RockOm

In this week's podcast episode (#66, "Stripping Away"), musicians Carly Simon and Heather Maloney share interviews with RockOm. Carly talks about stripping down her hits for the new album Never Been Gone and singer-songwriter Heather Maloney shares about the stripping away process that occurs in meditation.

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

Modulation (mod-yoo-LAY-shun)
1. The process of changing from one key to another.
2. In electronic music, the term is applied to a change of frequency, amplitude, or other changes of similar nature possible through electronics.

(Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary)

Modulation, in music, is the act or process of changing from one key or tonal center to another. You can hear samples of various different kinds of classical music modulations - including Direct Modulation and Pivot Tone Modulation - HERE.

For a person with no music theory background this all most likely sounds like incomprehensible jargon. It's one of those things you have to hear to fully understand, but the truth is you've heard it many times.

Take this song for instance. Listen starting around the 3:00 mark; do you notice the upward shift at 3:17? That's modulation or a key change.

Well, Pir Vilayat Khan (1916-2004), the great Sufi master once said that "Meditation...could be defined as the art of modulating consciousness." The same could be said for prayer or other forms of spiritual discipline. Like a song that suddenly or gradually shifts one key higher, doing the work of spiritual discipline shifts our consciousness a notch or two closer to the "Divine Reality." As lay monk Brother Wayne Teasdale says in The Mystic Hours: A Daybook of Inspirational Wisdom and Devotion:

"To modulate our consciousness through meditation is to allow for its transformation, the change from self-preoccupation to God-realization, from ego-fixation to Divine Love... Gradually, as we learn to fine-tune our normally uncontrolled thoughts and preoccupations, we tune to the Divinity already ever-present in our consciousness."

If you have the ear to do so, as you hear modulations or key changes in the music you listen to this week, let it be a reminder to continue in your spiritual practice. Like tying a ribbon around your finger to help you remember, allow musical modulations to be "a reminder message from the universe" to stop and take a moment to pray or - in some other way - align yourself with Divine Love.

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)

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!

By Tom Crenshaw, Tom@RockOm.net

Three melodic strings, a drumbeat and a passionate desire to connect with another can create a force that is larger than life. This immense, graceful force can be found in Christine Stevens and UpBeat Drum Circles as they travel the world, often venturing into hostile and war-torn territories to bridge cultural and spiritual barriers through music.

Music holds many keys for conflict healing and is an incredibly valuable weapon for promoting peace and reconciliation. Through music Christine Stevens has selflessly dedicated her life and resources in a mission to change the world one heartbeat and drumbeat at a time. Christine is an internationally acclaimed musician, author, music therapist and speaker as well as the founder of UpBeat Drum Circles. RockOm has made a dear friend in Christine featuring her work many times on our website.

We caught up with Christine recently to talk about bridging cultural barriers through music and instrumentation knowing she would have much to share with us on the subject. In connecting with Christine again we are introduced to the Strumstick: a three-stringed instrument whose small nature belies its capabilities. Through the Strumstick and drumming Christine has propagated goodwill, grace and peacemaking not only in Iraq but around the world as well.

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Tom: In your work with Ashti Drum in Iraq, when you first are introduced to perform for a group is there an air of apprehension on either your part as a musician or those you’re meeting for the first time with regards to your being a Western musician? If so how do you make that first, all-important connection?

Christine: Well that’s a good question. "The beginning is half the whole" as they say and the first moments of a connection are crucial. A lot of preparation goes into going to Iraq. I dress according to the cultural norms; I dyed my hair, wore a hijab and prepared to meet people in their way. The first connection - what I noticed - it was all about making music and not talking at all.

More often than not, I introduce myself with drumming  and then wait and see if someone will answer you. [Laughs] What I love about the Strumstick and bringing a melodic instrument with me to Iraq to complement the drum circle program is that the Strumstick is in open tuning, like a drone. When you start to make that drone, people start to come. It’s a magnetic force for group gatherings. When you play a Strumstick it’s a call for singing and chanting. So I would play a simple open drone and often someone would just stand up and chant using Middle Eastern scales.

The idea for music for peacemaking has to do with some very important principles including inclusiveness and we get everyone to participate by handing out our rhythmic instruments. Everyone can join the beat. I love what Mickey Hart (drummer for The Dead) says, “When we drum together we create sacred space.” When we add the Strumstick and that drone - chanting and rhythm - we create a symphony of cultural sharing from the heart.

