RockOm

By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

Sixteen years ago to this very day, one of the cheesiest pop songs to ever reach #1 on pop radio topped the charts and remained there for five weeks.

The seven-minute, overdramatic epic was the foundation upon which one very... uh... beefy rock-God belted out the catchy hook that had people across the planet simultaneously singing along and scratching their heads...

"I would do anything for love.
Yes, I would do anything for love.
I would do anything for love,
But I won't do that."
[Meatloaf, "I'd Do Anything for Love"]

Wait, what? You won't do what, Mr. Meatloaf?

In a world yet to be saturated with the Almighty Google, blogs or online forums, we were left wondering what in the hell that one thing was. In one breath he proclaims love as the highest ideal, to which he gives the entirety of his heart, mind and soul; in the next, he is hung-up. The limits had been tested and the test came back negative. To misquote ESPN's Chris Berman, "He... could... [not]... go... all... the... way."

Most of us are also like this. We claim that love is both the road upon which to walk as well as the ultimate goal. Because of our spiritual convictions, we're first in line to say that because all people are sparks of or children of the divine, that unconditional love and compassion should be the foundation upon which we build our lives.

Then comes the application...

The truth is that most of us have limits. We're willing to be loving and compassionate - but to a point. I will do anything for love, but...

• ...that jerkwad just cut me off.
• ...I don't really deal with those kinds of people.
• ...you offended or hurt me in some way.

Remember these immortal words from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, "Everyone I know has a big 'but.' C'mon, Simone, let's talk about your big 'but.'" Indeed, we all have a big "but." Very few of us are spiritually developed enough to love completely and at all times.

Fortunately, in this life - at least as I experience it - there is a divine grace that blankets our shortcomings and there is therefore no need for guilt or shame, even when we blow it. And it's not even that love and compassion are required of us anyway. If we choose to not make either a priority, that's our prerogative. It's just that most of us who have chosen to pursue Truth have discovered that Love is indeed worthy of our entire heart, mind and soul.

Over the next few days watch for where you come up against your edge. Try to discover your "but" - that place where you reach the limits of your love. Don't beat yourself up about it; we all have a threshold. But see if you can lean in to your "but", your limit, just a little. Through love, attempt to see other people for who they really are, instead of what they have done to you or who they may appear to be through your projections.

We may never get to the point where saying "...but I won't do that" is truly absent from the way in which we love others, but through practice we can enjoy getting as close as we can.

Did you like this article? The best thanks you can give is to help spread the word. Use the "+ BOOKMARK" button below to send this article to Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon or wherever you connect with your peers!

In this week's podcast episode (#66, "Through the Frame of Faith"), musicians Derek Webb and Josh Garrels share how their spiritual convictions inform how they write music. Other topics you will enjoy include how to understand the new face of the music industry, how music is impacted by the setting in which it is written, connecting to the divine through nature, understanding the role of the artist, and more.

CLICK HERE to visit our Podcast page to download this and other episodes of the RockOm Podcast. While you're there, be sure to hit the Subscribe link to get automatic downloads of episodes as they come available.

By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

You probably remember Venn diagrams from high school (or perhaps you're still using them in your classes or business). While each circle signifies a unique set, overlapping sections represent any common ground.

Since the beginning of known culture, religious traditions have remained mostly within their own circle, rarely choosing to overlap into its neighbor's territory. It's an egoic defense mechanism that shouldn't be blamed; in fact it makes perfect sense. Thankfully though, we're beginning to move into a postmodern era where the overlapping of circles is becoming more and more common. Doing this brings with it not necessarily a diminishing of each individual circle (as traditionalists would have you believe) but an attitude of acceptance and coexistence.

I'm reminded of the famous story by Thich Nhat Hahn:

Twenty years ago at a conference I attended of theologians, and professors of religion, an Indian Christian friend told the assembly, "We are going to hear about the beauties of several traditions, but that does not mean that we are going to make a fruit salad." When it came my turn to speak, I said, "Fruit salad can be delicious! I have shared the Eucharist with Father Daniel Berrigan, and our worship became possible because of the sufferings we Vietnamese and Americans shared over many years." [from Living Buddha, Living Christ]

Notice he didn't say fruit purée. A banana still remains a banana and the apple chunks are still apples. Similarly finding common ground between Islam and Hinduism, for example, and allowing their Venn circles to overlap doesn't necessarily mean the loss of either's unique identity.

