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#1530 - Thursday, August 21, 2003 - Editor: Jerry


This issue is dedicated to the music people listen to.


Ben Hassine
NDS
 

Hello people,  

Music can have a real liberating and refreshing quality. It
can even take you beyond/out of your normal state of
consciousness, at least that is what I sense. Anyway, would
you like to share some of the songs or compositions that
lifted you out of yourself into the Other?  

Hope to hear from you,  

Ben.  

PS One of my contemporary "elevator songs" are: Van Morrison
- Into the Mystic, Abyssinians - Meditation Dub, and Neil
Young - Out on the Weekend  


Van Morrison  

Freyja  

Music, to me, is the quintessential language.
There is nothing like it and its infinite
combinations and the unique way it communicates
and its being
cannot be captured by words. 

I like almost everything, but here are a few
that come to mind

Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs   CD

Jean-Pierre Rampal and Claude Bolling - Suite for Flute and Jazz
Piano CD

R. Carlos Nakai -  Island of Bows  CD

Hemi-Sync Metamusic - Spirit's Journey CD

Clannad - Landmarks CD

John Barry - Dances With Wolves CD

Prem Joshua - "New Kafi"

Chinmaya Dunster & Vidroha Jamie  "Wandering Way"

Al Grommer Khan "Agori Dance"

Ustad Usman Khan "Raga Hansadhwani"

Deuter "Sunlight Dancing"

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon CD

so many more...

i'm glad you asked, i'm enjoying
seeing what speaks to everyone else

Freyja

 

Hur  

this is a good point. 

i've felt that those who have never discovered
the conceptual teachings of nonduality, have always known it when
they listen to music...they just didn't have a word for it. 

asking for songs?  almost any song on the radio till it's played so
much that i cannot stand to hear it.

hur

ps.  though i'd disagree with the concept "into the Other."  i'd like
to think of nonduality as the disapperance of the imaginary Other. 
no Other to cap from the children of lesser gods, the lower case
letters.  i don't type in lower case letters to make any point.  i'm
just too lazy to cap anything.

Tarah  

In order of preference (although all of these are "tops" for me):

1. B-tribe !Spiritual, Spiritual!
The entire CD is fantastic - totally lifts one. Dramatic flamenco
guitar, moody, wordless vocals...it's music as mood, mood as music.

2. Novus Magnificat - Constance Demby
This one takes you away...floating continuously. You drift, soar,
cry, laugh and become totally emersed....

3. AEterna - Constance Demby
All selections are great...but, #5 - Eternal Return is one never to
be forgotten.

4. Ten New Songs - Leonard Cohen
Many have addressed this one. It is special.

5. Moroccan Spirit
This one starts out very, very "earthy". Starting with the 6th
selection, Midunya, one can barely hold onto their seat, it is that
elating. It moves on into #7, 8 & 9 flowing one into the other...and
then...#10 - impossible to describe. Real, real drums...the beat is
haunting...it takes one away...and leads into a nice finish with #11
& 12. One is just not the "same" at the end of the listening as at
the start. Now I must warn you, it may take several listenings to
become totally emersed into it.

6. Enigma - MCMXC a.D.
There are two versions out, one is the "regular" and the other has 4
extra versions of previous selections. I first purchased
the "regular" because I did not know whether or not I would like
it...I ended up buying the pricey extended version. Another
wonderful CD.

7. Kitaro
I like Kitaro's earlier CD's. My favorite (which appears to not be
available any longer - used are sometimes available - $150) is the
Silkroad Suite played along with the London Symphony Orchestra. The
orchestra adds a sense of depth that is awe inspiring. Other Kitaro
favorites include Oasis, India...and the list goes on.

8. Mystere - Cirque du Soleil
If anyone has had the opportunity to see this performance live, they
know what I am talking about here. This goes beyond the body. A
friend, who died, was adament about having the #9 selection playing
at his death. I made up a special CD that just played this song over
& over...titled Kalimando. He envisioned his death as this song,
especially the ending of the song where he stated it was nothing but
sound and light. He got his wish.

Of course there are many, many more great selections. These are the
ones I keep returning to play over and over.

It is great getting new selections from others. I will have fun trying them out.  


Constance Demby

Greg Goode  

--DRIFT, by Arthur Dent and Deeper Than Space.
--TRANCES AND DRONES, by Robert Rich.
--Anything on http://www.globalsoul.net/

Terry S.  

...Leonard Cohen;  Ten New Songs
Pink Floyd;   Dark side of the Moon
Philip Glass;  Songs of Liquid days
Miles Davis;  In a Silent Way

Gene Poole  

- 21st Century Jesus/Messiah (play it LOUD)
- Oxygene/Jarre
- anything by Bach
- Boston/Boston
- All she wants to do is dance/Henley
- Been a long time (since rock 'n roll)/Led Zeppelin
- Take On Me/Ah Ha

Nina  

Hi, Ben, in the late 90s, a bunch of us here in Asheville were
neurolinguistically programmed to move out of our wee selves to the
beat of Anugama's Shamanic Dream CD. This has been confirmed by
hysterical (read: funny coincidence) post-hypnosis consensus. No,
this was not a super secure government experiment, it for all of us
the result of attending a particular yoga teacher's class here in A-
ville. She played that CD in every class, so, we all came to
associate it with that relaxed blissed-out nothin'-doin' feeling that
comes with practicing yoga under the tutelage of a smooth-talkin'
buddhist yogini. Anytime I hear that CD, I drop right back into that
room with the resilient blue-grey sports floor, am surrounded by a
bunch of slack-jawed and bright-eyed yogis and the slight smell of
bleach solution combined with Sandalwood.

