Music and Space - How western composers and musicians have evoked the universe.

 

MUSIC AND SPACE

How western composers and musicians have evoked the universe

A Workshop for the University of the 3rd Age Geelong, 2009

Dr Patrick Hughes

In April 1990, NASA launched the world's first space-based optical telescope - named after American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble. In late 2008, NASA launched the final maintenance mission in the telescope's 20 year life. So what better time to consider how western composers and musicians have sought to represent 'the universe' or 'the cosmos' or simply 'space'.   The Ancient Greeks (e.g. philosopher Aristotle) believed that the universe consists of a number of transparent, concentric spheres, each rotating at uniform speeds within each other. The outermost sphere is the unchanging heavens, while the intermediary spheres contained the various planets, with the Earth at the centre (See Diagram 1). Greek mathematician and astronomer Pythagoras (582-496 BC) believed that the rotating spheres are related by the whole-number ratios of pure musical intervals, creating a cosmos in constant motion and in perfect musical harmony - a state described as 'musica universalis' (lit. 'universal music' or 'music of the spheres'). Each sphere emits a specific tone depending on its specific orbit, as a guitar string's tone depends on its length. This 'music' is not literally audible, but expresses a mathematical or harmonic idea.   English philosopher Robert Fludd (1574-1637) devised a three octave celestial scale linking sub-planetary worlds to angelic choirs beyond the stars in a great chain of being (See Diagram 2).
Musica universalis from Music of the Spheres by Mike Oldfield (Mercury Records, 2008)	More recently - in 2008 - English composer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Oldfield (of Tubular Bells fame) released an album called Music of the Spheres.   According to the marketing material, 'the title refers to Oldfield's belief that music should aim to represent the spiritual or other-worldly elements of life - something beyond the mundane and everyday' - which isn't, of course, what everyone before him meant by the phrase!
Music of the Spheres from The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi by The Receiving End of Sirens (Triple Crown Records, 2007)	In the Middle Ages, there was a scientific revolution in western views of the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), a Polish astronomer and mathematician, posed the first scientifically based model of a heliocentric universe, which became the accepted view of the relationships between the sun and the planets.   However, the 'musica universalis' theory remained popular in medieval Europe. For example, the German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) believed that the Earth's tonal signature oscillates - mi, fa, mi on the scale - as it orbits the sun, in an endless cycle of misery (by which he meant emptiness) and famine (i.e. a desire for things).   In 2007, Boston experimental rock band The Receiving End of Sirens released an album called The Earth Sings Mi Fa Mi (Triple Crown Records). It includes an instrumental track called … 'Music of the Spheres'!
Kepler's work on planetary motion led to Isaac Newton's discoveries concerning dynamics and gravity. Newton's work survived into the late 19th century, when it began to show its limits at sub-atomic scales, prompting the emergence in the early 20th century of Quantum Theory and Relativity. Each offered opportunities to integrate the small world of sub-atomic particles with the big world of the universe. As part of that tumult, Edwin Hubble made two discoveries in the 1920s that changed how humanity thought about its place in the universe. First, our own Milky Way is but one of many galaxies in the universe; second, the universe is expanding - a notion that led to the current 'Big Bang' theory.   So composers and musicians in the Twentieth Century faced perhaps the musical challenge - how to represent the infinity of space in and through music? English composer Gustav Holst's life (1874-1934) spanned the shift from Newtonian to post-Newtonian physics. The Planets is astrological, not astronomical (hence no 'Earth'): each movement illustrates how a planet influences the human psyche.
Neptune, the Mystic by Gustav Holst, from The Planets. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Herbert Von Karajan (Polygram, 1991).		However, two movements would influence later composers of 'space' music: Neptune, the Mystic; and Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity (Zeus in Greek mythology). Together, they expressed a tension that would dominate 'space' music for much of the rest of the century. Neptune, the Mystic represented infinite space through ethereal strings, a celestial choir … and lots of echo!
Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity by Gustav Holst, from The Planets. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Herbert Von Karajan (Polygram, 1991).		In the face of the literally awe-some, almost unthinkable idea of infinite space, humanity is insignificant, yet Jupiter, the bringer of Jollity is suffused with triumphalism (later justified as humanity took its first steps into space). It also features a contrasting sentimental (i.e. 'making a direct appeal to the emotions, especially to romantic feelings') theme as if to remind us that people are more than their triumphs. These contrasting ideas and musical tones will recur.
Theme from The Big Country by Jerome Moross. Performed by L'Orchestra Cinematique from Western Film Themes (Metro Music, 2007).		A more recent attempt to represent space musically is the theme tune of the US movie The Big Country (1958. Dir. William Wyler). Its horizon was closer - the wide open spaces of the American mid-west - but in its representation of those wide open spaces we hear again the combination of awe, triumph and sentiment that we heard in Neptune and Jupiter.