What does all of this have to do with music?

As various bloggers, musicians and writers have said many, many times here throughout the pages of RockOm, music is one of the tools that allows people within different circles to begin the process of moving toward one another.

Take the old dichotomy of 'secular' vs. 'sacred'...

This week two very interesting articles piqued my interest. The New York Times reported about a church in Brooklyn that, because of dying church activities and attendance, opened its door for artists to use the building. Non-religious musical groups began rehearsing in a space that, in a previous era, may have been looked down upon because of their 'secular' bent. In a remarkably similar story, a blogger at musicthinktank.com shared last month a very cool story about overcoming reservations of performing 'secular' music in a church setting. She shares,

"I find it encouraging to see more mainstream Christian churches are also seeing that artists like myself are not off topic at all. For a few hours a month, they allow their house of God to also be a House of Blues, where secular artists entertain, educate, and inspire people to do good..."

So what do we make of all this and why do I even bring it up? For a couple of reasons...

1. Cease seeing other as other | Please be cautious of the times where your inclination is to draw a line in the sand, believing someone to be different than yourself. Their circle may overlap with yours more than you think. At least consider giving that person or group the respect to be who they are without requiring them to transform their circle into one that looks like your own.
2. Allow music to help you break down walls | Rarely are people as closed-minded about their musical tastes as they are about their religious belief systems. Get to know folks by asking them about their favorite music (everybody has a favorite!).  Or attend a concert and notice how 'different' everyone is from you, yet they're there as well, enjoying what you're enjoying.
3. It's all 'divine' | If you're a person of faith, consider allowing the lines to blur a bit between what you consider 'sacred' and 'secular'. From a musical angle, see if you can find God in a pop song or can connect to something larger through a rock concert experience. Or simply use whatever music is on - Jay-Z, Megadeth or Miley Cyrus - to help center you in the present moment.
4. You can still be you | Begin to understand that in finding common ground with others, your own beliefs and preferences aren't threatened or lessened in any way. There is a way in which we can drop our guard and find acceptance and understanding toward others while still standing firm and being rooted in our own tradition and convictions.

Did you like this article? The best thanks you can give is to help spread the word. Use the "+ BOOKMARK" button below to send this article to Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon or wherever you connect with your peers!

Most every Westerner has some relationship with the Christian church. He/She is usually either a part of it or alternately has some sort of aversion to it. We all understand that Christianity - maybe even moreso than other faith practices - carries with it a lot of cultural baggage here in the States. For this reason as well as personal reasons, many otherwise "spiritually open" people (the types of which might frequent this site) may tend to dismiss anything that has a Christian label on it. There is the possibility, however, that one is throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater.

Take this week's two main offerings from RockOm, for instance. Top-selling musician Derek Webb [pictured] (who has seen career sales approaching one million records) has a controversial new album that lays out an alternate and more honest perspective in the Christian conversation. He shares with RockOm about this album, his role as an artist and where he believes the music industry is headed. Another follower of Jesus, singer-songwriter Josh Garrels shares our Featured Track of the Week. His song "All Creatures" (which can be streamed in the right column of the homepage all week) speaks to "a deep connection with nature in relation to God."

Give these two guys a shot. You just may be surprised what you'll glean. You may even be blessed in the process.

Trevor, President of RockOm.net

by Josh Garrels

Visit Josh at...
JoshGarrels.com
MySpace.com
iTunes

Josh Garrels has spent the past seven years moving around the country while recording his own albums in spare bedrooms, space heated garages and old attics. He experiments with a unique fusion of folk, breakbeats, and soul music by layering elements of electronic sampling and organic accompaniment. Lost Animals, Josh's latest album of B-sides, collaborations and singles, comes off the heels of 2008's critically acclaimed Jacaranda, which Paste Magazine chief editor Andy Whitman calls "quietly uplifting, sorrowful, real, and transcendently hopeful music."

