Book Review--Spirit and Music

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  The Spiritual Significance of Music
  

Edited by Justin St. Vincent
Xtreme Music—New Zealand


The focus of my blog is the healing power of music, but the spiritual connection with music surfaces often when experiencing global music. Justin St. Vincent part editor, researcher and journalist compiled over one thousand musicians, authors and sound healers contemplating the connection between music and spirit. Ten percent of the interviews ended up in The Spiritual Significance of Music and only a small percentage of those interviews feature ethnic minorities, indigenous and women voices.

Justin focused on mainstream entities such as metal, Christian, pop and new age musicians and authors. This leaves me to wonder who was included in the other nine hundred interviews that did not make the cut. Voices such as Native American musicians Sharon Burch, R. Carlos Nakai and Mary Youngblood are missing from the pages, though Native American percussionist Will Clipman contributes his take on spirituality and music.  I am pleased to see Will contribute his reflections, as I am pleased to see Ravi Shankar represented his views in the book.


And while you would think the new age authors who focus on the significance of spirit in their personal and professional quests would contribute the most profound insights in this regard, instead provided similar rhetoric or in the case of the German new age couple, Reinhard and Cornelia Flatischler used the opportunity to promote their workshops. And author of The Mozart Effect, Don Campbell merely offered an excerpt from one of his books, rather than responding to the question directly.  

And surprisingly the most thought-provoking responses came from the Ohioan band Devo, “True spirituality seeks to re-unite a thread that connects us to the rest of life and thus, brings us together.” Ron Thal, guitarist for Guns N’ Roses mentions Beatle lyrics that lifted him up during dark times--the essence of spirit working through music is that it connects with people when they need it most.


Personally, I could do without the self-promotion of some of the new age folks, the shock value of the metal musicians (especially the dark ones), and the religious fervor of the Christian musicians (though I can see this group represented by two or three interviews instead of dominating the conversation). Where are the musicians representing earth-based spirituality (outside of new age) and other religious traditions? Where are the Tibetan Buddhists?


I suppose with this line-up of folks representing the mainstream for the most part, the book will attract readers that normally don’t equate music with spirituality. I was surprised today with a response I received on a forum on music, that at least one musician had never equated music with healing. So in that respect, I feel that The Spiritual Significance of Music will at least get readers thinking and even recalling how music has affected them on a deeper level. And certainly this book will reach people that will never read my blog so it’s a step forward for humanity.


I would like to mention that many of the musicians in the book, especially the ones that perform heavy, hard and angry music were confusing rhythmic entrainment and resonance with spirit. And as someone with shamanic tendencies, I would like to remind people that not all spiritual entities are of a higher vibration. Many disembodied spirits (formerly addicts, criminals, etc), wander around looking for low vibration situations and bodies to possess so if someone enjoys that kind of spiritual experience then listening to low-vibration music will provide that for them. Low vibration is based on fear and high vibration on love.  Since we are all of spirit we attract both low and high vibrational experiences so I think discernment and mindfulness play a huge role in protecting our boundaries.


The way entrainment works is that bodies align to the rhythm of music and when you get a room full of bodies entraining to loud music, then they experience an adrenaline rush (fight or flight syndrome). If a singer shouts out angry lyrics then the audience members will absorb this anger and even express their own anger—sometimes through violent means (and I have witnessed this), and this can cause a feeling of oneness with the music and the other audience members, but should we confuse this with a connection to Spirit? It appears that many of the musicians interviewed did confuse the two.  Oneness is not alway a positive experience as we have seen with various cult behavior throughout history and the rise of Hitler's Nazism--all accomplished through entrainment and other tools of manipulation.


However, there are many musicians that did understand and articulate the power of music and spirit throughout the pages of the book. There were mentions of Miles Davis and John Coltrane and a spirituality that comes from jazz. And for me composer and pianist Kathryn Toyama’s words resonated in my soul—“I believe that music not only can comfort and heal the mind, body, soul and spirit, but it can also spiritually influence humankind to evolve beyond the need for violence.” I have experienced this too.

My hope is that Justin St. Vincent's exploration into the frontiers of spirituality and music will open up meaningful dialogue with musicians and their fans, alike.  And through this dialogue musicians will take responsibility for the words and energy they launch out into the world. 