Tom: So using a Strumstick made the difficult work in bridging cultural barriers easier?

Christine: I would say that it makes it much easier because this time I had this fantastic instrument that was created by Bob McNally (he’s based in New Jersey and his information is at strumstick.com). What I love about it is that it’s three strings and no wrong notes! Anyone can play this! The biggest barrier is words, I think. As long as we’re aware of each other's culture and we’re sensitive, what is the real barrier? It’s words! With music, we can talk. We have to simplify to create that bridge for cultural connection.

The other thing I will say is that in my travels around the world with the Strumstick, everybody knows Bob Marley and you can play Bob Marley tunes on this real easily. According to the Dalai Lama, what we need to do to create peace on the planet is to have more music sharing and music festivals.

Tom: Oh, I agree. More music and more music festivals. That’s the plan and a perfect prescription. Many times we get caught up with words, like you say, when we simply should just let the music speak for us.

Christine: I think we’re becoming energy linguists. In sound and in music we can communicate best… our heart, our feelings. When we communicate on that plane there’s no conflict, there’s no war. We create “sacred space.” What happens in sacred space? We create connections and harmony. Just the word harmony is a metaphor for what we’re creating on the planet right now, one beat at a time.

Tom: Why is it that some people think they could never learn a musical instrument when drumming and the Strumstick, with only a fraction of instruction, turn anyone into a music-maker?

Christine: The key is having a very easy, immediate learning curve. We give up on ourselves too easily. If I had to sit down and try to learn piano scales right away I’d probably quit too, but because you can get a sound immediately on a drum, and a good sound immediately on a Strumstick without any training, all of a sudden children who have never played an instrument before can be in a jam session. I think it’s time to remove that dualistic thinking that some people have talent and some don’t and recognize that music is who we are - that we are biologically wired for music. We all have a singing voice, we all have a drum beat called our heartbeat, and it’s time to let go of all those myths and lies, find the instrument that calls to our heart and be part of the music.

Tom:  In your experience how important are the arts, especially music in connecting us with one another and why aren’t diplomatic efforts on the part of nations engaged in peace making more focused on cultural exchanges involving musicians and artists?

Christine: That’s actually not true. There are many diplomatic efforts right now happening through music. If you look at U.S. history one of the first efforts of diplomacy was sending an African-American gospel choir to Russia during the beginning of the Cold War. Louis Armstrong was paid by the State Department to travel and play music.  I just think we need more of this and the vision that I hold is that before the United Nations talk - we have to have dialogue - first we would have music together. First there would be a performance and then there would be dialogue. I don’t believe it’s only about the music; I think it’s about the whole protocol of combining music-making, musical sharing and appreciation of each other’s culture, and true listening.

Tom: What’s upcoming in the near future for UpBeat Drum Circles?

Christine: We have opportunities to train people in the HealthRHYTHMS program that Remo Drum Company sponsors and we’ll be teaching more in the sacred drumming and peace building traditions in places like the Shambhala Mountain Center. We’re working on some new books and CDs about UpBeat Drum Circle's and Ashti Drum's whole journey in the Middle East hoping to continue to build our drum ashram, our drum ministry, our peace drum corps and continue to collaborate with RockOm. We love learning so much from visiting your site and tuning into what RockOm is doing. Thank you so much for that, Tom.

LINKS:

Visit Strumstick.com to learn more and to see and hear Christine demonstrate its versatility

Be sure to view all our features and interviews with Christine Stevens:

The Rhythm of Life

Social Change and the Power of Music

Global Resonance

By Trevor Harden, trevor@RockOm.net

"For we are gathered here to celebrate and explore the music of Winter,
the season of frosts and long dark nights."

So writes Sting in the liner notes to his latest recording, If on a Winter's Night..., a concept album centered on the darkest and most contemplative of the four seasons. What began as a suggestion to create a Christmas album has evolved into a collection of pensive songs - both original and borrowed - that survey that most spiritually reflective time of year.

Sting continues,

"Like all early creatures we seem pre-wired to recognize and respond to the polar archetypes of light and dark, of heat and cold as they are encoded in the rhythm of the days and nights and the perpetual cycle of the seasons."

And while most of Sting's popular work - if not lyrically, at least in tone - has rested more in the realm of light, If on a Winter's Night... plunges into the darkness and stays there for 50 frigid minutes, never budging from its stoic, frosty soundscape.