 

Wagons Ho!, the theme from Wagon Train by Jerome Moross. From 100 Greatest TV Themes. Artists unknown.	There is one more influence to note. Jerome Moross - composer of the theme from The Big Country - also wrote the theme from the 1960s TV series Wagon Train. Gene Rodenberry presented the first series of Star Trek as Wagon Train in space!
The theme from Star Wars by John Williams. From 100 Greatest TV Themes. Artists unknown. (See below re Close Encounters.)	Having assembled the foundations and background, let's listen to some late twentieth century attempts to represent space musically. All the music is from television series or movies, which may explain why it is almost exclusively orchestral. The theme combines awe, triumph and sentiment, but keeps them quite distinct from each other.
The theme from Superman (1978) by John Williams. The BBC Orchestra, from The Greatest Film Scores.	While the Superman movies aren't about space as such, the theme tune is interesting because even though it moves from triumph to sentiment, the sentimental piece seems reluctant to discard the march-time of the fanfare.
Theme from Star Trek: The Next Generation by Alexander Courage and Jerry Goldsmith. Artists unknown. (GNP Crescendo, 1991)	'Awesome space' precedes a triumphal shout!
Hansen's Message and Humanity Taken by Ron Jones. Artists unknown.	The second series of Next Generation included two episodes called The Best of Both Worlds (I and II). Here are two short pieces from those two episodes, each representing 'awesome space'.
The theme from Star Trek III (1998) by James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith and Leonard Rosenman. Artists unknown.	The composers of the theme from the third Star Trek movie handled sentiment very differently, building one crescendo after another.
Theme from Battlestar Galactica by Stu Phillips. From 100 Greatest TV Themes. Artists unknown.	One of Star Trek's many competitors (some would say copiers!) has been the Battlestar Galactica brand. The theme from the first television series has little time for awe - it jumps straight in with triumphalism!
Death is irrelevant by Ron Jones. Artists unknown. (GNP Crescendo, 1991)	The commercial availability of synthesizers in the early 1970s gave composers and performers of 'space' music a musical tool with a scope that was almost as big as their subject. The synthesizer not only produced sounds of awesome scope, it also offered new voices to critics of industrialism and mechanisation. This next piece by Ron Jones comes from The Best of Both Worlds (I and II) in the second series of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

 

Galaxy Formation. Music composed and performed by David Jacopin. From Nebulas and Galaxies.

Finally, we return to our starting point - the Hubble Space Telescope. Here's a chance to see what a synthesizer can do when combined with pictures from Hubble, courtesy of the European Space Agency:

 

John Williams also wrote the score for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which - strangely - lacked a theme tune.

Etta James and Tampa Red

 

Bukka White and Bonnie Raitt

 

Koko Taylor and Jimmy Reed

 

Victoria Spivey and Sonny Terry

 

Arthur Crudup and Jimmy Witherspoon

 

Blind Lemon Jefferson and Champion Jack Dupree

 

Skip James and Elizabeth Cotten

 

Ruth Brown and Elmore James

 

Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter and Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton

 

 

A Blues Music Reading list

 

BLUES READING LIST

 

Albertson, C. (1972) Bessie. New York: Stein & Day.

 

All Music Guide to the Blues (1999) Miller Freeman Books. (Online version: www.allmusic.com)

 

Ball, T. (n.d.) Sourcebook of Sonny Terry Licks (Book and CD)

($19.95; 48 Pages)

Besides 70 famous licks from Sonny, this pack gives you some quick harmonica lessons, information on Sonny's style, a discography with key chart, and a bibliography for future research. The CD includes each lick played out by the author.

 

Barlow, W. (1989) Looking up at down: the emergence of blues culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

 

Bastin, B. (1971) Crying for the Carolines. London: Studio Vista Blues paperbacks.

