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.
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The audio from our informal roundtable discussion with Shantala comprises this week's audio podcast episode. Topics include the difference between Eastern and Western musical training, how musicians communicate, playing music to accompany yoga, connecting with the Divine through song and much more.
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!
Our audio interviews with Featured Track artist Ayurveda and Counting Crows founder Matt Malley comprise this week's audio podcast episode. Topics include the music of Ayurveda, music as the gateway to the divine, Matt Malley's decision to leave the Counting Crows, harnessing Kundalini energy and much more.
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!
Flip over to any news station, media outlet, twitter account or hip website and you'll soon discover that today is Beatles Day, 09.09.09. It marks the release of The Beatles Rock Band, The Beatles Remastered Box Set and the world is abuzz again with Beatlemania.
It's common knowledge that the Fab Four (to varying degrees) developed an interest in meditation and spirituality in the late 60s, which (as any true life practice should do) rubbed off into their lyrics and songwriting. So with that said and in honor of this special day, here's a short list of our favorite spiritually-charged Beatles tunes.
EXCERPT: "Jai guru deva om, nothing's gonna change my world, nothing's gonna change my world."
REFLECTION: Utilizing a Sanskrit mantra (roughly translated as "Victory to God divine" or "Hail to the divine guru"), "Across the Universe" speaks to experiencing the divine in "limitless undying love" and in the multitude of forms ("Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes"). But perhaps the most beautiful truth lies in the simple chorus. When we're centered in spirit, it matters not what the dance of life does around us. Nothing can perturb us; nothing can shake us, ever. "Nothing's going to change my world."
EXCERPT: "There's nothing you can make that can't be made, No one you can save that can't be saved, Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you, in time - It's easy. All you need is love."
REFLECTION: Of course everyone knows the chorus of this song, which proclaims that all there is, all there ever will be and all we'll ever need is love. As Brian Epstein put it, "It was an inspired song and they really wanted to give the world a message... The nice thing about it is that it cannot be misinterpreted. It is a clear message saying that love is everything." The Zen koan-like verses are also quite profound: "There's nothing you can make that can't be made." Take that Bodhidharma!
EXCERPT: "Without going out of my door, I can know all things on earth, Without looking out of my window, I could know the ways of heaven."
REFLECTION: Lifted almost verbatim from Chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching, "The Inner Light" is proof of writer George Harrison's spiritual search and influence. Over a merging of classical Indian instrumentation with Western song form and delivery, "The Inner Light" speaks of looking within to discover the whole universe instead of searching without. Wise words, indeed, as we too often seek outside of ourselves when all that is required is to uncover the spark of the divine that is closer than our breaths.
EXCERPT: "All I can hear, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine; Even those tears, I me mine, I me mine, I me mine; No-one's frightened of playing it, Ev'ryone's saying it, Flowing more freely than wine; I me mine."
REFLECTION: A reflection of the Ego's destructive impact on our personal lives and the world, "I Me Mine" is yet another testament to George Harrison's growing disillusionment with ego and interest in compassion and connectedness. As this song's Wikipedia article shares, "the Bhagavad Gita 2:71-72 can be translated as 'They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of 'I,' 'me,' and 'mine' to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state. Attain to this, and pass from death to immortality."
OTHERS:
"Within You Without You"
"Let It Be"
"Help"
"Because"
"Here Comes the Sun"
Thoughts? Other suggestions or reflections? Leave some comment love...
Stop now, quiet your mind and anticipate the sound. Regard your instrument with respect and may I say, love? Hold it in your hands, feel its weight, smell its scent, experience its being and texture, your familiar friend. If Zen is the sound of one hand clapping, then how much greater of an event is about to take place? Fill your heart with the expectation of the first note, the last note, the only note. Allow your heart to be surprised by this attack of sound, as if by the appearance of a long lost love. Listen as it fills the air, stay with it as it dissolves until nothing is left but the air it occupied. Feel your heart’s hunger for the sound to return.
Now. Play. Not with your mind, but return your hands, your ears, your creative voice to the divine from whom they are on loan. There is a song to sing, and it is worth hearing. It is good to allow your being to fill up with joy, love, and light. Watch and listen, be a mind-full witness to this miracle. And when the song is finished, linger for a moment, breathing in the air that was blessed by this heavenly thing called music.
"Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite."
At RockOm we explore the bond between music and spirituality (in its many and various expressions and faiths) for the artists and listeners who are moved by those expressions. We're fully cognizant that others might not feel the same as we do. Take for example this differing opinion from singer/songwriter Robbie Fulks in his song “God Isn’t Real.”