Featured Track:
"All Creatures"

Click to Play

"'All Creatures' derives it's chorus from an old hymn written by St. Francis of Assisi. He had found a deep connection with nature in relation to God, as he would address 'brother sun, and sister moon' while communing with the birds and animals of fields. Much like St Francis, I've found serenity in worshipping the Creator of all things by delighting myself in his creation. Yet at the same time, when I see the perversion, destruction, and exploitation of his creatures, great and small, I find myself lifting up a cry for mercy, justice, and redemption of all things.' (Josh)

By Trevor Harden, Trevor@RockOm.net

To many, speaking out against sexual prejudice or using an occasional four-letter swear word is no big deal. When an artist with nearly a million career Christian albums sales and ten GMA Dove Awards under his belt does that as part of a major label release, however, people sit up and take notice.

Singer-songwriter Derek Webb has been known to many in the CCM scene for years having been a long time member of Caedmon's Call, the City on a Hill projects and also through his solo releases. His latest album, Stockholm Syndrome, is an honest - and often biting - foray into sexuality, the church, government and culture.

Stockholm proved so provocative, in fact, that Webb's record company removed the song "What Matters More" because of its explicit language, even though the powerful lyrics - in many's opinion - were both prophetic and appropriately used: "'Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face / About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save / Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit / About 50,000 people who are dyin' today."

Using smart marketing techniques, Derek whetted the appetite of his fans prior to the album's release by sending out a series of coded emails and tweets, directing people to a secret website featuring an elaborate alternate reality game.

This is a man who knows how to create buzz.

Because of this, some say his contentious lyrical content is solely for the purpose of attention-getting. Others believe him to be a powerful voice speaking out against societal and religious ills, taking on a set-in-its-ways Christian subculture. Derek himself, however, sees things differently. RockOm recently spoke with Derek Webb about Stockholm Syndrome, the controversy the album has sparked as well as his motivations for songwriting.

---

Trevor: Since for Stockholm Syndrome you used some interesting marketing techniques as well as the way in which you are selling it - by using various tiers - I'm just wondering what your general thoughts are on where the music industry is right now, how the business models are changing and where you, in your opinion, think it's all headed?

Derek: It's something I think a lot about because more than ever this is the time for creative people to apply their creativity as much to the distribution of their music as to the making of it. So I try to really pay attention and stay up on whatever seems to be around the bend to see if there's any way we can harness it to our advantage somehow. Little by little the industry is coming around and they're starting to figure out the technologies that they originally thought were going to ruin them. They're finally starting to see that the revenue streams of the last thirty years are closing down. The money's never going to come in that way again, but there is money to be made if you can just restructure and unplug yourself from the matrix of the old way of thinking about revenue and music. The people who are hanging on to those old structures and fighting for them are the people who are missing the opportunity to the tune that many of them are having to close their doors. By the time it dawns on them what they could have done it'll be too late because they have put all the money that should've gone into research, development and new technologies into lawyers who basically sue their audience, alienating all of their customers.

The most basic part of it is that anything that is digital can and will be free; that's the bottom line. In my opinion, I think it's going to be a lot more common for music to be free over the next five years and basically be a loss-leader for exclusive content, touring and artifacts that enhance the music itself. There are all kinds of ways to get creative about that. People will then start to employ what Chris Anderson (editor for Wired Magazine) calls "freemium," where you give people the content itself and then if they want more - more exclusive, enhancements or higher-quality - then those are the types of things on which you can make the same, if not better, money than you could the old way.

The thing I've learned from it the most is that more significantly than getting money out of your fans today is getting information and meaningful connection with them. If you can get that then you're not going to have any problems making money. Money is not really the problem; the problem is getting fans to trust us as media providers in general. If you can get their trust - and along with that you can make connections with them - then that's your long term asset. I would just as soon give all my music away if it gets more people on the radar for whom I have information. I would have a career for the next ten years if I wanted to at that point. That needs to be the posture for at least the indie community, who should see the value in that. Unfortunately indie artists on the whole aren't known for their marketing skills.