 

Bastin, B. (1995) Red River Blues: the blues tradition in the southeast. Urbana: Illini Books edn.

 

Brooks, T. (2004) Lost Sounds: blacks and the birth of the recording industry, 1890 - 1919. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

 

Broonzy, B. (1955) Big Bill Blues. (As told to Yannick Bruynoghe.) London: Cassell.

 

Calt, S. (1988) King of the Delta Blues: the life and music of Charlie Patton. Rock Chapel Press. (Some citations give the authors as Calt, S. & Wardlow, G.)

This book is based on the comprehensive research on the subject by Gayle Dean Wardlow, research which is largely unavailable elsewhere. Unfortunately, Calt's presentation of this information is poor at King best, and downright malicious at times. His writing is typically peppered with ad homien attacks at his subjects, and this book is no exception. The book is also in desperate need of thorough editing ... one sometimes wonders how it got published at all.

 

Calt, S. (1994) I’d rather be the devil: Skip James and the blues. New York: Da Capo Press. (P/b 2008)

 

Charters, S. (1997) The Legacy of the Blues: the art and lives of twelve great bluesmen. Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. [Australia] (Original 1975)

 

Charters, S. (1991) The Blues Makers. New York: Da Capo. (Reprints The Bluesmen [1967] and Sweet as The Showers Of Rain [1977], with new additional material by the author.) I had it from the library but didn't have time to finish it.

 

Charters, S. (1977) Sweet as the Showers of Rain: the bluesmen Vol. 2. New York: Oak Publications and Penguin (USA)

 

Charters, S. (1975) The Country Blues. New York: Da Capo Press. (Original 1959.)

 

Charters, S. (1967) The Bluesmen. New York: Music Sales Corp.

 

Charters, S. (1963) The Poetry Of The Blues. New York: Oak Publications.

 

Charters, S. (2004) Walking A Blues Road; a selection of blues writing 1956 - 2004. Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.

 

Cohn, L. (ed.) (1993) Nothing But The Blues: the music and the musicians. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group (aka Abberville Press).

 

Cowley, J. (?) 'Son House: an historical appreciation.' Blues and Rhythm. 41. 8 - 10. (Another article about Son House is in edition 207.)

 

Danchin, S. (1998) Blues Boy: the life and music of B. B. King. University Press of Missisippi.

This book explores all aspects of King's life and career, providing an objective description of the man and his music. A revision of the edition published in France in 1993 by `editions du Limon, it supplements B. B. King's moving autobiography Blues All Around Me. Whereas King's is a book of memories, this is an objective story with careful historical perspective and observations from key witnesses. It draws on many printed sources, from King's published interviews, and from the author's recurring encounters with King and his manager since 1977. It shows how in some ways B. B. King's life has conformed to the commonly adopted image of the blues singer's early years of poverty and hardship in the American South, a backdrop of cotton fields and muddy waters of the Mississippi River, a musical apprenticeship in the big city (Memphis), and a career that reaches its peak under the spotlights of Las Vegas.

 

Davis, F. (1995) The history of the blues. London: Secker & Walberg.

 

Anthony DeCurtis, A. (n.d.) Blues & Chaos: The Robert Palmer Anthology (tentative title)

 

Dicaire, D. (2002) More Blues Singers: biographies of 50 legendary artists from the later 20^th century. McFarland.

 

 

Dicaire, D. (1999) Blues Singers: biographies of 50 legendary artists of the early 20^th century. McFarland.

This reference volume is intended for both the casual and the most avid blues fan. It is divided into five separately introduced sections. Beginning with the pioneering Mississippi Delta bluesmen, the book then follows the spread of the genre to the city, in the section on the Chicago Blues School. The third segment covers the Texas blues tradition; the fourth, the great blueswomen; and the fifth, the genre’s development outside its main schools. The styles covered range from Virginia-Piedmont to Bentonia and from barrelhouse to boogie-woogie. The main text is augmented by substantial discographies and a lengthy bibliography.

 

Evans, D. (1982) Big Road Blues: tradition and creativity in the Folk Blues. Berkeley: University of California Press; New York: Da Capo Press.

 

Ferris, W. (1988) Blues from the Delta. Da Capo Press.