To get a sense of this album, one has only to look at the cover art: Sting walks alone in a snowy woods, accompanied only by his icy-whiskered companion named Compass. There is a silence that whispers from within the photo, only presumably broken by the sound of crunching snow collapsing beneath rubber soles. And this picture, in its simplicity, sums up the album perfectly, as if the audio from these 15 tracks had coalesced into a single image.  Both Sting and his marketing team have done a fantastic job "setting the stage" for this album, carrying out the concept and vision to its fullest potential: Pictures in the album's liner book include a heavily bearded and deep-eyed Sting, blustery landscapes, sweaters and coats, candle-lit living rooms and musicians in wistful meditation. Wintry words spill out from the pages of Sting's personal commentary such as mentions of "hot mugs of tea," scarves, ghosts and coal fires... he's certainly attempting to paint a picture. And he has, quite successfully.

PARALLEL STORIES

You could go so far as to say that a Winter-themed album that ignores the reality of Christmas would be in error, as the two have become so intertwined in Western culture. As the large portion of Sting's borrowed material stems from British and Scottish sources, it's no surprise that the album begins with a song singing the praises of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In fact the story of the "God-child come to earth" makes repeat appearances on If on a Winter's Night..., appearing also in the recordings of the 15th century German carol "Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming," the touching fable-song "Cherry Tree Carol," and beyond. Despite Sting's self-professed agnosticism, he shares that "the sacred symbolism of the church's art still exerts a powerful influence over [him]."

Don't for a minute believe this is a Christian-centric album, however. Alongside hymns singing the praises of "the root of Jesse" are hints of something more ancient, medieval, folksy, ritualistic, natural and even pagan. In his own words, Sting says that it was "important to draw parallels between the Christian story and the older traditions of the winter solstice."

Spiritually and metaphorically, Winter's Night draws you inward through sonic themes related to winter such as reflectiveness, introspection and stillness. In order to fully "get" this album and its overtly subtle tone, one almost needs to understand Sting's motivation:

"...there is something of the Winter that is primal, mysterious and utterly irreplaceable ... as if we somehow need the darkness of the winter months to replenish our inner spirits as much as we need the light, energy and warmth of summer."

He goes further, acknowledging that Resurrection and light are just around the bend as Winter soon makes way for Spring. In truth they are two sides of the same coin:

"We are reminded that there is light and life at the centre of the darkness that is Winter - or conversely that, no matter how comfortable we feel in the cradle, there is darkness and danger all around us."

THE SONGS

Those longing to hear a new offering supported by Sting's Fender P-bass, electric guitars, synthesizers and a trap set need look elsewhere for herein we experience the folk-inspired sounds of harp, classical guitar, Melodeon, cello, Northumbrian Pipes, and fiddle. Fans of the Sting who penned Brand New Day, Mercury Falling, Ten Summoner's Tales and the majority of the Police's material will have to be remarkably open to other styles of music in order to include this alongside their favorite of his albums. This is not because this latest release is less than his previous offerings, not at all, but rather that it is so extraordinarily different from them. If On a Winter's Night... was released on the Deutsche Grammophon label which is both appropriate and telling, for this collection of songs belongs more suitably alongside your classical CDs (or even his own 2006 album Songs from the Labyrinth) than it does next to your Peter Gabriel or Paul Simon discs.

Sting begins with "Gabriel's Message," singing "Most highly favored lady, Gloria!" over the gentle instrumentation of a nylon-stringed guitar, muted horns and tight vocal harmonies.  From there the album slowly and intentionally bubbles forward like a frozen-over brook, presenting classical and folk pieces including a Celtic begging song, a folk tune from Sting's home of Newcastle, a number from Henry Purcell's King Arthur, a reference to Schubert's Winterreise and more; as well as two original pieces, the beautiful "Lullaby for an Anxious Child" and a new arrangement of the previously recorded "Hounds of Winter."

CONCLUSION

If on a Winter's Night... is almost "application music," or music for the purpose of introspection, mood setting, or direct listening. It most likely shouldn't be considered for enlivening your holiday party with yuletide cheer and may not even be - if I may be so bold - for entertainment. Like most music with depth, it requires a certain conscious presence to fully appreciate and experience, coming to grips with it over time like slowly warming beneath a freshly applied sweater.

