Music for the Spirit

When I was in college, I happened to pick up an audio cassette for the soundtrack of Chariots of Fire, composed by the recently departed Greek composer Vangelis.  I had no idea that that would be the start of a long joyous journey into music which calms and uplifts the spirit.

When I first came to the US, my roommate had a CD of Enya's The Memory of Trees, and listening to it on his Bose AM-10 speakers continues to be a fond memory.

I grew up in Punjab, an agricultural region not known for slow or lilting music.  I found Vangelis and Enya as I stepped out of Punjab, and on my long drives through deserts and canyons, their music was my friend.

Over the years, decades rather, I have had the great good fortune of being exposed to music which had Enya and Vangelis as the initial milestones.  In the late 90s and early 2000s, it was the other works of Vangelis and Enya, the Benedictine Monks, the Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt, the mix-and-mash of Enigma (which is retrospect I consider inferior in spirit) and Arvo Pärt.  And not to leave behind the music of India, some somber ragas sung by Pandit Jasraj and Kishori Amonkar.

Some of that music has stood the test of time, and is still very dear to me.

If you visit a great vista and are speechless at the sight of a mountain peak, that is alone, ancient and silent, you wish that those who you love also one day witness that glory.  Similarly, there is the desire to share a great composition with your friends.

Music these days is less "eternal".  Songs and compositions grow in popularity quickly, and then die of disinterest.  The market rules.  There is little patience in understanding and appreciating the nuances of a composition that has a certain mood and depth.

In recent times, music as therapy has caught on.  On YouTube, one finds 8 or 10-hour tracks of what they call "binaural beats", and thousands of renditions of ancient chants or prayers.  I am sure they help alleviate the stresses of modern life.

Just today, I have started listening to the the artist Chuck Wild's compositions in his "Liquid Mind" series, and that is a great introduction to this kind of music.

Rather strangely, I have not found it beneath me to admire, at times, what is otherwise called trance music.  That music is mostly electronic, and aimed at a young audience ready to party on the beach, but some of those compositions can, I believe, hold their own against a Pandit Jasraj.

Here are some tracks from the last few decades that I would love you to listen, and enjoy, and treasure:

Enya's Hope has a Place

Loreena McKennitt's The Mummer's Dance

Vangelis' Eric's Theme (from Chariots of Fire)

Vangelis' El Greco Movement I

Cliff Martinez' And Death Shall Have no Dominion (from Solaris)

Angelo Badalamenti's Mysteries of Love

Above and Beyond's Flow State & Sunshine in your Eyes

Joe Satriani's Rubina's Blue Sky Happiness

Mahakatha's Om Namaste Asatu

There are so many more, but I hope starting with these, you will find your own path in this kind of music.