 

Ford, R. (1999) A Blues Bibliography: the international literature of an Afro-American music genre. Bromley: Paul Pelletier.

 

Garon, P. & Garon, B. (1992) Woman With Guitar: Memphis Minnie's blues. New York: Da Capo Press.

 

Goldsmith, P. (1998, 2000) Making people’s music: Moe Asch and Folkways Records. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.

 

Groom, B. (1971) The Blues Revival. Studio Vista.

 

Handy, W. C. (1991) Father Of The Blues. New York: Da Capo Press. (Originally published 1941)

 

Harris, S. (1991) Blues Who's Who: a biographical dictionary of blues singers. (revised edn.) New York: Da Capo. (Original: 1989, New York: Arlington House.)

 

Harrison, D. D. (1990) Black Pearls: blues queens of the 1920s: black pearls. New Brunswick & London: Rutgers University Press. (Original 1989?)

 

Haymes, M. (2006) Railroadin' Some: railroads in the early blues. York: Music Mentor Books.

 

Hitchcock, E. W. & Sadie, S. (eds.) (1986) The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, Macmillan.

 

Keil, C. (1966) Urban Blues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

 

Komara, E. (ed.) (2005) Encyclopedia Of The Blues. (2 vols.) New York: Routledge.

 

Lomax, A. (1993) The Land Where The Blues Began. New York: Pantheon. New edition by New Press, 2002.

 

Notable black American women (Book 1). Gale Research, 1992.

 

Oakley, G. (1976) The Devil's Music: a history of the blues. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

 

Oliver, P. (1984) Songsters And Saints: vocal traditions on race records. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 

Oliver, P. (1965) Conversation With The Blues. London: Cassell.

 

Oliver, P. (1963) The Meaning Of The Blues. New York: Collier Books.

 

Oliver, P. (1960) Blues Fell This Morning. London: Cassell.

 

Oliver, P. (ed.) (1989) The Blackwell Guide To Blues Records. Oxford: Basil Blackwood (Blackwell??)

 

Oliver, P. et al (1987) The New Grove gospel, blues and jazz. New York: Grove Publications. (Published originally in 1986 by Norton?)

 

Palmer, R. (1981) Deep blues: a musical and cultural history of the Mississippi Delta. New York: Penguin.

 

Placksin, S. (1982) American women in jazz: 1900 to the present. Seaview Books.

 

Porterfield, N. (1996) Last Cavalier: the life and times of John A. Lomax. Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

 

Price, C. G. (2002) '"Got my own world to look through": Jimi Hendrix and the blues aesthetic.' Journal of American Culture. 25. (3 - 4) 442 - 446.

 

Rothenbuhler, E. W. (2007) 'For-the-record aesthetics and Robert Johnson's blues style as a product of recorded culture.' Popular Music. 26. 65-81.

Robert Johnson (1911–1938) learned his craft from records and radio and polished his songs to be recorded. As he did so, he effectively developed a ‘for-the-record’ aesthetic that made his music sound different to that of many others - including his Delta contemporaries - who used musical techniques honed in performance for an audience. Decades later, when a ‘for-the-record’ aesthetic was the taken-for-granted standard in popular musical culture, Robert Johnson's records sounded better than those of his contemporaries, and the audience from the 1960s to today has had a reason to think that he and his music were special.

 

Russel, T. (1970) Blacks, Whites and Blues. London: Studio Vista.

 

Russel, T. (1997) The Blues From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. London: Aurum Press.

 

Russel, T. & Smith, C. (2006) The Penguin Guide To Blues Recordings. London: Penguin.

 

Sacre, R. (1987) The Voice of the Delta: Charley Patton and the Mississippi Blues. Traditions, influences and comparisons. Liége, Belgium: Presses Universitaires de Liége.

 

Santelli, R. (1994) The Big Book Of Blues: a biographical encyclopedia. London: Pavilion Books.

 

Southern, E. (1982) Biographical Dictionary Of Afro-American and African Musicians. Greenwood Press.

 

Southern, E. (1983) The Music Of Black Americans: a history. Norton.

 

Stewart-Baxter, D. (1976) Ma Rainey And The Classical Blues Singers. New York: Stein and Day.

 

Terry, S. and Kent Cooper, K. (1975) Sonny Terry’s Country Blues Harmonica.