There's a mystery in the dark of winter that is both unsettling and strangely comforting, as if everything remains unanswered and yet is perfect as it is; If on a Winter's Night... resides in that mystery. It isn't music for everyone, nor will there be any signature Sting hit singles emerging from it, and yet for those brave enough to look within and meditate on what lies in the heart of darkness, it is a welcome companion to the bleak seasons, both in nature and in the soul.

"If I have a spirituality at all, it's about music. I play and I listen to music as if it really matters to my soul, to my eternal being." [Sting]

RockOm Round-up is a quick glance at what's going on around the world in the areas of music and spirituality...

• Good Vs. Evil Do Battle Joyously - "Hellfire and damnation, and a whole lot of heavenly singing and earthly argumentation. That's what you get in 'The Message Is in the Music (God Is a Black Man Named Ricky),' Jackie Taylor's red-hot new musical for the Black Ensemble Theater." (suburbanchicagonews.com)

• Meshell Ndegeocello: Sacredly Profane - "'If you could lick your balls,' chuckles [musician] Meshell Ndegeocello, 'you would!' With that playfully indelicate visual, Ndegeocello illustrates a point she's been making through music for the better part of her career: Spiritual growth need not preclude sensuality." (seattleweekly.com)

• In Search Of Beethoven - "Where did a man so flawed and troubled by life, love and illness find the spiritual depth to write music that was so moving and even joyous? Where does the hope come from?" (brisbanetimes.com.au)

• Unrelenting Desire for Spiritual Freedom Through Music - "Various literature and textbooks in the history have referred to music as the food for the soul. If the right chord touches the heart, it is said to soothe the mind and body of an individual, freeing them from all worries and stresses that are pent up inside. Nizar Lalani and Njane Mugambi are two people with a mission of accomplishing spiritual freedom through the music they create." (thenews.com.pk)

• Q&A with a Jewish Rock Star- "Rick Recht, a top touring international Jewish rock star, is distributing free copies of his brand new album of inspirational Shabbat melodies, Simply Shabbat..." (jewishinstlouis.org)

• Q&A: Michael Buble talks new CD, love and religion- "As I get older I have a different concept of what God is to me and — it's not that I'm into organized religion — the truth is that I don't know. I'm sorry if that offends people out there, but I'm just being honest, I don't know..." (news.yahoo.com)

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!

A round-table discussion with Shantala
By Tom Crenshaw and Trevor Harden

Benjy and Heather Wertheimer are simply two of the most amazing and dedicated artists RockOm has had the opportunity to meet. Both lead kirtan (sacred chanting) worldwide as the duo Shantala (sometimes as a trio with Brent Kuecker) with soul-stirring vocals, sacred lyrics and exotic instrumentation. Shantala has performed and recorded internationally with such sacred music luminaries as RockOm alums Krishna Das and Jai Uttal, as well as with Deva Premal & Miten and others. In summer 2008, they were named as one of the top "Wallahs to Watch" by Yoga + Joyful Living.

Heather Wertheimer is a singer, songwriter and guitarist who combines her special love of both music and yoga to lead devotional chanting for yoga workshops and spiritual gatherings internationally. Heather's debut CD with Shantala, Church of Sky, was named by New Age Retailer as one of the top ten albums of 2004. It has been aired on radio stations nationwide. In April 2003, she and Benjy released The Love Window, a beautiful and well-loved collection of sacred chants. In 2007, they released Sri, their second popular kirtan CD, and their first live CD LIVE in love was released in 2008.

Benjy Wertheimer is an award-winning songwriter, vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist (playing tabla, congas, percussion, esraj, guitar, and keyboards). Benjy has toured and recorded with such artists as  Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Deva Premal & Miten, Walter Becker (Steely Dan), and virtuoso guitarist Michael Mandrell. He has opened for such artists as Carlos Santana, Paul Winter and Narada Michael Walden. A founding member of the internationally acclaimed Ancient Future world fusion music ensemble, Benjy also toured the U.S., Canada and Japan with renowned bamboo flute master G.S. Sachdev. He has studied Indian classical music for over 25 years with some of the greatest masters of that tradition (including Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain, Ali Akbar Khan and Z. M. Dagar). Benjy's CDs receive extensive airplay around the world and his CD Circle of Fire went to #1 on the New Age radio charts in November 2002.

RockOm recently sat down with Benjy, Heather, Brent and Kelley Boyd (owner of Savannah Yoga Center in Savannah, GA) for an informal round-table discussion on kirtan, yoga, Eastern music, the evolution of kirtan and sacred music, and much more.