"A world filled with wonder,
a cold, fathomless sky
A man's life so meager, he can but wonder why
He cries out to Heaven its truth to reveal
The answer: only silence, for God isn't real.
Go ask the starving millions
under Stalin's cruel reign
Go ask the child with cancer who eases her pain
Then go to your churches, if that's how you feel...
But don't ask me to follow, for God isn't real."
[lyrics from "Gold Isn't Real" by Robbie Fulks]
And yet, wherever you may fall on the spectrum of belief, one thing we can probably all agree on based on our experience is that music connects us with some sort of unexplainable creative force whether it be called an omnipresent being, or the awesome power of nature, or the mystery or being, or simply the awareness of love's presence.
Through dialog and exploration, the RockOm community is trying to find the common ground that's beneath everyone's feet - theistic, non-theistic, and everything in-between. Exploring the opposite of what we believe can be healthy, help us come to better understand what we DO believe and make us more compassionate toward one another.
An Interview with Brooklyn Qawwali Party By Tom Crenshaw, tom@rockom.net
The New York Times says, "Liking Brooklyn Qawwali Party doesn't depend on if you know what Qawwali is. Nor does it depend on how you feel about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, its most revered practitioner. This is an 11-piece band… that piles texture into Mr. Khan's melodies, ultimately transforming them; it's joyous music, and this band adds all the extra fun and funk it knows." Paying tribute to one of the world’s great vocalists, Brooklyn Qawwali Party formed to honor the legendary Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, reworking his thunderous songs for an eclectic orchestra comprised of groundbreaking jazz musicians. Funky, smart, and loving, BQP captures the joyful spirit of this Pakistani folk music in a unique instrumental blend of jazz and Qawwali that will be sure to get you on your feet and clapping. RockOm recently sat down with Brook Martinez, founder of Brooklyn Qawwali Party to discuss the band’s music, the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and their appearance on CBS Television special Faith, Music and Culture.
RockOm: Tell us how Brooklyn Qawwali Party came about.
Brook Martinez: Brooklyn Qawwali Party came about in 2004. In college I had become a fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the late great Pakastani Sufi vocalist, who became internationally famous in the '80s and '90s and then died in 1997. Originally I was studying Indian philosophy and Indian music and then I studied jazz and worked at the World Music Institute, which is a non-profit in New York that used to present him before he died. So I had been a fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan for a while and I had also been studying jazz in New York and was an active New York jazz musician. Basically, my community of musicians started to pass around a CD of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan without me knowing until they finally came up to me and said, "Hey, have you heard of this guy? He's an amazing singer!" I said, "Of course I've heard of him. I've been listening to him for forever." I didn't know they were interested in that kind of music; I thought they were more interested in Western jazz music. So once I knew that my jazz community was starting to get into him I thought, well this music actually lends itself well or has parallels to jazz music in that it uses simple melodies as platforms for improvisation and it's got a great swinging rhythm similar to jazz. So I thought, well what if we tried playing these melodies themselves - not singing them and not singing the Sufi poetry as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan did - but actually perform them with our own jazz instruments? So I got five of my horn player friends together, percussionists, someone who could play accordion and eventually change that to the harmonium, and guitar and bass and we tried playing the music and it really worked out. That was back in 2004 and we had our first show that summer.
RockOm: What was the original reaction from your musician buddies? Did they think you had lost your mind that you were trying to unite these two fronts?
Brook: No, the initial reaction was "Yes!" One member found out that I had this idea and he was like, "I have to be in this band." They instantly knew this was something special and they basically sought me out for it. I chose people I had wanted but there was even one musician who heard about it from a friend and was like, "Oh, I gotta do that... that would be amazing." And then at the first rehearsal, the first notes we hit, we all sort of knew and looked at each other and said, "This sounds really good." From the start it was really exciting.
RockOm: Is it just about the music for you guys or do you actually subscribe to the Sufi faith and tradition? Is that something you practice?
Brook: Well, my approach to the band was to go from the music into wherever each person is at spiritually and allow the music to move them in that way. Everyone really has their own different spiritual beliefs. None of us are actually practicing Sufis. But the music from its origins is inherently spiritual and Sufism has an openness by saying that it really is about your own intimate relationship with The Higher or the Divine, regardless of your religion or what you believe in. For me personally, it's about the actual experience in the moment of playing that hopefully will move us into different states of good feeling. Original qawwali is really to get into a sort of spiritual trance or higher vibration through the music. So personally I just open myself up to the music and I've had all different experiences with the music - amazing moments as well as moments where I'm just a band leader managing a band. I think that's reality; every note you play can't be an ecstatic high but if you are open to the music then things can happen. I try to keep the music itself in an open enough format where special moments can happen.