Trevor: It's no secret that you've said some things on this album that have challenged the status quo in many circles and bucked the system a little bit. It took courage to step out like that and say what you really felt needed to be said, so I was wondering if you could talk a little about how you felt emotionally both before and after this album's release. Did you feel an urgency that inspired you to speak up? Were you scared at all to go out on a limb as you did?

Derek: I wasn't really nervous about it because I don't think about that sort of thing while I'm making records or when I'm conceptualizing. I've said this before but it's the best answer I've got: I see it as my job to be the same thing as any other artist, which is to look at the world and tell you what I see. That's the only agenda that I have. Beyond that I don't have any kind of plans or way of thinking I'm trying to convert everyone to or conversations I'm trying to get people to have about issues. I'm not trying to do any of that at this point. I'm just trying to do the very most basic job that I have and that is to look around me, to filter what I see through my particular personality and framework and to tell it to you as honestly and immediately as I can. This is just what comes out.

I wasn't thinking "Who's going to hear this?" or "What are they going to think about it?" These were just the songs that got written. I don't always understand why particular songs get written at particular times or why they wind up being about certain things and not about others. I don't feel like I do a lot of editorial work in my creativity; I write twelve to fifteen songs a year and I record every one of them. Of those, they mostly come out pretty fully formed. I just sit down and write them and I don't fully understand how that process works; it's more of an art than a science.

But if this had been calculated and about me making a statement about these particular issues and wanting to engage a particular community with these questions, then yes, I probably would've been really nervous about it because I would've been thinking about the trouble I was going to get into. I'm never nervous trusting my instincts.

Trevor: I'm sure you've seen the blog posts and the message boards, of people talking about the themes and content of your album. It certainly has sparked - if not controversy - at least a conversation. What are your feelings about how it's being received?

Derek: Man, I'm just thrilled it's being received at all. I'm thrilled people are finding it these days. I'm way down in the niche in terms of what I do. I know it's not music for everybody; I've got a really small tribe of people that I make music for who seem to resonate with the music I make. I can pretty much depend on those people and I hope they can depend on me. But beyond that I'm just really thrilled that people still care enough about music to listen and to give themselves over emotionally to it and get bent out of shape and get all pissed off and write a bunch of blogs. Honestly I'm thrilled that one way or another people are willing to engage with it and that people didn't just toss it off. Some people probably did and that's OK too.

Again, if I had a particular audience I was trying to speak to and say something specific to, if that had been part of my agenda for making the record, then I probably would be a wreck right now. I've heard a handful of comments from people who maybe even support me or agree with me saying that it's a real bummer that the people who should be listening to it won't be either because of the style or the content or the language - that I'm shooting myself in the foot. See the thing is, there's nothing I'm trying to accomplish. I'm not trying to use my music as a tool for anything beyond itself; I'm just trying to make cool records.

Trevor: Our website explores the bond between music and spirituality, independent of particular faith or religious traditions, and so we have a very diverse audience. Since your past work has been mostly in the Christian music industry circle, I'm wondering if Stockholm Syndrome has been received outside of that circle and if so what the response has been?

Derek: Yeah, it has been. It's been really encouraging actually that a handful of different communities seem to be picking up on it and wanting to get behind it and support it. Personally that's gratifying because whatever message is there seems to have gotten across to the right people. We've had splashes of support from here and there from folks who probably would not have supported what anyone might call "Christian music" before that. That's how a lot of what I've read starts - someone will be writing something and say, "Well, hell has frozen over today because I'm about to recommend to you a Christian music artist." But it's never that simple. Those kind of categories don't mean anything to anybody other than marketing people who are trying to simplify demographics and make you buy stuff.