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Tom: Shantala just recently came from Bhakti Fest [a yoga and music festival in Joshua Tree, CA]. Tell us about your experience.

Benjy: It felt like a milestone that marked the beginning of a different level of engagement of people in this country with bhakti yoga. A lot of people were only half jokingly referring to Bhakti Fest as the Woodstock of kirtan. There's this critical mass that's being reached that is moving towards shifting the consciousness of a lot of people in this country. It was an incredible honor to be there. Bhakti Fest is a place where history is being made as far as bhakti yoga. We’ve been to a lot of yoga festivals with a lot of people present and the focus is very much on asana. In this case it was very clear the focus was on kirtan.

Heather: I don’t know how many kirtan artists where there. Some of them were well known, some weren't and some of the most well known artists weren't there. The feeling at Bhakti Fest was fantastic, so good natured, calm and friendly as well as peaceful and loving.

Tom: Yeah, we looked online and saw some photographs of the events and it seemed so intimate.

Heather: It felt personal.

Benjy: It sure did.

Tom: When and how did you two form Shantala?

Benjy: Probably as many people know us as Benjy and Heather as they do Shantala, but now that Brent is with us it really feels like we have a special kind of synergy that we’ve been able to grow over time. Now we’re writing chants together.

Tom: And Brent gets to help with Barkley [Benjy and Heather's dog].

Heather: Barkley is our inspiration.

Brent: Barkley does everything really. Everything is a manifestation of Barkley. We're just pawns. [Laughter]

Heather: We're just servants of Barkley. [Laughter]

Benjy: I was thinking I should change my name to Barkley-Das. [Laughter] It is quite interesting though, Barkley is a very important part of what we do because every day we are reminded of bhakti through him because his love is so absolute. I think there is something we can all learn through the love of a dog. It is really unswerving and truly unconditional. Secondly, very much what is at the heart of bhakti yoga for me is being in the moment and I can't think of anyone who is a better teacher of that than a dog.  It's [about] 'right here, right now'; not what's happening tomorrow, not what happened a few days ago. It's 'right here, right now'.

Brent: You know how dogs love you no matter what you've done to them? It's kind of the same way that Heather talks about when we're in kirtan that no matter what we think about ourselves while we're practicing kirtan Ma is always loving you no matter what, and when you get a glimpse of that you start feeling better.

Heather: We begin to focus more and more on the force of grace and everything that's holding us. It's so easy to step from your normal funky world of being lost in your thoughts and riding the ups and downs of your thoughts, your latest emotional swing and it's just one easy step to have a total awareness of grace with you. That's an important part of this practice that we're able to make this step into contact with a realm of beauty and sacredness and joy.

But back to your question - how did we get started in Kirtan? People just asked us to do it. I was doing some things as a singer-songwriter; that was an important part of my life. Benjy had been full time in music and had an extensive Indian classical background, so when we got together and I was teaching yoga we began to be very involved in the Anusara yoga community. Benjy played for savasana on the esraj for John Friend and John fell in love. The short story is John Friend exposed Krishna Das to Benjy's esraj music and Krishna Das invited Benjy to perform on his Breath of the Heart album. Krishna Das discovered Benjy also plays tabla so when Krishna Das needed a fill-in tabla player he called on Benjy to come to the Inner Harmony Yoga Retreat Center with John Friend. We did that for a couple of years. I just tagged along. I was a yoga teacher; I just wanted to do yoga with John and it was a bonus to be able to sing with Krishna Das. We would fill in when Krishna Das wasn't available and ended up doing music for savasana. Then people started asking us to chant and we had no idea… or intention to go down that path. Once we started, we fell in love with it.

Benjy: I feel in a very real way we were guided. It was almost like we didn't have a choice. We kept encountering circumstances starting with meeting John Friend back in 2000, going into this thing with Krishna Das and falling in love with the practice of kirtan completely, and finding place after place where that was the best way we could serve. As for my own religious background, I'm a Quaker, but I feel there's no dissonance between my Quaker roots and what I’m celebrating, especially from a Hindu-tantric perspective, which is the realm John Friend works in. There's this beautiful melding of [my Quaker roots with Hindu-tantric] and in the kirtan it’s a part of this celebratory element of yoga that's at the heart of a lot of the tantric practice.