RockOm: Particularly now with what's going on in Iran, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and unrest throughout the middle east, how important is it to learn about eastern music?
Brook: Music is just one part of learning about eastern culture and understanding that for the most part, we're all very much the same. Then there are extremes on both ends that we hear about in the news all the time, with the more intense political and religious movements. But from my experience, I get so much positive feedback from Pakistani-Americans and Pakistani people all over the world who have been very happy about this. I think an awareness is coming about in the West about the East and eastern music. The musical CDs are available, you can watch videos on YouTube, and so the information is there and people know that it's good. From my perspective, the political media tries to create the separation and drama, but it's up to the people, from the roots, to understand beyond that. We're all so similar, with our own ethnic flares, but at the core we're all human beings.
RockOm: We had the opportunity to interview the Wailers not too long ago and I had asked that if you knew nothing about Rasta, if the spirituality was transferable through the music. So let me ask you about Qawwali. If we know nothing about the music or spirituality itself, do you think there's an essence in the music that's transferable, creating a spark with the audience where there was none before?
Brook: When Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan brought this music to the international limelight, no one that didn't speak Urdu could understand the lyrics, but he became an international superstar. The essence of the music was coming through, regardless if you could understand the poetry and if you knew the history of it all. We were all moved by his music, not by the beliefs we knew that he had, but more by the more immediate effect of listening to his music which was enlivening to say the least. I was able to take that as the reason we focused specifically on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, because he was the one who brought this to the international limelight. We felt almost welcome to take his style of the music and play with it. Just understanding him from interviews and from friends of his, he had a very open mind on collaborating with the West. So for us, it's really about that immediate effect which can range from making someone smile, making someone get up and dance (when they may not have that night), making someone feel inner joy by listening to good music or maybe someone having a real experience with it. And that really is up to the listener and where they're at that day or in that moment in their life. You just never know.
RockOm: One thing undeniable about Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's music as well as the music that BQP makes is that you can't really be still and listen to it. You have to move; It creates a vibration that makes me want to move. It's a very proactive music.
Brook: Absolutely. I'm a drummer and I'm moved by rhythm, that's my thing. With Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Brooklyn Qawwali Party, it's sort of that the rhythm and how it moves you that is the basis for it all. It was really important to me to choose this music, as opposed to other religious music that I love that can be more solemn, because it's upbeat, joyous, it grooves and has that intensity. We compare it to Western gospel music because it has that real intense energy that's not so focused on the more solemn side of religious chant but on the energized side.
RockOm: Tell us about the CBS television special that the band was featured on. How did that come about?
Brook: The CBS documentary was a 30-minute special called Faith, Music and Culture. They had found out about Brooklyn Qawwali Party through someone in their office that said, "Oh, this would be a good band for that." They sent me an email and said "We're the CBS Religion Unit" - which I never knew existed [laughs] - and said they were doing this thing with a Christian a capella group, Jewish rappers, kirtan and they'd love to do us too. They came and videoed a local show in Brooklyn and it was great.
RockOm: Tell us about your song, "Mustt Mustt."
Brook: This was one of the first songs that we started playing and one of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's most famous songs. It has actually been covered by Massive Attack, who did a collaboration with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in the early 90's and he's recorded it so many times. In Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's culture it's just a popular number and so it's one we love to play for everyone.
RockOm: What's the future hold for Brooklyn Qawwali Party?
Brook: The future holds a second album, hopefully coming out in the fall. We're also playing at Lincoln Center on August 12th at 7:30 for their free outdoor festival, which it's a great honor to be a part of that festival. We're sharing it with Susheela Raman who is a fantastic singer from India. That's our next big show in New York and we're just looking to do some collaborating with singers as well, which could be really interesting coming up. The future is exciting for us.
Last summer, RockOm asked yoga chant master Krishna Das the following question:
"From kirtan sessions to Sunday morning church services, why do you believe music is such a powerful agent in connecting us with the divine?"
While you can read KD's answer here, we were recently pleased to read a new article laying the same question out on the table - though, in this instance, from more of a Christian/Jewish worship perspective.