Xtreme Music

In review--Sweet Caribbean Breeze

Reynoir Casimir dit Nègoce and Signature

The Quadrille of Guadeloupe

Buda Musique/ Universal France

Gilzene and The Blue Light Mento Band

Sweet Sweet Jamaica

World Village

Those of you living in the far northern hemisphere will appreciate these two sunny recordings hailing from the French Caribbean Island, Guadeloupe and the former British colony, Jamaica. When many people think of the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic come to mind—meringue, soñes,bomba and plena or the rhythms that make up salsa music. The mention of Jamaica brings to mind ska and reggae—the home of the late Bob Marley.

I discovered the music of Guadeloupe and the French Caribbean last spring when I researched music of the French Diaspora for a course I taught. The Quadrille of Guadeloupe comes with hefty liner notes explaining the origins of this old world European dance quadrille and its evolution in the New World as interpreted by former African slaves. Similar music is performed on the East African Island, La Reunion, and echoes of these old couple dances can be heard in traditional Cajun and Quebecois music too.

The Guadeloupe quadrille involves a caller who raps more than sings in a raspy voice. Accordion, a scraper, shakers, a small frame drum-tambourine, triangle and guitar accompany the caller. The callers on The Quadrille of Gaudeloupe, Floriane Fèverel and Denis Clovis dit Boniface recall rap and hip-hop, though their syncopation sounds more Afro-Caribbean than continental American. And there is so much going on with this disc musically, you almost need a masters in Ethnomusicology to review it.

Although track five, an instrumental beguine certainly gets feet tapping and the heart pumping with the raspy scraper, lilting accordion and tinkling of the triangle. And I am reminded of Rene Lacaille who also plays quadrilles, beguine, zouk and other old world types of music on his accordion.

When I was teaching my music of the French Diaspora course, I enjoyed bringing in the comparisons between the French Caribbean, Quebec, Louisiana and La Reunion and finding origins in the French provinces such as Normandy and Brittany as well as, Central France. But it will be years before I train my ears to discern the subtle differences and my feet don’t get away from me. When I listen to this music, the last thing I want to do is sit behind a computer screen typing a review. I prefer to dance.

However, I enjoy discovering new types of music to my ears. Gilzene and The Blue Light Mento Band perform a traditional music that predates ska and reggae, two popular music proponents hailing from Jamaica. On their debut disc (World Village), Sweet Sweet Jamaica, the traditional quartet performs a style of music called mento. You can actually hear the roots of reggae in the guitar rhythm, but the banjo, shakers and rhumba box quickly announces that this is not reggae.

Unlike other Caribbean musical traditions of former African slaves, you won’t find call and response vocals, but harmonies that fall on the flat side. The defining features are the cross rhythms played on the rhumba box, shakers and guitar with the banjo playing lead. And as mentioned earlier the singers provide vocal harmonies to uplifting songs, though some of the lyrics tackle social issues.

According to the liner notes, “Mento which was born from the marriage of European melodies with African rhythms brought an intermingling of cultures that defined the colonial period, can rightly be hailed as the first form of indigenous Jamaican popular music to ever be recorded.” The Jamaican music industry of the 1940s and 50s was founded on this genre. But though popular in Jamaica, it never caught on abroad in the same way that calypso from Trinidad did. Mento did pave the way for ska and reggae which did become music of households all over the world. Who hasn’t heard of Bob Marley and the Wailers?

Gungu Walk offers a gentle introduction to mento with its uplifting sunny feel and hearty vocals. I wonder if Marley and other reggae superstars cut their teeth on this music. Certainly it’s fun to imagine their musical roots coming from mento. And while mento did not take off internationally in the 2oth century perhaps it’s time has finally arrived. Sweet Sweet Jamaica certainly an aptly applied title takes a little adjusting to, but once your ears pick up on its grooves, the music grows infectious and delightful on this long play disc.

World Village

In review--Women Make a Village

Màrta Sebestyèn

I Can See the Gates of Heaven
World Village


Sofìa Rei Koutsovitis
Sube Azul
World Village


The label World Village provides its listeners with diverse women’s voices. From Peruvian Tania Libertad to Tibetan Soname and too many women musicians to name in this review, the recordings fall somewhere between comfortingly familiar to exotic, with many of the musicians falling into cutting edge. Some of the musicians such as Susan McKeown collect and preserve traditional songs and others such as the globe-trotting women vocalists in the French group Lo’Jo offer a musical stew.