(His harmonica techniques are detailed in a crude tablature system.)

 

Tilling, R. (1992) Oh! What A Beautiful City: a tribute to Rev. Gary davis 1896 - 1972. Jersey: Paul Mill Press.

 

Titon, J. T. (1993) ‘Reconstructing the blues: reflections on the 1960s blues revival.’ in N. V. Rosenberg (ed.) Transforming Tradition: folk music revivals examined. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

 

Wald, E. (2004) Ecaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the invention of the Delta Blues. New York: Amistad.

'There has probably been more romantic foolishness written about blues in general, and Robert Johnson in particular, than about any other genre or performer of the twentieth century. As white urbanites discovered the 'Race records' of the 1920s and 1930s, they reshapred the music to fit their own tastes and desires, creating a rich mythology that often bears little resemblance to the reality of the music they admired. Popular entertainers were reborn as primitive voices from the dark and demonic Delta, and a music notable for its professionalism and humour was recast as the heart-cry of a suffering people. The poverty and oppression of the world that created blues is undeniable, but it was the music's up-to-date power and promise, not its folkloric melancholy, that attracted black record buyers.' (p. 1)

 

Wardlow, G. D. (1998) Chasin' That Devil Music: searching for the blues. San Francisco: Backbeat Books.

 

 

 

SEE ALSO

Brady, E. (1999) A spiral way; how the phonograph hanged ethnography. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.

 

Brooks, T. et al (2004) Lost sounds: blacks and the birth of the recording industry 1890 – 1919. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

 

Chanan, M. (1995) Repeated takes: a short history of recording and its effects on music. London: Verso.

 

Hobsbawm, E. (1998) Uncommon people: resistance, rebellion and jazz. New York: The New Press.

 

Kenney, W. H. (1999) Recorded music in American life: the phonograph and popular memory, 1890 – 1945. New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Read, O. & Welch, W. L. (1976) From tin foil to stereo: evolution of the phonograph. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

 

 

Fusion Music May 2012

 

Music(s) - fixed or changing?

Musics never stand still and any particular music is always becoming something else. For example, in the last century, jazz changed from being a club-based radical alternative to 'mainstream' (white) American music to being both 'serious' music for connoisseurs in hushed concert halls and background music for party-goers in bustling vineyard marquees.

 

What drives these musical changes? For 'music libertarians', this hardly matters, because for them, the essence of music is that it is always becoming something else. In contrast, 'music purists' regard change as a threat to what they describe as 'traditional', 'authentic' or 'folk music'. For them, such music is 'real' music, untainted by a search for mass audiences.

 

For example, music 'purists' at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival booed Bob Dylan off the stage for 'selling out' by 'going electric'.

 

Similarly, music 'purists' were horrified when Muddy Waters toured the UK in 1958 playing electrified Chicago blues - not the acoustic Mississippi blues as they’d expected. So, on his return to the UK in 1963, he played acoustic blues - shocking new fans of his electrified Chicago blues!

 

Fusing musics into 'fusion music'

There's a continuing tradition of deliberately creating musical change by fusing styles or types of music that were hitherto separate and different. Musical ‘purists’ are suspicious of these endeavours, of course. I've seen several of these fusions - some worked for me, others didn't!

 

The late 1960s and 1970s were good years for fusions! John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions attempted to fuse Indian classical music and modern jazz. These two very different musics both emphasised improvisation by virtuosos, as did rock bands such as Cream and the Grateful Dead. Then, Miles Davis abandoned jazz's 'swing' in favour of rock's electric bass-based backbeat. English jazz-rock band Nucleus incorporated progressive and psychedelic rock en route to a funkier brass sound in the 1970s - as classical or progressive rock emerged in the form of bands such as Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

 

Fusing or appropriating?

More recently, 'western' popular music - especially dance music - has been fused with various traditions of 'ethnic' music to become 'world music'. Music purists criticise this fusion as cultural imperialism. Rather than fusing the musics, they say, western dance music has appropriated 'ethnic' music to inject an exotic flavour to its often jaded products. The purists risk dismissing contemporary 'ethnic' music as a deviation from a culture’s 'real' and 'authentic' folk music - condemning its musicians to repeat the same music and never innovate.

 

In contrast, libertarians celebrate this such fusion as an example of music's continuing dynamic. However, their 'anything goes', attitude ignores the entertainment industry's power to shape our tastes and preferences.