It's the oldest adage in the book at this point but I just don't believe in "Christian music" or "secular music." I mean there are Christian and secular people who make art but all art reflects the framework of the person who made it. In that way the worldview of every artist is stamped on every piece of art they make. Now I'm no different than anybody else. I'm a follower of Jesus so you're going to see the fingerprints of that from time to time in my music. There are certain seasons in my career where I've taken a little more liberty to talk about the frame or the grid itself that I'm looking through. Here in the last so many years I've been more in a season of looking through that grid and telling you what I see beyond it. I'm at liberty to make both kinds of music as would any artist with any kind of belief.

Trevor: Hearing you say that is so refreshing. People don't usually believe Christian musicians can write music as observation as opposed to being for some influential purpose. Why can't a person have a particular faith and create music without an agenda?

Derek: What a novel idea, right? Art suffers most when someone is trying to use it as a tool to do something beyond just be great art and have intrinsic value as great work. I'm at a point in my career that I just want to do great work. I want to try to do honest work and be a trustworthy artist. There will be a lot of people I'll lose along the way and that's OK because my whole career has been a cycle of self-sabotage, which seems to work pretty well for me. I lose as many as I gain each time around. The people I wind up with are people who understand me and who'll be forgiving their first time through a new record if it's something out of left-field. Maybe they'll want to stick around or maybe I'll lose some of those people and their friends join in. All of that is beyond my concern because that seems to operate outside of anything I can have any sort of influence on. I just try to trust my instincts, make the best records I can and hope that there are people out there that are going to hear about them, like them and come out to some shows. [Laughs] It's as simple as that.

LINKS: www.DerekWebb.com

NOTE: Please visit derekwebb.com to purchase the unedited version of the album. Edited (for explicit language) versions are available at all other retailers such as iTunes and Amazon.com.

An interview with Himalayan/Tibetan Bowl Sound Healer Diáne Mandle

What are your observations with people experiencing change and self-discovery through sound?

Diáne: Healing through sound is a movement from disharmony to harmony, a spiritual awakening with a profound impact on the physical body. As we awaken and our perspective shifts, a domino effect ensues that also shifts our vibration and our cellular make up. The shifts cannot occur as separate entities - they affect the whole of who we are and extend infinitely. This transformation of consciousness is the foundational principle of the Himalayan Singing Bowls. Tuned to the vibrational frequency of AUM, the sound of universal perfection, their sound reawakens in us our connection to the universe. Their frequencies gently penetrate and calm the body/mind, balance the hemispheres of the brain, initiate the relaxation response and decrease, fatigue, pain, stiffness, and emotional tension. My clients often report that during sessions they feel completely transported to another dimension while being aware of that which surrounds them, and return feeling revitalized, deeply relaxed and filled with joy (a sense of wholeness). I work with many cancer patients and they report that pain and the effects of chemotherapy is greatly diminished, enhanced sleep patterns, more clarity, energy and a shift in attitude that contributes to their quality of life. Other reports from patients include lowering of blood pressure, positive changes in relationships and the ability to act on issues which they could not act on in the past.

The Tibetan Buddhist philosophy that the singing bowls are rooted in teaches us that embedded in the energy and frequency of the singing bowls is the idea that nothing exists independently of anything else. Healing is a process where we are released from an ego centered finite perspective of ourselves in the world and move into our essence where our vibratory energy is connected with the universe and where, even at a cellular level, we can experience the interrelationship of all things. Without healing, the core issue that caused a physical condition in the first place is likely to manifest again. Sound is the train that helps us get to healing.

What is energy healing & healing energy emission?

Diáne: The sound of Tibetan bowls entrain our energetic system to resonate with them in their perfection. In the universe every dissonant chord tends toward becoming a harmony and that’s what they help our bodies to do. The harmonic resonance of the bowls literally pulls us back into a more universal energetic flow. They effectively transmit their soothing and peaceful vibrations through our body in a way that affects our entire nervous and immune system and initiates the relaxation response bringing us into a Alpha/Theta brainwave state (waking dream state that is home to creativity, inspiration, intuition and where we can let go of our ego boundaries, of our consciousness of our physical state and connect with the non-physical, non dualistic.)

Who and how can people benefit from energy healing?

