Name: Sonia Kreitzer aka Doe Paoro

Nationality: American

Occupation: Singer, songwriter, sound healer
Current Release: The new Doe Paoro EP Divine Surrendering is our via Queen of Wands.

If you enjoyed this interview with Doe Paoro and would like to keep up to date with her work, visit her official website. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and twitter.



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

It used to be loss - creativity as as a salve or act of alchemy - but I actively sought to change that dynamic, because I grew tired of depending on grief for inspiration. Songs like “Universe Promises” were a sign to me that I was growing out of that cage.



Now I think my creativity is more a natural expression of whatever lesson I am being initiated into in the moment, and comes from a devotional space.

Other forms of art are always giving me new inspiration, of course – the insight of experiencing someone else’s way of articulating the world can be so expansive. I’ve been reading Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous recently and noticed it brought in a new wave of color to the lyrics I’m currently working on.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

No, quite the opposite. I think of music making as a deep reverence to the emergence; I never know exactly what each piece will be and this allows me to play more and be swept up in a totally new direction.

When I first began my path with music, I approached it in a more linear way in that I knew exactly where I wanted the song to go and looking back, I think it made collaboration less fun and limited what the songs could become.

Time has allowed me to have greater trust that my job as a creator is really as a space holder for whatever wants to come out in the process of becoming.

Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Sometimes I’ll make  a demo and sometimes I’ll start writing the song and producing it at the same time. It changes all the time and I try to stay open to that.  

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

For me, it’s wondrously spiritual, all of it. It’s a dialogue with spirit. It’s a space of deeply attuned listening where I’m not the writer, just a receiver waiting for a signal.

A song like “Divine Surrendering,” - I channeled the majority of that in 15 minutes.



After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

I really struggle with releasing music. By far, my least favorite part of the process.

The creative process is so private and full of magic and the artist alone knows everything that had to live through to birth it into the world - going through the life experience that allowed for the song to come through, the effort and dreaming of writing and long hours of production, the financing and finding the resources to make it happen - and then you have to give that all away, in a world where an average of 24,000 new songs come out every day and people have increasingly short attention spans.

The song has changed your life as an artist because every time we write a song and release it, it changes us - but I often wonder, does it make a ripple when I share it? It’s giving away this precious offering in a world where we are constantly hearing the phrase “content consumption.”

I think what I am feeling with releasing music is the profane, where what I am yearning for with a release is that it connects to the sacred … and I don’t get to control any of that!

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

It’s a great question. I think the master art is to really see every creative act as an opportunity to practice devotion and intention, and not to get too confused by hierarchy in valuing one form (say making music) over another (making a cup of coffee).

It’s a Tantric mentality in a way – when I am truly in a space of mindfulness, I try to practice every moment as a prayer and the “mundane” tasks are these beautiful opportunities to deepen that practice.