 

Playlist

Fusing musics into 'fusion music'

There's a continuing tradition of deliberately creating musical change by fusing styles or types of music that were hitherto separate and different. Musical ‘purists’ are suspicious of these endeavours, of course. I've seen several of these fusions - some worked for me, others didn't!

 

The late 1960s and 1970s were good years for fusions! John Mayer's Indo-Jazz Fusions attempted to fuse Indian classical music and modern jazz. These two very different musics both emphasised improvisation by virtuosos, as did rock bands such as Cream and the Grateful Dead. Then, Miles Davis abandoned jazz's 'swing' in favour of rock's electric bass-based backbeat. English jazz-rock band Nucleus incorporated progressive and psychedelic rock en route to a funkier brass sound in the 1970s - as classical or progressive rock emerged in the form of bands such as Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

 

Fusing or appropriating?

More recently, 'western' popular music - especially dance music - has been fused with various traditions of 'ethnic' music to become 'world music'. Music purists criticise this fusion as cultural imperialism. Rather than fusing the musics, they say, western dance music has appropriated 'ethnic' music to inject an exotic flavour to its often jaded products. The purists risk dismissing contemporary 'ethnic' music as a deviation from a culture’s 'real' and 'authentic' folk music - condemning its musicians to repeat the same music and never innovate.

 

In contrast, libertarians celebrate this such fusion as an example of music's continuing dynamic. However, their 'anything goes', attitude ignores the entertainment industry's power to shape our tastes and preferences.

 

ARAB FUNK

Traditional Arabic vocal inflections and complex percussion are fused with 'house'.

* Khaled (1982) "Didi" from Khaled CD. Universal Music. (Algeria)

* Rachid Taha (2000) "Barra Barra" from Made in Medina CD. Universal Music. (Algeria)

 

AFRICAN GROOVE

Fuses African dance music with electronica and hip-hop.

 

* Abavuki (2010?) "Johannesburg" from African Rhythms CD. Self-published.

* A Piece of Ebony (1994) "Vadzimu" from African Groove CD. Putumayo World Music.

 

CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

Fuses complex polyrhythmic songs with elements of various 'western' styles

 

* Busi Mhlongo (2005) "We Baba Omnicane" from UrbanZulu CD. MeltMusic

* Max Lässer & Madala Kunene (2006) "Unogwaja" (1 & 2) from Bafo CD. MeltMusic.

* Tinariwen (2011) "Aden Osamnat" from Tassili CD. V2 Music.

* Ali Farka Touré (2006) "Yer Bounda Fara" from Savane CD. World Circuit.

 

Sufi Music November 2010

Sufism - Islamic mysticism

Classical Sufi scholars have defined Sufism as a science that aims to focus the heart solely on God, to purify and beautify one’s inner self and to travel into the presence of God.

 

Some Muslims consider Sufism outside of Islam, but mainstream scholars of Islam argue that Sufism is Islamic Mysticism, in which Muslims seek direct personal experience of God (c.f. Christian Gnostics).

 

The esoteric teachings of Sufism have been passed on from teacher to student through the centuries - some summarized in texts, but most not. A Sufi Master diagnoses what is preventing a particular seeker from knowing and serving God, and prescribes an appropriate course of treatment. The seeker cannot diagnose themselves. A Sufi (or Dervish) is simply someone who practices this tradition¹.

 

Some shared foundations

The diverse approaches of Sufi masters, combined with the diverse characters of Sufi seekers have created a wide diversity of Sufi devotional practices.

 

However, they share some foundations. The Qur'an commands all Muslims to remember God through a specific devotional act ('dhikr' [pr. 'zikr']), such as repeating the names of god and excerpts from religious literature.

 

Love - not fear - of god is at the heart of Sufism and music and poetry are ways to achieve ecstasy by drawing closer to god.

 

Contemporary Sufi dhikr ceremonies include recitation, meditation & instrumental music; as well as trance-inducing singing

 

(e.g. the Qawwali music of the Indian sub-continent) and trance-inducing dance (e.g. the whirling of the Mevlevi Sufi order).

 

Sufism and geopolitics

Over a millennium, Sufism contributed to the spread of Islam across several continents and cultures - especially in Africa and Asia. At first its teachings were solely in Arabic, but then they were translated into more than a dozen other languages, including Persian and Turkish.