Diáne: Healing with sound is about getting back into alignment with the benefic energy of the universe. It is experiencing a vibration that connects us all to everything. Anyone can benefit who is willing to open to this energy.

What is the role of the patient and client in the process?

Diáne: We are equal partners in the process. The ultimate role of the practitioner is to empower the client to remember and strengthen his/her inner wisdom and healer. Ultimately the client is the healer, the practitioner is the guide back to that rediscovery.

About Diáne: Diáne Mandle has been practicing Himalayan/Tibetan Bowl Sound Healing since 2000 when she was already working as a Polarity practitioner and a Life Coach. Wanting to expand her knowledge of energy work she began a two year course of study of Tibetan bowls on the east coast with Sacred Sound Workshops and became their first certified practitioner. After relocating to California Diáne established a private practice integrating Polarity, Sound Healing and Coaching and in 2004 became California’s first State Certified Tibetan Bowl Practitioner/Instructor. Her work includes educational workshops, trainings and concerts nationally. Presently associated with the San Diego Cancer Center as one of its Complementary Therapy Team members she offer regular sessions to their patients. To date she has produced three acclaimed CDs, Return to Om and Sarasvati’s Dream and Being Well: The Journey, as well as two books Ancient Sounds for a New Age: Introduction to Himalayan Sacred Sound Instruments and How to Clear Space with Sound Using Tibetan Bowls & Tingshas. Diáne has appeared on numerous radio and television programs, been published in a multitude of journals, magazines and blogs and has traveled to Nepal and India to select high quality instruments and expand her understanding of the originating culture and healing modality. In June of 2008 in answer to an increasing demand for skilled sound healing practitioners she, in association with Sacred Sound Workshops opened the Tibetan Bowl Sound Healing School. The schools mission is to help create and maintain a high standard of practice with the Sacred Sound Instruments.

Find out more about Diáne, her books, music and healing work at SoundEnergyHealing.com.

This week, considering that it's Halloween and all, we've decided to share with you articles about the darker side of music, death, and all that is frightening and spooky. After all, part of spirituality is dealing with and coming to grips with death, so we wanted to help provide you with some musical inspiration for your Halloween weekend.

Below that we've also included our normal RockOm Roundup links, all that's going on around the world in the areas of song and spirit...

Halloween Roundup

• A Halloween Playlist: The Scariest Albums Of All Time - "I've created a list of the scariest albums ever made. It wasn't easy (seriously, I could've included every black-metal album ever made or Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing), but rather than focus on visceral screams, I went for ephemeral chills. These are psychological thrillers — dense, raw, positively horrifying albums, guaranteed to turn your Halloween into a total fright-fest." (mtv.com)

• Scary songs to put a shiver in your Halloween party - "It’s Halloween and time for some scary songs – and, no, I don’t mean Bobby 'Boris' Pickett’s 'Monster Mash.' I mean really scary songs. Here are 20, arranged chronologically, that’ll give you the chills..." (leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com)

• Slayer to stream entire new album on MySpace Music for Halloween weekend - "Thrash legends Slayer will take over MySpace's Music portal this Halloween weekend to promote their upcoming album, World Painted Blood." (examiner.com)

• What are the scariest rock songs ever?- "Aside from the truly frightening new release by the Backstreet Boys or Bob Dylan's new Christmas album, what are the scariest rock songs to tingle your spine and rattle your senses?" (blog.mlive.com)

Miscellaneous Music & Spirituality Links

• The RZA: Hip-Hop's Prophet - "In his new book, Tao of the Wu, RZA tells the story of his own rise, from the streets of Staten Island to the top of the hip-hop world. He describes the lessons he learned about life, music and spirituality--many of them hard--in the simple, elegant prose of a hip-hop poet." (pbs.org)

• Bruce Almighty - "Springsteen saved me when I was a suburban Cleveland teenager, bored and unconsciously seeking fever and fire. My mom advised channeling that desire into the Catholic Church by praying more. 'Mass is what you bring to it,' she said." (philly.org)

