The Whole Music Experience

Imagine yourself eating a ripe orange. Imagine the tangy taste on your lips and tongue, your teeth biting into the orange’s texture and the feeling of your grateful heart. And if you ate that orange with conscious thought you might feel your body radiate with the essence of the citrus fruit throughout the day. While we don’t think of food as containing vibration, everything we touch, taste, feel, hear, or see possesses a vibration and when we connect with those vibrations, an alchemical process takes place within our bodies. Now, imagine listening to a Bach composition played on a cello. Imagine the low and throaty sound of the instrument vibrating in your chakras.   Allow your mind might wander to a memory associated with that piece of music. Your feet might tap in time and if you have developed consciousness in regard to your body, you might feel subtle vibrations moving through you and you might feel a slight crackle of energy in the room. And what if you were listenin...

Music of the African continent leans towards earthy and robust with rich polyrhythms, soaring voices and rife with tribal traditions.  From the fascinating nature-based music of the Central African pygmies, to Malian blues, to Cape Verdean morna, and the ancient calls of Senegalese griot, “the dark continent,” provides music in abundance.  You could spend your entire life exploring the music of Africa and still not get past the tip of the iceberg. Here are a handful of African recordings from my music library.  Many of you have amassed 100s of recordings, but I only have a small collection.  While I would imagine that every culture on the planet provides us with music for dancing, I find that African music and Afro-Latin music provides us with deep grounding.  Not only that, but nothing like moving that energy out of your hips, and thighs.  Here is my list. 1. Cesaria Evora, Nha Sentimento, LusaAfrica The late Cape Verdean singer Cesaria Ev...

Ragas were introduced in the West during the 1950s, and grew in popularity in the United States with Ravi Shankar performing both Indian classical music recitals and performing in pop-rock music festivals. His musical relationship with George Harrison also brought the sitar and ragas to public prominence in the West. Today, ragas come in many guises, from pure and sacred to pop and jazz fusion.  A variety of young talent emerges from India these days blending raga traditions from the South and North of the Subcontinent.  Western instruments were introduced as well, such as the saxophone and slide guitar, though the Indian slide guitar is different in that it contains sympathetic strings much like an Indian sarod or sitar.  Any fan of world music has come across Indian ragas in one form or another. I pulled out a random stack of CDs from my Indian music collection.  You can use these recordings as a jumping off point or you can visit a public library and check...