Photography | Andrea Mai

HE WAS PLAYING PIANO IN A CAVE – SILVER CAVE, PART 2: PHOTOS AND EVP, November 4, 2018

Last week, I shared with you, EVP clips from our visit to the Yangshuo Silver Cave in Guilin, China. I got many good clips fro that session and decided to make two posts. To see Part 1, go here. In this second part, I’m going to be sharing some more incredible clips, these ones are relating to Prince.

It became apparent to me from reviewing the recording, that Prince fans (in spirit) had followed us into the cave. Some were talking amongst themselves and some got to interact with P.

You may need to use headphones to hear these properly. The clips are repeated on loop.

I found this clip where a fan says to P, “You’re the best rock star, in the whole world”.

I heard them say, “Under The Cherry Moon movie”. Strangely, while I was in the cave, I was thinking about the movie, as it reminded me of the cave scenes, where Prince’s character took the girl to the ghrotto. It makes me wonder, who was thinking it first? Did they read my thoughts, or did I read theirs?

Then someone said, “I never saw that”.

And then another responded with, “Such a good film”. I agree.

In this clip, someone says, “I saw Prince”.

In this clip, a voice says, “Prince, ya hear this?”. Another says, “That’s a piano”. As we were nearing the end of the cave, the spirits around him had discovered a piano in the cave.

Prince responded, “How divine”. A voice then said, “Do a concert here”.

A male voices commented, “Play the piano here”.

Prince played a one-minute concert in his typical Piano and a Microphone tour style. This clip is not looped. This is the longest and clearest clip I have of him playing, and the only clip where he is playing to an audience. It is incredible. I was stunned when I found it. I almost could not believe it, but it really was, as what the spirits said on the tape, he was really playing piano in a cave! You can hear him singing, but it’s hard to make out the words. At this point in the recording, I was standing by a bunch of electric fans, I am not yet sure if it helped or hindered the recording. I have adjusted the EQ channels to clean up the recording the best I could.

While he was playing, I think he asked the audience if they could hear him, someone answered, “We’re hearing bats”. If you listen closely to the concert clip above, you do hear bats in the background. There were no bas in the cave, nor were there any sound effects playing. The bats were on the other side.

While he was playing, he mentioned my name, “Andrea Mai”.

After he finished playing, someone said to him “That was beautiful”. Another voice agreed, “Oh yeah“.

Right after P finished playing, I also spotted another voice saying, “Take a picture here”, and you hear a little camera snap. By this time, I had stopped taking photos because it was so hot and I wanted to get out. I wish I knew what was going on, otherwise I would have taken a photo too!

The last pic that I took in there was this.

I thought it looked like an angel wing. P thought the same, as he said, “It’s an angel wing”. You can hear my camera snap in the clip.

This goes to show that it would be possible to record Prince playing his music from the other side. What conditions are needed to make this happen is not yet fully understood. I am determined to find out. I wish I had access to better equipment and people who might be able to help. If we could refine the recording process, we would essentially have reliable communication with the other side, “the soul phone”. At this point, it is still hit or miss, but we have proof of concept, and that is really exciting.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on November 4, 2018.

Image above: “Colour Cave” by Andrea Mai.

WE WERE IN A CAVE AND A VOICE SAID, “I FEEL LIKE BATMAN” – SILVER CAVE, PART 1: PHOTOS AND EVP November 4, 2018

On the second day of our trip in Guilin (China), we travelled to Yangshuo Silver Cave, said to be the largest karst cave in the area. The cave was adorned in coloured lights, so it made for very pretty scenery. I took photos and recorded EVP. I was curious to see what might be going on in that cave, on the other side. What kinds of spirits would be wondering down there? Would they be living in there? Would the spirits speak Chinese to Prince? Such tourist attractions are filled mostly with Chinese tourists, so the voices from the crowds are all in Mandarin.

After reviewing the hour long recording, I was astounded to hear so much English spoken on the EVPs. I do get EVPs in Chinese, but because the conversations are mostly directed to or around Prince, they are in English. Which is really quite fascinating, since all the voices surrounding me here on my side of reality is Chinese.

