Mysticism in Music
 

What artists do you know who use mysticism in their music? Also, do you think that it's a good thing or not?

A lot of great artists derive their music from mystic sources, some of them can get a little preachy about whatever they believe in at times, but a great deal do not. I think that John Cage is a great example of the latter since he used ideas from Zen Buddhism and Indian Philosophy to start creating aleoteric (also known as indeterminate or chance) compositions in spirit of reflecting the chaos of the world about himself, as opposed to trying to draw an order from it.

Then we've got a lot of American free jazz artists who make extremely spiritual jazz music that draws on Christian interpretations of God such as Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, and Charles Gayle. I think that a lot of improvisation falls under the mystic category in some sense, because of how playing music in real-time really reveals your inner self, which a lot of people could interpret as expressing their souls or expressing God's presence in them.

There's also a lot of traditional folk music that fits into the category as well. Sufism has sparked a lot of great artists such as Master Musicians of Jajouka and Dhafer Youssef.

Mysticism in music is great as long as it ends up with great music and not gospel.

Sun Ra had his own Afro-futuristic kinda spirituality going on too right? Aside from that I can't think of much, besides other Afro-futurist artists like P-Funk, who are a little too secular, and Shabazz Palaces, who actually do seem to maintain that kind of essence.

There's always Om. They're ****ing ridiculous though. Just new agey hippy nonsense. I read an interview with them where they went on and on about how their music -- along with along with lots and lots of drugs -- was supposed to somehow be a way to access the collective subconscious or some bull****. Just take a gander at their lyrics...





WTF are they even talking about?!

Led Zeppelin

I know mysticism was big with a lot of those seventies rock bands, and that Jimmy Page lived in Aleister Crowley's old house, but how much of that **** was actually in their music?

Ah yes, Sun Ra's a great example.

Also, listen to this and tell me that Ribot isn't playing from the soul.



He's Jewish, and I know he's played klezmer music with Zorn. I don't know how much of his own music is attributed to that though.

Quite a bit actually. It's kinda what set them apart from their peers for a lot of the fans.

Although he looks more like a used-car salesman than an ascetic, Van Morrison has often talked about how his songs have a meditative, spiritual purpose; they are all attempts to reach a higher plane, he says.

Maybe this is a good example of how he does it:-
i) write some great lyrics
ii) sing them in a skittering blur as if they´re inconsequential
iii) zoom in on one phrase and use it like a mantra
iv) let your backing musicians shine, not in egotistical soloing, but in delicate contributions to the beauty of the whole

Given my beliefs, I obviously am a big supporter of mysticism in music- I also have no issue with it becoming "gospel," both literally and figuratively. A very big part of my faith involves connected with the Divine through worship- very often in a musical sense. A large part of a church service, of which I attend nearly every week (quite gladly) is congregational music. Sometimes old hymns, sometimes newer music, sometimes (at my particular church, anyway) it veers off into a heavily improvised group ecstasy- the musicians accompanying each other in a mostly chordal fashion, and the entire church singing or praying whatever they desire. It's jazz, it's Holy Ghost, it's supernatural, it's crazy, it's really whatever you want it to be. To me, it's a group of humans tapping into something deeper than themselves and coming together as a group to touch the mystic, the mysterious, the supernatural, "beyond the veil," yadda yadda yadda.

Anyway, the point is, I am a complete supporter of mysticism in music. I enjoy and participate in a mystic religion, and much of the music I listen to (or lift up together with my congregation) is unashamedly trying to break through to "the other side."

Interestingly, I am totally happy singing along with crappy pop-Christian hits in church alongside my fellow church goers, when I would more than likely never listen to the same songs outside of that context. There's something about a group of people who come together and lift their voices in a shared faith that is absolutely incredible to me. Much of the music loses its power on its own, but the imperfect human aspect of church music makes it come alive with power and meaning, at least for me.