Songs of Sexual Healing

David Brahinsky sings ‘Songs of Sex and Love’ at the Princeton Center for Yoga and Health Jan. 25.

By: Susan Van Dongen
   When 10-year-old girls can go to Wal-Mart and buy midriff tops that say "Hottie" on them, you know there’s something strange about sex in America.
   Sexuality is everywhere, but there’s a sense of hollowness about it, like going for a stroll down the cookie and sweets aisle in a mega-market. We have an overabundance of choices — some of which are downright disgusting — but it’s mostly all empty calories.

"Singer,
Singer, educator and alternative counselor David Brahinsky will perform a variety of songs exploring the mysterious, playful relationship between sex and love through the ages.


   "In our culture, there’s so much of the titillating kind of sex, but so little of the satisfying kind," says singer, educator and alternative counselor David Brahinsky. He hopes an evening of spicy, sweet acoustic music will get people thinking about the positive, healthy pleasures of physical expression.
   Mr. Brahinsky will draw from his vast repertoire when he presents "Songs of Sex and Love" at the Princeton Center for Yoga and Health in Skillman Jan. 25. A favorite at PCYH, the Roosevelt resident performs at the center several times a year and especially likes to get listeners to sing along with his deep, soothing baritone.
   Although the official title of the concert might conjure visions of X-rated material, Mr. Brahinsky will take the audience in the other direction with a variety of songs exploring the mysterious, playful relationship between sex and love through the ages. Concert-goers can expect to hear everything from "gothic country-and-western" to ballads by Leonard Cohen and Greg Brown.
   "I’m kind of a song collector," Mr. Brahinsky says. "Last spring, I noticed that quite a few of them had sex as a particular focus. I’ve done many different concerts with songs to heal the heart, songs to develop mindfulness, songs of love — this just seemed like a playful addition.
   "For example, there’s a wonderful song about the ubiquitousness of sex called ‘NaCl’ (sodium chloride) by the McGarrigle Sisters. It talks about how a little atom of chlorine meets an atom of sodium and you have salt. There’s a great line — ‘think of the love you eat when you salt your meat.’ I also came across a song called ‘The Game of Cards’ done by the Silly Sisters — folk singers June Tabor and Maddy Prior. It’s full of euphemisms for having sex and has the woman playing the aggressor. There are many pieces of music like this, some of which are very old."
   Mr. Brahinsky, 58, "harvests" his songs by listening to unusual programming on college and public radio, taking a chance with an obscure recording or borrowing from friends’ CD collections. He remarks that the blues are also filled with lusty material — not just songs of sorrow. He’ll be playing "Catfish" by Chris Smither and "Candy Man" by Mississippi John Hurt to represent that genre.
   Because the PCYH promotes a number of alternative roads to wellness, Mr. Brahinsky’s approach to music folds in beautifully with his views on healing. Of course, the breathing associated with vocalizing is therapeutic, but Mr. Brahinsky believes the benefits of singing go way beyond that.
   "My specialty is to teach people who think they can’t sing," says Mr. Brahinsky, who practices an alternative form of counseling based on the discoveries and theories of psychologist Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957).
   He remarks that a lot of people think they can’t sing because their ear wasn’t developed when they were young. Then somebody teased them or told them they "couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket" and they simply stopped trying.
   "What I’ve discovered is that every single person who lived through a situation like that and has come to me for lessons, has learned how to sing on key," Mr. Brahinsky says. "It just seems to be a matter of training. Sometimes it has to do with a person’s self-confidence or a sense of blockage. Once they learn to sing they really feel better about themselves. It really helps their self-esteem. I’ll be doing bio-energetic counseling with them and also working to help them sing, so it’s all mixed together."
   Born in Greensboro, N.C., and raised in Brooklyn by music-loving parents, Mr. Brahinsky was a rock ‘n’ roll fan very early on but got interested in folk music after hearing Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. As a scholar, he leaned more toward philosophy, psychology and metaphysics in his formal studies, earning a doctorate in the latter from the State University of New York at Binghamton.
   He had never performed professionally until a parents’ amateur show at Princeton Day School, where his daughter attended middle school. An agent from Young Audiences of America was in the audience, liked his work and signed him as a solo act. A few years later, Mr. Brahinsky joined the Shoestring Players of Rutgers University. He also performs with Storytelling Arts of Princeton.
   Acoustic music lovers might have seen Mr. Brahinsky playing at the Twin Rivers Community Center and the Grace Rogers Norton School in Hightstown, as well as Princeton’s Communiversity and his annual gig with the Roosevelt String Band.
   In addition to the counseling and the music performance and teaching, Mr. Brahinsky is an assistant professor of philosophy and comparative religions at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pa. Perhaps he ponders America’s conflicting attitudes about amor during his commute. He thinks mindfulness and music might help to heal dysfunction just a little.
   "For this concert, I hope folks will have a good time and come away thinking positively about sex and love," he says. "They’re two wonderful things in life and we should have positive feelings about them."
David Brahinsky performs Songs of Sex and Love at the Princeton Center for Yoga and Health, Montgomery Professional Center, 50 Vreeland Drive, Suite 506, Skillman, Jan. 25, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15; $12 for members. For information, call (609) 924-7294. On the Web: princetonyoga.com