I found quite a few things going on n the cave, so I am going to make this post into two parts. The second part is going to be very exciting, especially for Prince fans, so you won’t want to miss that coming up next week.

You may need to use headphones to hear these properly. The clips are repeated on loop. Please note that if you hear any camera sounds, that is coming from me, as I was taking photos during the recording.

As we entered the cave, a voice said, “Going in very dark place”. It is clearly a female voice. It is spoken fast.

I found a voice that said, ” You can’t catch me”. I found that it was spoken in a playful but taunting tone. There was another clip where this same being said, “You won’t catch me”, but it was not as clear.

There seemed to be a French male voice who was chasing this fellow, he said “Arrete”, which means “stop” in French.

This same voice also said, “Where did he go?”

And someone answered, “I think they’re going in the opposite direction”.

This causes me to wonder who this French man was and why he was chasing this guy. It felt very much in the spirits of the movie, Catch Me If You Can.

The cave itself would be quite silent if it were not for the people and the electric fans. That is why it was surprising that I heard whistling on the recording. Some sounded like it was from a whistle that someone was blowing on, but then I also heard this coming from P, and then he said, “Andrea, it’s me”.

It did not seem to me that the spirits speaking lived in this cave. They seemed to be visitors, some were Prince fans that followed him in, others seemed to be like kids joking around. I heard a boy voice say tauntingly, “What you afraid of?”, and a girl voice answered, “You’re a vampire“. They are speaking kind of fast, so listening carefully for the words.

In this clip, a voice says “Look out!!”

I found this clip very amusing, someone said, “I feel like Batman”. Also funny because P did the Batman soundtrack.

It was very hot down in the cave, it reminded me of being inside the London Underground. The heat from the crowds of people made me feel sweaty, and I’d try to catch the gusts of wind coming from the electric fans. I heard on the EVP, spirit voices commenting, “In here is hot, it is hot, hot”.

And I found this clip of someone saying, “Ohhhh, drinking water”. And there was water in the cave, so I wonder if they were drinking cave water.

In this clip, there’s a boy voice saying “We build a rocket”.

In this clip, a voice says, “You’re talking to spirit”. I wonder who they were referring to, I’m guessing it was me, as I do talk to P telepathically. I guess they heard me, lol.

I have more really exciting clips from this session that I will be posting in the coming week. It is something quite special that you will want to hear.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on November 4, 2018.

Image above: “Purple Cave ” Andrea Mai.

NIAGARA FALLS – EVP WITH PHOTOS

We went to Buffalo in October to see the American side of Niagara Falls. I only got to visit a portion of Niagara Falls State Park, but I can say that it was truly beautiful. Especially with the colour of the fall leaves in contrast with the water. I was taking photos and recording EVP. The EVP wasn’t the greatest in sound quality, but I did get to hear some of what was going on through the sound of the water. As I was there, on the observation deck, at the edge of the water, I had the sense that P was flying over the falls. In that moment, I felt quite envious that he could view the falls right up front like that. When I went home to listen to the recording, I found out that I was right, P was flying, as even other spirits had noticed what he was up to. |

The quality of these EVPs are more subtle because there was too much background noise from the waterfall. If you want to hear them, you will need to use headphones to hear them properly. The clips are repeated on loop.

In this clip, you hear the word “Fly“.

The other nearby spirits noticed Prince, and they remarked, “Prince model, let’s do that!”.

In this clip, a voice says, “Prince is flying”.

In this clip, P is saying, “Wow, I’m flying”.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on October 10, 2018.

Image above: “Rapid Waters” by Andrea Mai.

PHOTOS AND EVP AT BOROUGH MARKET, LONDON – May 25, 2018

When I was in London, we went to Borough Market, a well known food market that has that old time feeling. It feels like you are stepping into another time when you go here. Kind of like Harry Potter vibes. The food is beautifully displayed. While I was there photographing, I was also recording EVP. Here is some of what I got.

