Can an artist return to their creative gifts to make a living at them after a lifetime of traveling a completely different path? Musician and composer Pamela Mortensen thinks so. For the past six and a half years, Pamela has been a traveler, nomad, and adventurer committed to picking up where she left off as a musician and artist over 35 years ago. During this time, she has crafted three albums featuring her mastery on didgeridoo, busked and performed at numerous venues, fairs and festivals, made an eye-opening trip to Mexico and bought a van to live in part-time. Prior to this chapter, she worked her way through the 9-5 world before making a life-changing decision to leave Seattle and start a new chapter devoted to her music.
Now in 2021, the Oregon-based multi-instrumentalist is crafting a series of neo-classical pieces featuring piano, voice, and influences from her Middle Eastern and Nordic roots for an album due later out on in the year. Her multi-faceted career includes her latest album Coming Full Circle as an answer to the shutdown from the pandemic featuring didgeridoo and her gossamer and mystical vocals.
Pamela received her degree in music composition from Cornish College of the Arts as well as being a self-taught musician and composer. Among the highlights of her career, she has twice won the Seattle Artist Award from the Seattle Arts Commission and received awards from Yamaha and ASCAP for composition and recording. She is currently active in building a portfolio for film and production music as well as teaching and training people in playing didgeridoo and recording techniques. She also engages her love of woodworking and creativity in crafting didgeridoos from agave and yucca for sound bath practitioners as well as didgeridoo enthusiasts.
“Music has always been a language I’ve used to express what I’m not able to put in words,” Pamela states. It’s also been a way to cope with a world that places expectations that often clashes with what the soul wants. It’s an artform she is devoted to help foster a planet of happy humans.