Here in Nepal everyone is a shining star. Music and singing and dancing are a part of daily life and love and prayers. Music is indeed energy, it is vibration, as are we… and we need a tune up sometimes.
I have learned so much from my friend, Songam, who is one of the most talented musicians I know. When I asked him about music, he took me on a journey to the center of the circle, the mandala, the universe.
He said he started studying music in his teens, when he was seeking balance and to release blocked energy and negativity. Playing music and being the music has been healing for him, and he helps others through sound healing. When we hear a word, a sound, or the singing of the stars, that we resonate with, healing happens. Songam says that all music can heal, if you love it while you’re listening.
Songam has played both Western and Eastern music. While Western music is polyphonic and Eastern music is monophonic, so may seem simpler, the two can’t be compared in terms of rhythm, cycles, and rasa. They each have their own rules and spontaneity and playfulness.
We talked about the tanpura, which is a drone instrument that creates a circle of sound in the background. It is simple yet complex, as it has four notes with the range of all the notes within them. The sound that isn’t produced by the body of the instrument can still be heard. He says this instrument is special to him, because if he gets lost, the tanpura gives him a sense of where he is in the world of sounds… it says, ‘come to me, this is my center, and you can be in the center too’.
He says he can achieve a similar centering and cleansing with chanting. The one vibrational drone produced by the tanpura can be put into a voice in the same sound and pitch. Everything is ohm when you are singing.
He also talked about the ‘wawawawa’… the dance between multiple notes… the in between where the moment stretches. He makes this moment with multiple instruments and voices and even while singing with his wife. I asked him why he wants to stretch the moment, and he said, ‘To see, to watch, to be in the center, to be here and now’.
Music can take us to our center and is also central to life in Nepal. This can be shown by the beautiful story of the bells. A bell symbolizes your heart, it is love, it is you. In all temples in Nepal there are the three types of bells. The first one is the hand held bell, which faces down and resonates with the lower energies of the earth. The second one faces upwards and sends its energy high to the sky. This is the singing bowl, called khagan. Kha means sky and gan means bell. In the bell there is the balance of masculine and feminine, the dance of life. In the singing bowl, the bowl is the mother, and the stick is the father. The bowl symbolizes wisdom, and the stick symbolizes the means and ways to that wisdom. Every buddhist ritual starts with the playing of the singing bowl. The third type of bell is played by nature itself. It is like wind chimes, called faygan. This bell is the most auspicious, as it doesn’t listen to your logic… it is free.
Here music isn’t for fame or fortune… it is for healing, for feeling, for seeing, for god, for you. Music is a way of letting energy flow, so it doesn’t get stuck. It is a way to witness our truest selves. It is a way to transcend ourselves and sing together as one. It is a map to navigate ourselves and find our way to the center. It is a way to go deep into the dream and also to wake up from it. It is a prayer for the world and all the worlds within it.
So open your ears and your eyes and your hearts.
And listen to the lyrics of Leonard Cohen…
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
#Every bird has a song