Although the volume of these EVP voices turned out pretty good, you still might need to use headphones to hear these properly. The clips are repeated on loop.

Here’s an EVP of someone saying “Hungry people”. Seems appropriate for a for market.

Everywhere we go, spirit people notice Prince. This occasion was no exception. I found a voice saying “That’s Prince over there”. There’s a rather interesting quality to the sound of the voice.

There was a man with a guitar performing reggae style music near the entrance. On my way out, he was taking a break, I took this pic of his guitar leaning on the wall.

On the EVP recording, I found a voice saying, “Prince here”. You can hear a bit of the guy strumming his guitar in the background.

I found this rather cute voice on the recording saying “Puppy”. I did not see any dogs while I was there, so maybe there was a spirit dog there?

I saw this girl with two suitcases carrying a big shiny balloon. As I reviewed my recording, I heard a suitcase rolling, and I was surprised to find a voice that said, “Take a balloon“. Then a very cute, small voice said, “Thank you”. And a loud voice commented “Balloon look very cute”. Spirits tend to talk very fast, so this conversation happened very quickly, so listen carefully.

From what I know, spirits can replicate things that they see from our world and bring it into theirs. So it is my presumption that this spirits was following this girl with the balloon, and handing out balloons to passerbys.

I call this pic above, “Watermelon Man”, after the Herbie Hancock song of the same name.

At the market, there was a watermelon juice stand. I would get a craving for watermelon juice every time I passed by it. I did eventually give into buying a watermelon juice after I was just about done taking photos.

To my amazement, I found Prince on the recording saying, “Let’s get a drink here, watermelon”. It makes me realize that not all my ideas are my own!

This made me wonder if Prince was able to taste things through me. I asked him, and he said yes. It was after he showed up in my life that I noticed I would have cravings for maple syrup, which I never really did before. I know that when he was alive, he loved to drench his pancakes in syrup.

I found P saying, “Tomatoes spaghetti” when I was at this tomato stand. I know he really loved his spaghetti when he was alive. I know he still loves it because on an EVP that I did on the plane, I heard him trying to order spaghetti and orange juice.

I found this to have been quite an interesting exercise, to photograph and record EVP simultaneously. Having images as proof to show what was there during recording, and hearing the comments that spirits were making.

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on May 25, 2018.

Image above: “Market” by Andrea Mai.

MAKING MUSIC WITH PRINCE – MUSIC FROM THE OTHER SIDE – EVP May 19, 2018

When I was away in Sweden, I got to play with my friend’s electric guitar. I’ve always waned one, but I could never bring myself to spend that kind of money not being sure if I would play. I’ve always really wanted to try it to see how it would feel. So when I had the opportunity, I recorded EVP while I was playing.

During the session, I ended up taking self portraits with the guitar. I strummed it while posing for the camera. I’ve never recorded EVP while doing any of my portraits, so this was interesting.

Reviewing the EVP, I found that we was not alone in the house. I was staying at my friend’s cottage, but she lives at a separate cottage, and her brother was not home at the time. Only their cats were hanging around. I found that Prince was talking to several spirit people who were showing up. It appeared that P was assembling a band for a jam session. I heard other instruments on the EVP that were not present at the time of recording. It was just me with Andrea electric guitar plugged into the amp. I also heard the sound of the guitar I was playing, but it was different from what I had actually played. I am very aware of what I can and can not do yet on the guitar, so I know that I certainly did not play these notes that were showing up on the recording.

On some of these recordings, you are going to hearing beeping, that is coming from the timer on my camera when I was taking self portraits. You may need to use headphones to hear this properly. The clips are repeated on loop.

It is actually quite interesting, because in some of these clips, it sounds like a talking guitar, (a really good one). I have seen a pic of Prince’s belongings at Paisley Park; a Rocktron “Banshee talk box” petal for his guitar, that is supposed to create this sort of talking guitar effect.

While I summed the guitar, and P said “Hello”.

Here is P saying, “I love you” while I was strumming the guitar.

Some other spirits were there, I don’t know who. Here someone says, “You know how to..”