It's quite incredible too that at this point, 32 years ago I started my practice of yoga but not asana yoga. Everyone thinks of asana right away when they think of yoga but my teachers, Ali Akbar Khan and Zakir Hussain would refer to it as nada yoga: the yoga of sacred vibration and sound. It's considered a very high yoga going back to some very ancient texts. In the process of learning from Heather when she was a yoga teacher and from John, I stated to see how this could all come together with nada yoga side by side with bhakti yoga in the kirtan practice. That's a very big part of what we always hoped to be able to share with people.

Tom: Benjy, you grew up playing classical music starting with piano?

Benjy: That's right. Yeah, my very first instrument starting at age five was piano. My parents tell me I was singing before I could talk. I played violin as well, my interest shifted, and I later started studying flamenco guitar.

Tom: How did your study gravitate towards Eastern Music?

Benjy: Well before I started studying piano my mother told me I used to always bug her to keep playing Babatunde Olatunji's Drums of Passion. She literally wore it out. I was very much into African drumming and by junior high school I was studying Afro-Cuban drumming. In my high school years I came into contact with Indian classical percussion and it just blew me away. I had never seen anything like it and I realize, particularly when I saw the one who was going to become my guru on tablas - Zakir Hussain - when I saw him play what he could do with these two little drums was way beyond what I could ever imagine. So I knew that's where I wanted to go. As soon as I could after high school I went out to California where Zakir Hussain was living so I could study with him.

Trevor: If Drums of Passion hadn't been made we wouldn't have anything to talk about! [Laughter] Because most every single person we talk with talks about how instrumental that album was.

Benjy: Oh, there's no doubt!

Heather: [Without Olatunji's influence] so much music would have never made it over to this part of the world probably!

Tom: What's the hardest thing for Western musicians to grasp about Eastern music?

Benjy: One of the things is cultural. In Western culture, music is seen as a diversion or a source of entertainment, whereas in Indian classical music it is a spiritual path. I think some people have difficulty finding ways to reconcile themselves with that and the expectation of the sadhana of that path is mind-blowing. As an example my guru in the raga side of things, Ali Akbar Khan, would play or practice music 14-18 hours a day over the period of decades. It's very hard for us to even imagine that level of sadhana in our culture. Part of it too is because there's a very different orientation; there's a way we have to make our way in the world, or I guess you could call it a renunciation of sorts because you have to renounce the world to a degree to engage in that level of practice. What's interesting is that it's not renouncing the Divine, in fact you are trying to engage yourself fully with that essence of sound, which Ali Akbar Khan did so beautifully, which Zakir Hussain and his father Alla Rakha (who was Ravi Shankar's tabla player) did as well. They embodied the essence of the soul of music because they focused so strongly on that.

Tom: Heather, what are the unspoken elements between musicians while you're performing kirtan? What transpires that is unspoken? How do you communicate with each other while you're performing?

Heather: Well, we've spent so much time together that we're basically joined at the hip. [Laughter] But I think that we have a common purpose as performing musicians in kirtan, which is we are supporting the energy of the group to move in particular directions, to help people have a deepening experience throughout the course of the kirtan. So we have an energetic wave that we're riding together and we're all supporting that wave. There are times that we want [the music] to move slow, deep and more inward and there are times we want [the music] to come into a much higher energetic state and we  know approximately when that is going to happen, but it's a little bit different every time. Musically, Brent takes his cues off of what I'm singing but occasionally we have an eye contact that we make that we know we're going to switch parts. I use that eye-cue;  Benjy and I just look at each other and we know we’re going to do another repeat. Occasionally I'll mouth one word to him but it doesn't happen very often. We're also very connected to each other. We've done this so much that we know what's going to happen and we all have a sense of where it needs to go and where it should go.

Tom: So Benjy, if Heather is entranced in a part and you know she is in a blissful state but you feel it may need to go in another direction, how do you judge what needs to happen and make a change?

Brent: You don't ever take the women out of her bliss! [Laughter]

Heather: No, he doesn’t have control of that. I do! [Laughter] But we do have subtle ways that we all push the tempo or slow down slightly.

Benjy: I have a deep sense of trust to Heather's connection this practice, so generally speaking I’m going to go with the flow that I feel happening there. That said, the degree of acceleration at any point is up to me; I'm driving it as the drummer in many cases and so figuring out where that next level  should be is kinda up to me…

Heather: Yes it is…

Benjy: …And these two follow me in that. Sometimes I'm leading the chants too. There's a couple of high-energy chants that I lead and I have to figure out where that energy is for me. It's a dance. The other thing is that if Heather is going into a blissful state it is almost always accompanied by a similar state on the part of those participating in the kirtan. They are really coming into this synchronized way of being with each other. They are really tuned in and Heather is tuning into a kind of energy… I know if she's going there the group is following in her wake and I don't want to mess that up. It's such a different mindset because of the participatory elements and because it is a co-creation in a very real way with the group present.

