"Music should be healing, music should uplift the soul, music should inspire. There is no better way of getting closer to God, of rising higher towards the spirit, of attaining spiritual perfection than music." Hazrat Inayat Khan
Hazrat Inayat Khan, the famous Indian musician who was also the founder of the Sufi Order of the West, said that the reason we are drawn to music is because we are music itself: our mind and body are made up of vibrations, in fact the whole world is made up of vibrations.
When we encounter a harmony or melody that resonates inside us, we experience it profoundly and most often in an emotional way. Music has the power to excite us, inspire us, touch our hearts and transport us to realms beyond our everyday reality. It is this deep level of experience that has drawn me into music over the years and has totally changed the way I relate to it.
Like many people of my generation (born in the late ‘50s) and culture (English), as a boy I fell in love with the psychedelic sounds of Pink Floyd.
By 13, I had my own guitar and embarked on a relationship with music that was no different to any other intimate relationship: challenging, painful, ecstatic and ultimately transformative.
After years of trying to fit into the London music scene, playing with different bands and searching for the elusive record deal, I yearned for something new, something that would stir my soul.
As I looked around at the endless changing scenes - from psychedelia to punk to indie - I realised that a lot of pop music is about pain and suffering, about the heartbreak of love and about the heartache of life. I had over-identified with the "tortured hero" and felt that I too had to suffer emotionally to create good music. My icons were Jim Morrison of the Doors, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix, to name but a few.
Around this time I experienced something that fundamentally changed my relationship with music forever: I was invited to play guitar, along with two drummers, for a "moving meditation" workshop.
The music was totally improvised with absolutely no agenda other than to provide a landscape within which the group participants could "let go." The magic happened when we musicians allowed the music to flow like a river. The more we "got ourselves out of the way," the more profound, deep and authentic was the group experience: we became channels for something bigger than us to come through.
It was a pure energy experience, an ecstatic transcendence of linear reality. What I realised was that music was a doorway to the divine. And ultimately, the experience of the divine is Love.
Since then I have played what I call "the music of WHAT IS," over and over again. And each time my heart opens wider, each time the music bathes everything and everyone in more love.
These days, when I either play live or record an album, I simply have an intention to stay open and relaxed, I listen to and feel my own energy. If it feels connected to my heart and feels good then I know I'm on the right track, but if I find myself struggling to think of what to do then I know I'm "off course" and need to re-assess.
I have found that the technicality of the player or composer of the music is secondary to his or her intention. When music is just an expression of anger, disillusionment or pain then it usually creates more pain and suffering. But if music involves the wisdom of an open heart, then there is a vertical dimension of transformation and growth of the spirit.
Ancient cultures have known about the healing power of music since the beginning of time. But it's not only Indian classical music or Tibetan overtone chanting that has a transformative quality.
Modern sounds created with electronic equipment and pop music rhythms can also open us up to the divine. One of my favourite musicians is Miten who plays with Deva Premal. Whilst it is the beautiful chants of Deva Premal that have received the most applause around the world, for me Miten's songs speak in a modern musical language of the tenderness and purity of devotional love. Inside the simplicity of his words and melodies there is a wisdom that speaks directly to the heart of the listener if they are ready to receive it.
And, of course, there are so many musicians emerging today, each with their own unique talents and styles who use music as a vehicle for creating love and peace in the world. When musical talent and wisdom meet it is a beautiful relationship and benefits all it touches.
Some music that I highly recommend:
Miten and Deva Premal: Songs of the Inner Lover - Premal for her transcendant chanting and Miten for his descriptions of love.
Deuter: Buddha Nature - This man has released 100 ambient meditation albums and each one unique!
Chinmaya Dunster: Yoga Lounge - A blend of ambient drum loops and beautiful sitar.
Manish Vyas: Sattva - An incredible fusion of Indian chants, world music and modern rhythms.
And my own album Garden of Love a mystical psychedelic tantric love album!
I also recommend anything released by New Earth Records because they put a lot of care into choosing artists who have a love vibration!