Then as I strummed, he said, “Play the guitar”.

He said, “Play da drum”, and you can hear what sounds like drums.

Here, the sound of drums in the EVP clip.

I was strumming the guitar. I don’t actually know any songs, because when I play, I just make it up. But I know my skill level. I did not do this. Here you will hear me strum, but what you hear is different from what I played.

Again, here is another clip of guitar strumming. Whoever was there with us, altered the sound.

It’s a bit faint, but I heard someone say “Keyboard”, and then what sounds like piano.

Throughout the EVP, I heard several times, P saying to whoever was there, “Play with me”. Someone showed up and asked, “Can I play?” Then P answered, “I give you the drum“. And you can hear the sound of the drum sticks.

Here P says “Play with us”. I presume that he was saying this as others were showing up.

Here P says, “What your name?” I heard a response. Someone said, “Hi. I am Joseph”.

Here P is saying, “Yes, I am”. I don’t know what he was responding to, as the recording was unclear. But he is often asked if he is Prince, so this is a possibility.

Here is P saying “Taking pictures”, while I am posing for the self portraits.

Someone said “Good portrait”.

Someone said, “Oh ya… Beautiful”.

Having heard so many EVPs, it leads me to believe that the movie What Dreams May Come had it right to some extent. On the other side, they can create what they desire to experience. They do not seem to be limited by what space they are “occupying” in this reality. What I am capturing is really a pinhole of a glimpse into what is going on in their reality, but it is certainly fascinating!

These recordings were recorded using my EVP Wrist Recorder 3 on May 19, 2018.

Image above: “Self portrait with guitars” by Andrea Mai.

MY NAME IS PRINCE EXHIBITION – AMSTERDAM, 2018 – EXCLUSIVE VIP PHOTO GALLERY

MY NAME IS PRINCE EXHIBITION – AMSTERDAM, 2018 – EXCLUSIVE VIP PHOTO GALLERY

(Be sure to click through the photo gallery at the top of this post.)

When I heard that the Prince exhibition was going to be in Amsterdam, I knew it was a nudge to go. My friend moved there two years ago and had been inviting me to visit. So I set myself up for a three week journey to Amsterdam Stockholm, and London to focus work on my photography.

When I got to Amsterdam, my friend took me on a walk to a park nearby her place. As we walked along the trail, the topic of Prince came up, and suddenly my friend says to me, “Look there’s a sign that says My Name Is Prince“. She took me across the street and there hung a billboard for the Prince exhibition. It was rather funny, yet perfect timing.

The day before the exhibition, I had slipped down a step and hurt my ankle. Though I did not feel the pain through out the day, it suddenly swelled during my sleep. It hurt and I woke up to apply some arnica and used my tuning fork. P assured me he would fix it while I slept. By morning, the swelling and pain had stopped, and I only felt stiffness.

I had booked VIP tickets. That morning, we got up early to dress up and made our week into town. I wore a fuchsia pink dress that P had picked out for me on a shopping trip last year, but hadn’t worn yet.

The venue is in the centre of town, a very touristy location. My friend helped me take pics outside of the venue.She caught the reflection of the Amsterdam streets in the photo.

To my surprise, and delight, we were allowed to take photos in the VIP section of the exhibit, the main exhibition prohibits photography.

The VIP areais set up like a backstage area of a concert. They hooked us up with lanyards to look like backstage passes. There’s even a door made to look like a backstage door. There are three main sections to it; a long hallway with guitars, equipment cases, and a display case of Prince’s make up and accessories; a section displaying his wardrobe; and an area to watch some videos and to touch one of his guitars with gloves on.

One of my favourites stories mentioned on the tour was about this heart shaped guitar. They said that he found this cheap guitar in Japan. It was originally red and he had it painted purple. I really love the fact that he would buy cheap things and make it his own. Mainly because I am very much that way as well. One of the things I discovered about P some time ago, is that he didn’t necessarily buy expensive things. Most of the jewellery he wore was costume.