A lot of the kind of things you would see in a performance doesn't really apply [to kirtan]. There are times I want to bring in elements of Indian classical music - for example a tabla solo - or something that's played on the esraj that is mirroring a raga that I know well. Or if we have other great Indian musicians playing with us, which we're blessed to have sometimes, to give them a moment to completely shine out in the middle of the kirtan because to me it's all part of that same expression of divine sound and devotion.

Heather: Also, we all three have a talk every day about what we're going to do for our set list. We'll talk about that for a while and then sometimes we'll often end up changing it mid-stream. The other night we were thinking of keeping the kirtan more down-tempo, but when we got into the up-tempo part Benjy said, "Let's do another up chant," because that was going to serve the group better. So we all talk about it.  Anything you want to add Brent?

Brent: I think there's really one word and you touched on it a couple of times; it's all about service. I feel like, what can I do to serve directly first and foremost with what is happening with Benjy and Heather and us, as a whole, and the energy in the room? I usually play with my eyes closed so I'm mostly feeling the room as opposed to seeing the room. I feel like I can get a lot more information that way. See, it's like this… Kirtan is like a bliss-bus [laughter], no… no… dig this. Benjy is the drummer, as like the engine and the gas pedal; I’m the bass player so I'm the wheels, keeping it going; and Heather is the driver. Everybody in the room are the passengers and they're just singing on the bus. [Laughter]

Heather: That's a great way to put it! We’ll have to use that for our next tour, The Bliss Bus Tour. [Laughter]

Trevor: One of our "go-to" questions we ask a lot of people just to get their different perspectives is, "What is it about music that connects us with the Divine in a way that other things don’t?"

Benjy: There's a term that comes to us from an ancient text that embodies it completely: Nada Brahma, which is basically translated as Sound is God. The nada yoga is your effort to go so deeply into that ocean of sound, through music, that you connect with all the auspicious principles of the Divine in the music and it is considered in many occasions to be completely beyond words. The second part of it is that because music does not necessarily require words, the raw music itself, that vibration is something you can feel regardless of the language you speak in your day-to-day life. It truly is a universal language. You can evoke feelings in people at a very, very deep level almost instantaneously with music. For me, the highest compliment I could give anyone who does a soundtrack for a movie is that you don't notice it because it is so perfectly integrated with what is going on that it doesn’t stand out on its own. It's a part of an integral whole. In that way too, music can be a soundtrack for our love and devotion to the Divine.

Heather: I would add that when we’re making music it vibrates our whole body, it resonates inside of us. It resonates in the heart area and as you know, it also releases chemicals [and causes] interactions in the brain.

Benjy: There’s a wonderful book out called This Is Your Brain On Music that is actually from a neuro-scientific vantage point about what happens in the brain when people are engaged in either playing or listening to music. To grossly oversimplify it one of the points is there is no other activity outside of being engaged in music that engages more parts of the brain simultaneously.

Trevor: Speaking to what you just said about music engaging different parts of the brain and enhancing other activities, there is some debate about asana practice and whether or not you should accompany it with music. What are your general thoughts on this?

Heather: I’d like to get Kelley's [Boyd, owner of Savannah Yoga Center] opinion on that. Kelley?

Kelley Boyd: It goes right back to what Heather and Benjy were talking about which is the practice feels totally different when there is music playing. Sometimes some moments do call for no music. There's plenty going on internally. I think that music is a beautiful addition to an asana practice. You can engage people in a different kind of way with music in their practice depending on the songs that you play, the message you want to convey to your students. I've heard of stories where students listen to a particular kind of song for 10-20 years and then they heard it in a yoga class and they picked up on specific words and it really opens something up for them.

Heather: Brent teaches yoga as well. Anything you want to add about yoga and music Brent?

Brent: I don't use music, except for savasana yoga. For me I would love to have musicians in the room playing with me and reading the energy of the room, supporting what is happening. So often I find unless I've spent hours and hours on a play list it's not in sync with the mood or actions in the class that I am intending and feeding. It’s a personal thing. I don't want to be teaching something that is more introspective and have some rockin' music just because the play list didn't happen to sync up.

