Music Topic on Unity.FM: Music as Worship and Theology

For those who are musically minded like myself, Rev. Dr. Thomas Shepherd's program on Unity.FM called "Let's Talk About It" will host the topic Make a Joyful Noise: Music as Worship, Theology, and Celebration.

This is an excellent topic for theological discussion within and outside of the Unity community. Indeed, music has been a central part of religious life in Christianity and other world religions. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors danced around fires and sang about the success of the hunt and to the Sacred for future successes. Hindu Vedic priests chanted the intricately prescribed Sanskrit words in elaborate rituals believed to appease the gods and bring about favor in human life. In the early Christian churches Christians gathered before dawn and sang hymns with each other to Christ, the Son of God and Savior of humanity.

In medieval Christendom, the Mass as a musical composition became a central component in worship, which not only set the time and organization for the service but also served as an aesthetic masterpiece of expression offered to the God of all creation.

However, music has sometimes become a "going-through-the-motions" with no gusto or spiritual fervor. This malady has been noticed and addressed in recent years with new musical movements that re-capture and re-conceive of music as an elemental part of spiritual expression, worship, and theological discourse. We can see this renaissance occurring not just in New Thought churches (in which it has had a profound impact) but also mainline and evangelical Protestant churches as well as Catholic and Eastern Orthodox congregations.

Check out this week's edition of "Let's Talk About It" on Friday Nov. 6 at 4pm CST at Unity.FM.

Muslim-Christian Musical Integration

Recently, musicians from the Muslim and Christian traditions have been amalgamating two spiritual musical styles important to both religions. Qawwali, a mystical Islamic music that aims at dikr -- bringing the players and listeners in closer proximity to experiencing God, remembering God -- has been combined with many kinds of music, such as local musics from around the world, rock, reggae, hip-hop, and electronica.

At the latest Muslim Voices Festival musicians married Qawwali and an influential Christian spiritual music - Gospel. Hussein Rashid, who regularly attends the Muslim Voices Festival, provides a short commentary and review of the experience at Religion Dispatches.

Though I wasn't there, I would imagine that, having listened to both styles separately and understanding the deep spiritual feelings and inspiration behind these types of music, this would be an intriguing and fruitful cross-fertilization. Each has its own unique contribution of musical power, so experiencing them together with any amount of mutual influence must be an exhilarating and heartening.

Since music speaks a language all its own, one that transcends words, musical interaction can be a beautiful and advantageous way of interfaith dialogue conducive to peacable co-existence.

Interfaith Voices Highlights This Week

The latest program on the Interfaith Voices radio show features two pieces of interest.

Firstly, Interfaith Voices' own Maureen Fiedler comments on president Obama's interfaith fluency. Lately, Obama has addressed Jewish and Muslim audiences in different parts of the world and has done so with a level of knowledge and sensitivity previously uncharacteristic of the U.S. presidency. This piece discusses the importance and subtle message behind this religious fluency.

Secondly, the Hasidic Jewish hip hop artist Matisyahu is featured in a segment interviewing him about his musical art, religious faith, and the interplay of these two facets of his life.

Listen to the most recent Interfaith Voices radio program here.

(Photos from Interfaith Voices website.)

Jazz and Spirituality

This past week's show of the Interfaith Voices radio program features a piece about the great jazz singer Mary Lou Williams who pioneered a style often termed "sacred jazz" which, in turn, greatly influenced pianist Duke Ellington and saxophonist John Coltrane. Catholic jazz artist Deanna Witkowski introduces listeners to this often overlooked genre and talks about her new album that sets Christians prayers, contemplations, and hymns to music for a jazz quartet context.

As a jazz musician myself (for those who don't know, I'm a bassist), I've always experienced both listening to and playing music as sacred activity. When one mindfully listens to music, one is opened up to the possibilities that inherently lie in the creative expressions of the musicians. The ability music has to evoke emotional power is part and parcel of its spiritual nature. The playing of music also touches the depths of human spirituality and expresses the inner being of the musician. As for me personally, I've always felt that playing music (whether alone or in a group) is a meditative activity, cathartic and communicative of one's soul. So playing music centers me on the deepest part of my being and focuses my attention on the Divine; it cleanses me of the hardships and troubles on my mind and brings forth what's within me through musical vocabulary. As the jazz drummer Art Blakey once said, "Jazz washes away the dust of everyday life." Music draws out that which is most real within and puts one in touch with the transcendent, making daily discontents seem menial and transitory.

In jazz, individuals forward their spiritual-musical expression in the context of a group, especially the small 3-5 person combo. In this milieu there are three different intimate relationships occurring simultaneously -- 1) the interaction between the individual and the group, 2) the interaction between the ensemble and the audience, and 3) the interaction between the individual musician and his/her own self. These interrelationships create a complex of dynamic musical articulation that push the individual and collective experience to profound levels of spiritual participation and understanding that simply cannot be expressed with normal linguistic structures. Rather, these experiences occur via the language of music.

Listen to the interview with Deanna Witkowski about "sacred jazz" and the spiritual dimension to music on Interfaith Voices.

(Above photo from Interfaith Voices website.)