• What makes music beautiful? Alfred Brendel knows - "Interpreters should never assume that understanding the structure of a work might automatically give them insight into the work’s character, atmosphere and spiritual state." (artsblog.freedomblogging.com)

• Sting: Obama best person to handle world's 'mess'- Sting says, "My hope is that we can start talking about real issues and not caring about whether God cares about your hemline or your color ... We are here to evolve as one family, and we can't be separate anymore." (news.yahoo.com)

By Tom Crenshaw and Trevor Harden

On Tuesday of this week we posted our review of Sting's new winter-themed concept album, If on a Winter's Night... It just so happens that one of the musicians who plays on this recording - violinist Daniel Hope - shares a home city with RockOm. We reached out to Daniel to get his thoughts on Sting's new collection, what winter means to him and more. First a little background...

British violinist Daniel Hope is a four-time Grammy nominated violin virtuoso who has toured and performed with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors for many years. Hope is renowned for his musical versatility, creativity and his dedication to humanitarian causes. A compelling performer, Hope’s work involves standard repertory, new music, raga, and jazz. He is also an artistic partner, associate artistic director, and producer of musical festivals, events and special musical programs around the world.

Daniel Hope, now an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon artist, has earned a Classical BRIT award, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, and five consecutive ECHO Klassik Prizes. He previously recorded for Warner Classics and Nimbus, playing Bach, Berg, Britten, Elgar, Finzi, Foulds, Ireland, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Penderecki, Schnittke, Shostakovich, Tippett, Walton, and Weill. His interpretation of Ravi Shankar’s compositions, on the CD East Meets West, met with worldwide acclaim.

---

RockOm: Briefly describe how you came to be involved with If on a Winter's Night...

Daniel: In a sense, Sting and I go back a long way, but our connection is a curious one. He bought Yehudi Menuhin's house in London, the place where I spent the first seven years of my life growing up. The house was very important to me, and offered me the first chance to experience some of the greatest musicians close-up, such as Ravi Shankar, Stephane Grapelli, and of course the classical masters. I consider it one of the most important musical influences in my life. When Sting moved into the house, we lived across the street, and so I would often see him around. I became acquainted with his music first through The Police, which I listened to when I was a small boy. In 2006 we were both awarded the German ECHO Prize (the equivalent to the German Grammy), and we met officially for the first time backstage in Munich. Sting was so intrigued by this co-incidence, that we have kept in touch since. Then, early this year, he emailed me and invited me to guest on his new album. I was honoured and very excited.

RockOm: Your improvisation skills are quite impressive and impeccable. How much improvisation did you and the other musicians incorporate into the album?

Daniel: There are phenomenal musicians on this album, and all of them are masters of improvisation too. Classical musicians are not usually required to improvise, but my earliest musical training encouraged me to learn how to, and I am very thankful for that! Of the tracks in which I was involved, and also listened to, there was great freedom between the musicians, and it was inspiring to watch the story unfold.

RockOm: What are your overall impressions of the completed album?

Daniel: I think it's a beautiful, unique and deeply powerful album. Sting is a supreme artist, and his knowledge and command of repertoire, style and musicality is simply astonishing. I can't think of another pop star who would have the courage or the insight to bring off, for example, a song from Schubert's Winterreise or a Purcell Aria, and yet, everything Sting does, he does with his own voice and expression, and the very highest level.

RockOm: What does winter mean to you, both personally as well as from a philosophical viewpoint?

Daniel: For me winter is a season of reflection, and calm, especially as the year draws to a close. I can't think of a better companion to these feelings than sitting in front of the fire, and listening to If on a Winter's Night...

http://www.danielhope.com/home/

Early today we posted an insightful interview with Christine Stevens of UpBeat Drum Circles. Now's your chance to hear the interview first-hand. Check out the newest episode of the RockOm Podcast to hear our conversation about how music bridges cultural and spiritual "differences" and to check out all this amazing group is doing in the world.

CLICK HERE to visit our Podcast page to download this and other episodes of the RockOm Podcast. Grab it for your commute and be sure to tell a friend we're here exploring the bond between music and spirituality!