Religious Music

The phrase religious music conjures images of clouds-with-rainbows album covers and reverb-drenched synthesizer pads. Well, at least with me it does. Because of this I’ve often shied away from it, preferring instead the less-overt spiritualism contained in the likes of U2. Sufjan Stevens represents a new type of spirituality in music, one that has at its core an authenticity consistent with the times. What’s sad is that it appears that the commercial viability of authenticity in this arena may have a commercial cost; that’s the perception anyway:

“So Stevens apparently believes the ”Christian artist“ stamp is a deal breaker. Likewise his publicist, who reminded me that ”Sufjan has asked that the topic of religion not be discussed in interviews from this point on.“ (Hmm. Does Kanye West feel the same?) But beyond railing at his own reception, Stevens, a trained oboist, also bemoans the decline of popular music and struggles to mediate the gap he sees between high art and folk.”
- Sylvester, Nick. “Without a Prayer”, The Village Voice, August 8, 2005.

All this pessimism about the state of music that reflects ones spiritual life hasn’t stopped the Dawnbreaker Collective from putting together an eclectic but coherent album which speaks to youth in a musical language they can understand (Arise, 2007). Rather than water the Bahá’í Faith’s message of the promise of world unity, the album brings it to the forefront, combining it top-rate production values that make the message that much more acceptable to those who recognize the modern sounds.

It reminds me of the time I met President Bill Clinton when he visited East Palo Alto. I was standing next to Jamal (last name forgotten) who was sharing the office next to College Track’s. As President Clinton made his way around the room, shaking every hand and introducing himself (“Hi, yes I know, Bill. Nice to meet you.”) he came to Jamal. because of my proximity to the Jamal-Bill meeting I was able to notice that the President gave Jamal what can only be described as a dap shake. You know the one, it starts with a regular handshake and goes through two additional transitions ending in the greeter’s fingers locked at the second metacarpals (how’s that for making something hip less so through description?). The president followed it with: “Hey man, I’m Bill.” Bill Clinton was modifying his delivery based on the recipient, in this case a young adult African American with shoulder-length dreadlocks. This might be interpreted by some as patronizing but on the contrary I believe it showed great cultural sensitivity.

This is all pretty close to home for me as a musician and one who cares deeply about the intersection of faith and the arts. My own explorations have yielded the following rough song which I present for the first time here publicly. Please feel free to use it for your own children’s classes if you find it useful. I offer it under creative Commons licensing.

We Are Drops 2008, Pedraum, Luc and Sophie Pardehpoosh

Are there other artists you know of that have infused their music with spiritual themes without preaching? Do you have a favorite album that has clouds and rainbows on the cover and I’ve offended you with that earlier comment? Tell me so in the comments.

Concerning The UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois from the album “Illinoise” by Sufjan Stevens

The link between belief and behavior (Case Study: global warming)

CO2 is the exhaling breath of the global economy. Changing this will require an unprecedented and united global effort. Which, in turn, will require a higher level of global consciousness. This is the inevitable direction we’re heading, and we should be privileged that our generation has the opportunity to achieve it.

That’s my best summary of the message in Al Gore’s new slideshow. The question of how belief and behavior are linked is a central one for this blog, and we’ll have more to stay on it, and look forward to your comments, in the coming posts. For now, here’s Al:

So how do we go about achieving a new level of global consciousness? In Gore’s 1992 book, he points out various philosophies and Faith movements that could inspire us in this direction, including the Baha’i Faith:

One of the newest of the great universalist religions, Baha’i, founded in 1863 in Persia by Mirza Husayn Ali, warns us not only to properly regard the relationship between humankind and nature but also the one between civilization and the environment. Perhaps because its guiding visions were formed during the period of accelerating industrialism, Baha’i seems to dwell on the spiritual implications of the great transformation to which it bore fresh witness:

“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life molds the environment and is itself deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.”

And, again, from the Baha’i sacred writings comes this:“Civilization, so often vaunted by the learned exponents of arts and sciences will, if allowed to overleap the bounds of moderation, bring great evil upon men.”

What do you see as the role of religion in addressing climate change or other global issues?