I just started improvising, and this style is what came out.

What were the early days of your career like?

I left home very young. My mother passed away unexpectedly, and my stepfather wasn’t anyone I wanted to spend time with. I didn’t have a piano then because I was hitchhiking all over the country, and I would play in public places like restaurants or hotel lobbies – wherever I could find a piano – and people would stop and listen and they really enjoyed it. … I had nothing, and like they say, freedom is having nothing to lose.

Describe the healing powers of music, and the music that heals you.

The music that I play heals me because I’m playing what I need to hear and it balances me. I think because my music has no lyrics, it bypasses the thought process and goes straight to the emotional core. It vibrates, just as if Nawang (Khechog) plays a note on his flute and I have the sustain pedal down on my piano – it’s going to ring in the piano.

How did you become drawn to Native American and Tibetan music?

I recognized something in it, and I loved it. I heard Nawang, and he’s so genuine and free. I thought, “Wow. That’s really beautiful.” It’s funny when I’m playing with Nawang, because he has this little, tiny, hollow instrument to express his soul through, and I have this 800-pound piano.

How did you meet Nawang Khechog?

We were both supposed to play a benefit concert in Denver. That was about 16 or 17 years ago. At the last minute, the concert got canceled, so Nawang and I just hung out, and we really hit it off.

Nawang Khechog

What has it been like working with Peter?

Peter suggested that we should do an album together. So we met at his studio, and Peter knew what key my flute was, but that was it. By the end of this performance, I felt very inspired. I said, “Peter, don’t you think something just happened here?” And he said, “Nawang, I recorded it.” I was overjoyed, and that became the 'Dance of Innocence’ album.

We’ve been through ups and downs. I almost died twice. I was in a car accident and had a heart attack, but I didn’t die, and I think we’re meant to be playing together

How does a former hermit and monk become an international performer?

Karma is a funny, strange thing. I never had any ambition to be a musician or to tour or anything. I always played the flute. It was close to my heart, even as a young boy. I always played what I heard and what I felt inside. But then I felt I could no longer be a monk, and I immigrated to Australia, and that’s where it started. I played, and I found out that audiences were enjoying it. There were tears in their eyes when they came to say hello and give me a hug after, and I thought, this is what music does.

You’ve spent so much time alone in meditation and as a hermit in Tibet. Do you get nervous performing in front of large crowds?

Surprisingly, I do not get nervous. One of my first big shows was in 1986 when I played the International Year of Peace concert in Australia. There was supposed to be a band to back me up, but they didn’t. They just didn’t play. It was me, by myself, and I made it all up, and after it was over, the audience went nuts. So it was a good experience, and there’s no need to get nervous.

How did you learn to play so many different instruments from so many other countries?

I meet so many beautiful people when I travel, and I see so many beautiful instruments. And especially if it’s a wind instrument, I try to hear what it wants to say to me. Each instrument starts a different conversation. I enjoy that, and they become my friends, too. It’s like meeting beautiful people – you just want to converse with them. It’s the same thing with the instrument. I say they channel me.

You now live in the mountains of Colorado. How do they compare with the mountains of Tibet, and are they a part of your music?

To me, they’re just as beautiful as the Himalayas, but there’s a certain serenity of mind and heart that you get from mountains wherever they are. That serenity is part of what I try to do with music. I ask the blessing of the universe so I can come up with good music that benefits other people.

April Phillips, apes1@cox.net