Hungarian folklorist and musician Màrta Sebestyèn collects traditional Hungarian songs, and has been doing this since her childhood when she won a song contest. A photograph of her circa 1977 appears in the liner notes in which Màrta collects a field recording from a traditional elder vocalist. However, Màrta with her traditional vocals and ear for beauty is more than a song-catcher.


On her collection of sacred and secular songs of Hungary, I Can See the Gates of Heaven, the vocalist sounds almost otherworldly and at other times, downright global. She brings voice, tin whistle and a drum to the recording and is accompanied by Balàzs Szokolay Dongò on bagpipes, shepherd’s flutes, traditional Hungarian instruments, saxophone and overtone chants and Màtyàs Bolya on lutes and zither. And together this trio performs songs that echo other traditions. For instance, the vocals and musical arrangement on Heritage sound like they hail from Tibet or China. Invocation sounds oddly Greek and Armenian.


My personal favorites though are the Hungarian romp, Driving Away Sorrow and the gentle Flower Gatherers with its lilting rhythm strummed on a lute and lyrical flute (sounds Celtic). The entire album offers a delightful respite from the chaos of everyday life. As any musical tradition, this one feels nostalgic and no doubt, many traditionalists and Lomaxians will embrace this offering.

Argentine vocalist Sofìa Rei Koutsovitis fuses American jazz with Latin American genres from her homeland. Residing in New York City for several years, her love of Colombian rhythms and vocal styles, as well as music from Argentina, Uruguay and Peru radiates of this disc. Since I also love pan-Latin American music fused with jazz, I am all smiles listening to Sube Azul.


She opens with the Colombian-tinged Coplera with its gentle thumb piano, double bass and vocal harmonies that gracefully rise and fall in a dreamy cadence. Certainly this song provides a lovely way to awake in the morning. The titular track also flows at a gentle pace with minimum instrumentation and emphasis on carefully phrased vocals in this regard I am reminded of Brazilian Monica Salmaso’s (World Village), work. Instante de vos picks up the pace especially after the traditional percussion kick in and Sofìa raises the intensity of her vocals a few notches. She reminds me of Marta Topferova (World Village) and Marta Gomez on this track.


The beautiful milonga Segundo final with its jazz-tinged guitar and haunting violin offers just the right instrumental support for Sofìa’s stunning vocals. The jazz element comes out in the opening of the track, La Chongoyapana and Imaginaria but if you want to jumpstart your day, listen to the Colombian feast for the ears, El Mayoral.

These two women vocalists bring the world to our ears and I for one, am enriched from the experience.


World Village

News--NYT Article on Healing Music

I want to thank Allan Tamm for forwarding this link to me.

Just three blocks from Lincoln Center, they arrived at the concert on Thursday night by shelter bus, not taxi or limousine. They took their seats around scarred, round folding tables. The menu was chicken curry and rice served on paper plates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/arts/music/19soup.html

In review--Taking it to the Yogic Mat

Laurie Madison, Maasa Craig & Doug Cox

Maitri (yogic chants)
Independent release (Canada)


Yoga chants, sung in Sanskrit have risen in popularity during recent years with the yoga craze in North America. I have heard kirtan chants or mantras sung in Hebrew, YofiYah’s Kabbalah Kirtan (Sounds True), authentic Indian devotional chants and an array of new age recordings. Fusing slide guitar and music genres of the West with yoga mantras though is new to my ears. A musical ensemble under the guise of Maitri, have done just that, created a mix of chants from the Subcontinent with bluegrass tinged harmonies (vande gurunham), slide guitar and other western instruments.


Mantra recordings provide music for a yogic practice or for musical meditation (singing the chants). The press notes that accompany the CD, mention Nelson (British Columbia) musician and yoga instructor Laurie Madison came up with an idea of combining Indian mantras with Western music, “A means of making yogic chant more accessible to the western ear.” And the musicians do take this concept further than Deva Premal who was among the first Westerners to westernize Indian mantras by adding synthesizer and acoustic guitar. The harmonies of Madison and her musical partner Maasa Craig recall bluegrass harmonies at time and with Doug Cox providing slide guitar, dobro, and banjo, these chants have the potential to reach more ears.  Saraswati with its gorgeous Indian vocals will satisfy the more traditional yogi.