 

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Sufism was a major influence on the  Ottoman² world and was part of a 'Golden Age' of Islam - a flourishing intellectual culture. More recently, Sufism was part of the resistance to European imperialism in North Africa and South Asia.

 

¹ The word Sufi is said to derive from 'suf' ('wool'), referring either to the simple cloaks of the early Muslim ascetics; or possibly to 'purity'.

2 The Ottoman empire (1300 to 1922) was at its height in the 16th and 17th centuries. Its capital was Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

 

SUFI MUSIC playlist

'TRADITIONAL' SUFI MUSIC

1. (Pakistan) Sain Zahoor (No title) From Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam DVD (World Music Network 2008) (6.19)

Sain Zahoor is a Sufi minstrel who sings in praise of god at Sufi shrines in Pakistan.

 

2. (Turkey) Mevlana Kultur Ve Sanat Vakfy Sanatcy Lary (2000) "Ferahfeza Peprev" from Gel/Come (CD). On The Rough Guide to Sufi Music CD (WMN 2001) (3.14)

A Takht Sharqi (traditional oriental ensemble) consists of a qânun (zither), an Ud (oriental lute), a Nay (reed flute) and a riqq (small tambourine with little cymbals).

 

3. (Pakistan) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1990) "Mustt Mustt" from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan CD (Real World Records)

A leading exponent of qawwali - a style of singing and a type of Sufi devotional song. "Mustt Mustt' is about a 13^th century Sufi 'saint' - Lal Shahbaaz Qalandar.¹

 

4. (Pakistan) Abida Paveen (n.d.) "Tere Ishq Nachaaya" from Songs of the Mystics CD. On The Rough Guide to Sufi Music CD (World Music Network 2001) (5.21)

Abida Paveen sings ghazals (Urdu love songs) and kafis (songs by Sufi poets).

 

5. (Senegal) Boubacar Diagne (n.d.) "Dembe" from Tabla Wolof: Sufi Drumming of Senegal CD. On The Rough Guide to Sufi Music CD (WMN 2001) (3.41)

The qadiriyyah tabla is a Sufi ceremonial drum played by the Wolof people of West Africa; and Dembe is Hausa ceremonial boxing accompanied by drumming.

 

6. (Syria) The Al Kindi Ensemble (n.d.) Untitled. Uploaded 2007. (3.15)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSrdFo-vNDY

7. (India) OSHO International Foundation. (Pune) (n.d.) "Sufi Whirling". Uploaded 2007 (2.35) www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeca3isOoW4&feature=related

The 'multiversity' is the former ashram of Osho Rajneesh (aka Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), an influence on the 'New Age'.

 

8. (Syria) Sheikh Hamza Shakkûr and the Al Kindi Ensemble. The Whirling Dervishes of Damascus. Performance in Amsterdam in 1999. Uploaded 2007 (5.12)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFIQMM8bZQk&feature=related

 

CONTEMPORARY SUFI MUSIC

9. (Pakistan) Junoon (1997) "Sayoni" from Azadi CD. Uploaded 2007 (4.59)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQQLeB7efog

Junoon are leading exponents of 'Sufi Rock' (see also the Mekaal Hasan Band and Laal) and critics of traditional Pakistani society. www.junoon.com/

 

10. (Pakistan) Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1990) "Mustt Mustt (Massive Attack remix)" from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan CD (Real World Records)

A club hit in the UK and the first song in Urdu to reach the British charts. Later, Coca Cola used it in an advert in India.

 

SUFI INFLUENCES IN WESTERN POP

11. Madonna (1994) "Bedtime Story" From Bedtime Stories (CD) (4.52)

The topic is achieving unconsciousness; the video features Arabic calligraphy and whirling dervishes.

(Loreena McKennitt [1994] "The Mystic's Dream" from The Mask and Mirror CD was influenced by Sufi music and poetry. Peter Gabriel and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan are on the soundtrack of Natural Born Killers [dir. Oliver Stone].)

 

¹ See live performances at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjROlQF-wpc (2.05)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLW1U0HGp7E&feature=related (7.51)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 See live performances at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjROlQF-wpc (2.05)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLW1U0HGp7E&feature=related (7.51)