Benjy: One of the great blessings in our lives is that for a decade or so now Heather and I have been providing live accompanying music for John Friend's yoga classes with as many as 800 people in a class. He is like a conductor and we are this orchestra that needs to be able to stop on a dime. For example if he needs to stop and give a technical instruction we are happy to stop playing because it would be totally distracting. If the flow changes we need to be able to turn and completely shift that.

Tom: Where are you going as a group and as individuals? What does the future hold?

Heather: We have a really fun and meaningful focus coming up for our 2010 tour in many cities across North America. We’re going to be doing events that we're going to be calling "Unity in the Community" which means we're going to be bringing together different groups at yoga centers, different non-profit groups and church groups to work together to do fund raising for local and regional charity causes. We love doing fund raising events and helping others through our events. For example, we sold handmade African necklaces for about a year and raised $17,000 for Ugandan women and children. So it's really powerful what you can do in the course of your offerings.

Brent: I'd just like to close by offering one thing. What kirtan is and what we're doing is truly an experience of the heart because you don't get done listening to any kind of music and say, "Wow, that just made my brain feel good." You don’t hear that. People say they actually felt something [in kirtan]. We are transported into our heart and what we find there is good, blissful, amazing. What we can say by this on a universal perspective is that at the essence of our self and at our heart there is just goodness.

Heather: I agree and to add to your really good question Trevor about how music gets us closer to the Divine. I think part of it is when you come together with a common intention, as groups and as individuals, we can consciously create that experience together and it's beautiful. We're just opening a doorway into something that can sweep us along. It's really beautiful.

Trevor: And that communal aspect is representative of a Divine thing going on because it's bringing people together.

Benjy: For sure.

Heather: Absolutely. That's why it was so powerful at Bhakti Fest with 2500 people coming together with a common intention. I really believe it ripples out into the world.

Benjy: Can you imagine what it's going to be like in 10 years? I am really excited to see what is happening. Culturally as asana [hatha] yoga has taken hold here in this country and you see many styles represented many of them are very new even though some of the yoga practices go back 5000 years. There are new practices being invented every day.  We’re finding in kirtan a complete expansion of the definition of the term. That is happening in large part because of the melting pot culture that we're part of here in the States whereas someone [elsewhere] may not know how to deal with mantra or how to celebrate in kirtan but they totally resonate with reggae. It's like the opening of a doorway that many people might not have known and that's part of what we hope to facilitate in what we do. There are so many different kinds of kirtan now available for people. It's really exploding and I think it's a beautiful opportunity for more and more and more people to find that connection to the Divine.

LINKS:

www.shantalamusic.com

Shantala Amazon link to latest CD available on Amazon

By Tom Crenshaw, Tom@RockOm.net

Albert Einstein once said, "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music." I think it’s fairly safe to say that Einstein understood music about as much as music can be understood.  Just as difficult as it seems to grasp Einstein's theories of quantum mechanics, energy transfer and special relativity so it can seem equally implausible to fully understand the mysteries, dynamics and connection that exists between us and the forces of vibration which we call music.

But one doesn't need to be an Einstein to enjoy or use music as a source of pleasure or for healing and connecting with one another and to a larger source. "We're all wired for music", according to Oliver Sacks author of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. Countless others have pointed to our inherent ability to connect with the mysteries and forces of music without being able to fully understand the connection.

Often we take our relationship with sound and music for granted without fully considering how vital they are to our well being - how magical a form of communicating music is. The simple fact that music expresses the full range of emotions humans are capable of expressing or understanding is profound. Unlike words, which need to be translated from one language to another, music need only be performed or heard for us to understand what is being expressed.

To me and many, many others music holds the answers to the questions which words cannot answer. Music is a holy force, a prayer set to melody and an expression of the Divinity in all beings and in all forms. But don't take my word for it. Read what has been expressed more eloquently than I could possibly ever communicate:

"Do you know what the music is saying?
'Come follow me and you will find the way.'" Rumi

"Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life." Ludwig van Beethoven

“Music is the art of the prophets and the gift of God.” Martin Luther

"We have fallen into the place where everything is music." Rumi

"Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife." Kibran

What do you say music is and how do you use the mystery of sound and vibration in your life? What are your favorite quotes on music? We would love to see your thoughts here and invite you to interact with the RockOm community on this Friday. Let's not be a mystery to each other. Let's reveal ourselves and sing to one another our sacred songs.