Doctor healing body and soul through music

As reggae singer Auraiya delivered a soul-stirring rendition of her self-penned song, ‘ This Must Be Love’, at the Night Market on Hillcrest Avenue in St Andrew on Tuesday evening, she cast a spell of romance over the audience.

In the warm glow of the night, couples swayed in each other’s arms, harmonising with the chorus that captured the journey of discovering love amid life’s twists and turns. Auraiya expressed her delight at the enthusiastic response, feeling deeply gratified by the heartfelt feedback from the crowd.

“This is my first time performing the song live and the reception has been great. This song means a lot to me because it was the first song I have written. I had written it for another artiste as I never once thought that I would become a singer. When I did the demo, a producer told me that I should do the song myself because I did justice to it and here it is,” she said.

This Must Be Love is one of eight tracks on the singer’s debut album, Chronicles of Love, which is produced by her Rocky Valley Records.

In addition to being a singer, Auraiya, whose given name is Gayan Smith, is a medical doctor. She was trained at The University of the West Indies and has since practised general medicine and anaesthesia. However, the singer has put her medical practise on pause, using medicine instead to sooth souls and mend broken hearts.

She told THE STAR that it was while working at the Savanna-la-Mar General Hospital in Westmoreland she met a nurse who would later die from the deadly Covid-19 virus.

“ We developed a strong bond as we worked closely together.  I later learned that she passed away and I was devastated. It was the time when persons were dying and she was always there giving the patients oxygen and just caring for them, and then she got the virus and the oxygen had ran out, and she passed away. It then dawn on me how short and precious life was, and that we should just go for what we want.

“I have always had an interest in music so this is what I did.  Also while giving anaesthesia to patients  we would often play therapeutic music in the operating theatre, so I know I want to just make music like that. It’s like healing the body and soul through music,” she said.