So I had to try out the recording with my own yoga practice. I found that the chants energized and relaxed me, while providing some lovely beats. The harmonies of the women and vocalist Cassius Kahn lent themselves to a meditative space. The opener Shri Ram (a popular mantra) with the tabla beats, silky slide guitar and hearty vocals can entice even the laziest yogi to roll out the mat and get to it. Throat -singing and classical Indian vocals compliments of Ganesh Anandan and Kahn appear on Siva Mahyna.


I guess with this warming yogic recording, I have no excuse but to take it to the mat.


http://www.maitri.ca/

news from Samite

Samite Returns to his Roots with Upcoming CD


Samite has just completed a new CD featuring Uganadan-based rhythms that are sure to delight his fans worldwide. The work of bassist and guitarist Vincent Othieno (from eastern Uganda) adds an element that makes it impossible for the listener to stay seated! "It was so great to reconnect with Vincent after so many years," Samite remarked while relaxing on the patio after a successful day togther in the studio.

Other musicians that round out this CD include David Cullen, on guitar and bass, percussionists Jeff Haynes,Charlie Shew and Mar Gueye, guitarist Nate Richardson, and vocalist Kate Khosla.

Fans of Samite will recognize the infectious sounds of Jeff Haynes, a percussion wizard who, according to Samite, "plays my music with all his heart and soul to the level where nothing else exists until we have finished the song."

Samite's ability to connect at a spiritual level with his musicians resonates in My Music World. For those who have seen him perform with David Cullen, you know that what happens on stage is magic and it vibrates throughout this new CD as well. When asked to put the feeling into words, Samite explains that "sometimes I feel like David becomes an extension of my mind and spirit. I can make him play things I am feeling without asking him."

http://www.samite.com/

A Decade of Musical Exploration

When this new century and decade began I worked as a freelance film journalist.  I attended film festivals, screened films from around the world and interviewed dozens of film directors.  I thought I could avoid returning to writing about music or performing it, after leaving that endeavor in 1997, but when I watched those movies, I found myself focusing on musical elements, such as soundtracks.

In 1999, I saw two Canadian films that turned my ears towards classical music, The Red Violin and 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould, (by the same director and writers).  In 2001, I attended the last WOMAD, USA, near Seattle.  I found myself immersed in world music and I quickly fell in love with the global feast for the ears and eyes.

Suddenly the world opened up to me.  I received recordings from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.  I heard music sung in many tongues and played on exotic instruments.  My feet danced to poly rhythms, I learned the different rhythms of Afro-Latin, African, Asian and European traditional music.  I started singing in French and Spanish, just for fun.  I dreamed of owning a variety of lutes, drums and percussion instruments.  I found something that I could sink my teeth into, something delicious and nutritious.

So I listened to all the recordings I could get my hands on, I delved into traditional, folkloric, classical, jazz and early music.  I listened to Gregorian chants and kirtan chants sung in Sanskrit.  I learned about Hindustani beat-cycles and Finnish runo-songs, Sami chants and Native American healing music.  Some doors flung open and I, a Lomaxian student of the world, ran inside this new world.

A decade later, I realize that I have found my mission, sharing this wonderful healing music with the world through this blog.  But I am certain that I will also record and perform music again, (my music career ended in 1997).  I am still seeking a new voice.  I do not wish to perform folk-rock music as I did in the past.  Latin music, jazz, and other genres call to me, even medieval troubadour songs.

So we all embark on our paths, musical and otherwise.  It is my hope that our paths cross often, that this musical dialogue never ends, that we preserve the music traditions of our ancestors, and discover what lies within our cultural DNA.  It is my hope that musicians keep spreading peace, keep embracing the other and keep this marriage between cultures alive.   I believe we will do just that because many of us realize the healing potential in music.  Many of us realize that sung words, melodies, and rhythms are the stuff of the soul and none of us wish to live in a soulless world. 

May the beat play on...

5 Ways to Relieve Stress with Music

1. Sing along with a favorite vocal recording

2. Sing while you work or play

3. Play music for a yoga or other exercise practice

4. Dance

5. Learn or re-learn to play a musical instrument of your choice

Perceive the entire world as musical.

Music For Homeless Shelters

Here's a suggestion to record labels and musicians that have the resources.  Consider donating healing music to homeless shelters in your region.  I know that various types of music can relieve stress and homeless people certainly have their share of stress.

Your music could save lives.  Call the homeless shelters in your town or city and ask if you can donate your music to the shelters.