Spirit Music
In the beginning was the Word. In the beginning was also the Sound. An astronomer at the University of Virginia has recorded it. The universe is filled with sound; everything vibrates and everything speaks with its own voice. We make with all these sounds the art of music. We do it with our own voices, we do it with vibrating columns of air, we do it with strings and hides and now we do it with our computers. The music is made for joy and sorrow, love and passion, politics and dancing and for our religious and spiritual longings.
Sufis sing of their love of God. They sing from Africa to India and even in the New World, but their real dwelling place is in the Heart.
In Tibet, the sound is primal. The sound of the chants and mantras, the sound of prayers and then finally the "sound of the great liberation by hearing".
Iran is very much in the news these days. They are a very old civilization that is very much connected to rest of the world. The music is connected, too.
If the Universe is filled with music, David Hykes and his Harmonic Choir have set themselves the wonderful task of revealing that music in all its glorious harmony. Using the technique of overtone singing, they have accessed the purest and most profound music you will ever hear.
Steven Halpern has put his music in the service of making your life better. For the nurture of your body, mind and spirit, his music is a valuable tool.
Ancient chants, timeless meditation and music to heal. Some words get repeated for thousands of years; there is an efficacy and power in their sound and meaning. “Om”, “na mo kuan shih yin pu sa”, “Allahu Akbar”, “Que tollis peccata mundi”. The goal of meditation is “the still point” and there are many paths to it. Music is one of the paths. Harmony and balance can be created in the body and spirit with music. Music can heal
The road from West to East has been traveled by the ancient Aryans, the armies of Alexander, the caravans of the Silk Road going to and from far Cathay, the wandering Sufi mystics and by many musical traditions. The contemporary musicians of the Middle East have not only rediscovered their classical traditions but have found new ways to synthesize the music of Israel, Syria, Armenia, Kurdistan, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan into some wonderful music.
The roots of Western music are in the Church. St. Gregory(540-604)laid some of its foundations; the Venerable Bede(672-735)writes of English Church music. Later in the Middle Ages there is an explosion of polyphony and secular and Church sources combine. All the great composers from the Renaissance to the modern period wrote religious music, from the works of Tallis to Brahms’ German Requiem. In the 20th century, the tradition continued with Poulenc’s Gloria, the choral music of Vaughan Williams, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms.