Voices of Faith: What is the importance of music in worship?
for McClatchy Newspapers
The Rev. Fran T. Cary, pastor of Trinity A.M.E. Church, Kansas City, Kan.: Music is something we both hear and sing when we worship. This is related to the fact that worship is both call and response. The call of God reaches the depths of our hearts with special power through music, and our singing expresses with special power the deepest response of our hearts to God.
When we recognize the importance of music we do not detract from the centrality of word and sacrament. On the contrary, music adds immeasurably to the power of Scripture and preaching, prayer and sacrament. Because music is also rooted in the emotions, music can express the inexpressible and serve as a mask for realities in life.
Music allows us to demonstrate our belief in and faith in God through adoration and praise. It is an attempt of the human spirit to touch the divine through religious activity. Keeping this in mind, there are some things that music should do.
First, the quality of music should be constantly tested by the biblical norm. Second, music must be understood in the context of worship. Third, music must reflect the social as well as the theological history of the community. Fourth, music should contribute to the edification, or "up-building," of the people of God.
Rabbi Mark Levin of Congregation Beth Torah, Overland Park, Kan.: From the human perspective, God is wholly other. We share only the holiness God has implanted within us. But God has provided humans with an intuition of God's existence and the means for humans to cross the infinite gap between the human and the divine. Among these are love, altruism, meditation, prayer and music.
Music has many roles in worship. Where words conceptualize and build one upon the other like bricks in a building, music's immediacy bypasses the rational and taps directly into the emotional. Music facilitates intimate experiences of the divine, even though those experiences are entirely personal and therefore non-transmittable except among those who share the moment. Music brings the divine and human together beyond rational cognition to nearly familiar communication.
Often music is used not only to construct a communal experience, but also to facilitate memorization and repetition. In the Hebrew chanting of the Torah, musical cadences are harnessed to express the grammar and divine intent of the unvocalized text that contains neither capital letters nor punctuation.
Thus music is the interpretive tool to transmit divine words to the people. In combining movement, prayer and music, the entire body is brought to the prayer experience and utilized to connect to God.
Music connects the past to the present and links global communities in different times and places together in a shared experience of approaching God.
The practice of deeper listening to sacred verses, sacred poetry, spiritual music / song for Divine remembrance and in Divine remembrance is a sufi practice known as Sama or Sema. The word 'Sama' comes from Arabic with a root meaning to listen (as Sh'ma in Hebrew):
The musical and ecstatic aspect of Sufism is called sama. The sufis, while being spiritually enraptured, give all the attention of their hearts to the Beloved. Often with special and rhythmical music, they engage themselves in the selfless remembrance of God. In this state, the sufi is a drunken lover who becomes unaware of everything but God. With all their faculties the sufis are attentive to the Beloved, and have totally given up and forgotten themselves. - via Nimatullahi sufi order
As the planets revolve around the sun, the seeker's consciousness revolve around the axis of All Pervading Divine Light. In a perfected Sama the sufi's consciousness is flooded with divine ecstasy and joy begins to permeate from the Grand Consciousness. The purposes of music in Sama is to help stimulate the love for the Divine so that the torrential downpour of spiritual ecstasy (wajd) may flood the consciousness of the aspirant.
For more thoughts, reflections and quotes on Sama, see Mystic Saint's original post at "Inspirations and Creative Thoughts" (http://mysticsaint.blogspot.com).
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.
The audio from our informal roundtable discussion with 
TITLE: ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (
TITLE: ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE (
TITLE: THE INNER LIGHT (
Stop now, quiet your mind and anticipate the sound. Regard your instrument with respect and may I say, love? Hold it in your hands, feel its weight, smell its scent, experience its being and texture, your familiar friend. If Zen is the sound of one hand clapping, then how much greater of an event is about to take place? Fill your heart with the expectation of the first note, the last note, the only note. Allow your heart to be surprised by this attack of sound, as if by the appearance of a long lost love. Listen as it fills the air, stay with it as it dissolves until nothing is left but the air it occupied. Feel your heart’s hunger for the sound to return.
"Music is well said to be the speech of angels; in fact, nothing among the utterances allowed to man is felt to be so divine. It brings us near to the infinite."
At RockOm we explore the bond between music and spirituality (in its many and various expressions and faiths) for the artists and listeners who are moved by those expressions. We're fully cognizant that others might not feel the same as we do. Take for example this differing opinion from singer/songwriter 
The practice of deeper listening to sacred verses, sacred poetry, spiritual music / song for Divine remembrance and in Divine remembrance is a sufi practice known as Sama or Sema. The word 'Sama' comes from Arabic with a root meaning to listen (as Sh'ma in Hebrew):
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