Let's see, here are some more:

Kronos Quartet's CD Astor Piazzolla: Five Tango Sensations

Flaming Lips' CD Yoshini Battles the Pink Robots

Yo Yo Ma's CD Soul of the Tango

John Adam's CD Shaker Loops (not dependable - sometimes annoying)

Mark Otter  

Hi Ben,

Any of the holotropic breathworks sets I've ever breathed to.

R. Carlos Nakai and Nawang Khechog - Winds of Devotion (I breathed for
hours to this CD once, playing it over and over, while asking "Who am
I?" repeatedly, until I was left laughing with great joy at the answer
"I am the question asking itself in infinitely many ways". Yum. The
music is an intersection between Native American and Tibetan Buddhist
traditions and is just amazing.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party - Devotional and Love Songs (or anything
else by him...) Play it loud!!! (and dance - very celebratory)

Byron Metcalf - Helpers, Allies and Guides. Byron's a shaman, and
makes music for journeying. He has some more recent albums as well, in
collaboration with Steve Roach, which I don't know quite as well, but
are also for journeying. There is some darkness in much of this music,
which can be very effective in helping "stuff" arise to be seen and
let go of.

Any of the "Yoga" series by Russill Paul. I like Shabda Yoga best, but
there are several releases, all wonderful.  


Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan  

Ben  

Hi Mark,

I also listen to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sabri Brothers and other qawalli
groups. I play it loud as well, the neighbours think I am a muslim
fundamentalist now :-) I tried to explain to the old lady it's not allowed
to listen to music for fundi's -it wouldn't help.
That's why I also play Klezmatics very loud now and then to add to the
confusion...
Did you ever hear of Mercan Dede? It's Turkish sufi music with dance/electro
flavor. Very nice.  

I listen to Steve Roach as well. "Structures from Silence" is amazing. My
cat Teddy likes it as well. My girlfriend doesn't....

Nina  

Mark wrote: "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Party - Devotional and Love Songs (or anything else by him...) Play it loud!!! (and dance - very celebratory)"  

Hehe! Oh, Mark, the images that brings to mind!

Hey, I remembered another one: Deva Premal's CD... uh... the one with
the two versions of the Gayatri Mantra on it. Not only did it take me
into 'the Other', but it granted me the minor siddhi of 'traffic
control' during a long road trip. I had been listening to it nonstop
on repeat and noticed that my invitations to left-lane bandits to
kindly get out of my way were being headed without fail or
hesitation. Then I tried it out on right lane bandits and it worked
on them, too. It was quite a happy experience, as I sped along 10-20
mph above the speed limit on curving mountainous roads that had taxed
the creative minds of armies of engineers. "Blessings on my fellow
travelers!" I beamed at each car as Deva chanted song after song.

Talk about being transported. LOL!

Nina

Melody  

Pandit Jasraj's rendition of "Om" is
beyond description.

You can hear it, and others at:

http://www.the-covenant.net/JukeBox.html
To be more specific, Om, is the name of
the collection which includes his rendition
of each of 4 states.   What is found at
the URL below, is his rendition of the
4th.

Jerry  

I like music to be attached to an emotional experience in my life or to a
performer that creates an emotional experience. Otherwise I can't get into
the experience of simply listening to a piece of music or a song.

A Newfoundland girl named Jenny Gear is creating an intense following with
her artistic sensibilities and emotional impact. I like music that comes
from a source like Jenny: http://www.deathbrand.com/jenny/.  


Jenny Gear

Gyan  

Renaissance music performed by the group Pomerium,
The Mass in B Minor by J.S. Bach ( and its  Agnus Dei section ),
Some devotionals songs by Deva Premal, Miten and Milarepa.
John Lennon's 'Instant Karma'.
'Oor Es Mayr Eem' sung by Isabel Bayarakdarian from the ARARAT Original
Soundtrack.  

Sarojini and Nina

Nina: I want to thank you for mentioning the music by
Anugama. I had never heard of him before and so went to the
Site and listened to it. It is wonerful. I use music in the
Yoga classes I teach and some of it would be absolutely
perfect. It's just so mesmerizingly soothing isn't it? Thank
you so very much for this information.!  

Peace and Love Always, Sarojini    

Hi, Sarojini, you're welcome. I like the heartbeat and breath woven
into many of Anugama's extended songs. For a while, I was looking for
CDs that highlight sounds of nature to use in classes. It's not as
easy to find them as one would think - so many of the 'nature sounds'
CDs incorporate really distracting new age music. However, I did find
one that I can recommend, 'Dolphin Dreams' by Jonathan Goldman. It is
an aural journey from the beach into the ocean over the course of 65
minutes. The instrumentals are not at all distracting, and the sounds
are so perfect that when I play it in the YWCA classroom, I have the
uncanny urge to look for hidden seagulls. LOL!

http://www.banns.freeserve.co.uk/dolphins/music.htm

Sarojini, in which style do you teach? What other music do you use in
your classes?

Nina

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