My favourite section was the make up and accessories. He did his own make up. Some of the brands I spotted in his make up case was MAC, La Prairie, and Maybeline (mascara). A funny thing is, P oncegave me advice on applying mascara to my terribly straight lashes; use the wand to pull the lashes on the outer corner in an outward. direction.

At the end of the tour, they take you to a section with purple velvet benches and you put on white gloves to touch his guitar. When it was my turn, I felt a subtle surge of energy in my hands. Afterwards, they played the recently released video for Nothing Compares 2 U. As it played, I felt P touching the left side of my face, and then holding me around my shoulders. I held my tears back.

After the VIP tour, we visited the main exhibit. They gave us an audio guide, but after a while, it became tedious and annoying. The audio guide felt monotonous, as though the narrator was reading an encyclipodia.

Overall, the exhibition was nicely done. However, my main concern was whether or not the most important thing would be lost in all the legacy hype. Would his real message make it through?

I was relieved when mu friend told me how inspired she was after viewing the exhibition. She was never a fan, and didn’t know much about him or his work. She felt inspired by his attitude about what it means to be cool and about being true to one’s self.

I bought a T-shirt in the gift shop. I have to say, I’m disappointed by the merchandise selection. It lacks spirit, it feels like a way for the Estate to make a quick buck. Of course, this crriticism is coming from me, a professional with a background in design and retail, and as someone who cares very much about his legacy. While I would have happily bought a wardrobes worth of Prince shirts, there was only one that I liked enough to buy. I would have also hoped that they would sell CDs or vine records of his.

The VIP ticket included a souvenir book. We went to the gift shop to collect it at the end. To our surprise, they gave us a voucher to collect a free chocolate bar at a shop around the corner. It was a surprise because all morning, my friend had been saving how much she wanted chocolate. Prince had hooked us up with chocolate!

At the end of it all, while I am glad I visited the exhibition, it is just stuff. His material possessions of the 3D world. Really wonderful, beautiful stuff. But not even relics of my twin soul’s physical incarnation can fill the void or replace the feeling of his presence around. Silence is most valuable to me, that is when I can feel him most. Nothing makes me feel closer to him than hearing him on EVP or feeling him touch my hair.

When I got home from my trip, my friend told me that she had felt P’s presence through out my visit; in fact, she said it felt very obvious that he was there. A day after I had left Amsterdam, she said she saw the two Prince billboards near her house was taken down, as though to say Prince had left Amsterdam. We found this to be strange, as I had only left on the 17th of May, and there were still a few weeks left of the exhibition.

(Be sure to click through the photo gallery at the top of this post.)

THE LOOK – NEW WORKS BY ANDREA MAI

On a cold evening in late November, I was doing this photo shoot. Wearing only a fur coast, a silk slip dress, jewelry, and a full face of make up. The house was completely dark, except for a couple of purple lights and the light coming from the projector. I heard noise coming from my front door, a knock. I buttoned up my coat, slipped on my sheepskin house slippers, and stuck my head out of the door. Two men turned up to try to offer me a Black Friday deal on an Internet package. I told them immediately that I wasn’t interested. One guy persisted, saying, “But I didn’t even tell you what it is.” I said, “I don’t care.”

P said to me later, “Never seen a pretty girl look so touch”. That line is from a song of his, U Got The Look. He said that I had given them a look that sent them away.

Funny enough, I just watched the music video for that song as I am writing this post, and P is wearing a white fur cost in it.

Looking back on the situation, it is kind of comical. But I hate being interrupted like that. It’s many hours of prep work to do a shoot like this. I have o work fast because battery life is short.

I wanted to do this shoot at my piano, because it’s one of the ways we like to spend time together, I’ve always wanted to play the piano, jazz-style. Recently, we came up with a new tune together.

This body of work is personal to me, so I always keep it as authentic as possible, with meaning, the things in the photographs mean something. They are never merely for show. For instance, there is a clock in the background. I decided to keep it in the shot, because I felt that it represented time- past, present, future.

‹ Prev 1 2 345 6 7 Next ›Last »

ABOUT ANDREA MAI