music
-
Baha’i Music – ladder for the soul
Bahá’u’lláh abolishes religious prohibition of music. Music is a ladder for the soul. Abdu’l Baha explains: Among certain nations of the East, music was considered reprehensible, but in this new age the Manifest Light hath, in His holy Tablets, specifically proclaimed that music, sung or played, is spiritual food for soul and heart. The musician’s art is among those arts worthy of the highest praise… [1] The following are five brief references to music from different passages of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings. We, verily, have made music as a ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high; make it not, therefore, as wings to self and passion.[2]…
-
Pitch Perfect 2 – Feminist Storytelling
Warning, this one has some plot spoilers. Pitch Perfect 2, is a great dose of quirky, catchy and exuberant musical fun. And just for fun here are the Barden Bellas with their re-mix of Just the Way You Are from the first Pitch Perfect movie. But this fun movie has a serious message, not far from the surface. The explicit and implicit feminist sub-texts of Pitch Perfect 2 are gracefully woven into the latest adventures and music of the Barden Bellas, an all female a capella group, for whom the label ‘misfits’ is spelled with a capital “M”. The characters of the Barden Bellas are a collective challenge to…
-
Under One Sun
“ …We come from one ancestor, Just one forefather, And one Earth Mother, Under one sun ...” Source: ABC Radio National: The Baha’i soul of Australian singer Shameem Under One Sun features on Shameem’s album titled The Second City
-
World in Union
There’s a dream, I feel So rare, so real All the world in union The world as one. Gathering together One mind, one heart Every creed, every color Once joined, never apart. One of the most beautiful anthems to human unity begins with these words. The anthem comes from Rugby Union. Perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising given the long association between sport and international friendship. The lyrics of the World in Union were written by 1991 by Charlie Skarbek at the request of International Rugby Board. The melody comes from Thaxted, part of the Jupiter theme of Gustav Holst’s The planets. The song has been sung many times by…
-
Alain Locke on Identity and Human Rights
Of Alain Locke, Martin Luther King Jr. said: “We’re going to let our children know that the only philosophers that lived were not Plato and Aristotle, but W. E. B. Du Bois and Alain Locke came through the universe.” In this article we explore an idea in the work of Alain Locke – the idea that identity and oppression are related to each other. That the pathway to emancipation is through re-imagining our identity. Early on he explored these themes in the introduction he wrote to his 1925 anthology titled “The New Negro“. The tribute above, particularly from Martin Luther King, calls for greater attention to Alain Locke’s philosophy and…
-
We have to bring the world together and learn to live as one
Sometimes our musicians capture in few words ideas at the heart of human rights. This article is dedicated to the song “United”, which was produced by a group of musicians “Playing for Change”. They wrote the song in cooperation with 7 billion actions, bringing together musicians from around the world. Where some might see the figure of 7 billion as a cause of alarm, these musicians see 7 billion human hearts. As 7 Billion Actions say on their webpage: 7 Billion Actions is connecting people and creating positive change through the universal language of music. Music has the power to break down boundaries between people. Music transcends geographical, political, economic, spiritual and ideological distances, uniting people…
-
Only Water in a Stranger’s Tears
‘It’s only water in a stranger’s tears.’ I start with this line partly because I’ll always get in a musical reference if I can (it’s a lyric from the song Not One of Us, by Peter Gabriel), but also because it sums up to me what defining ‘the other’ (the foreigner) seems to be all about: denying the humanity of a particular group of people. And perhaps nothing defines our humanity as much as our tears, whether from grief, distress, fear, or even happiness. We shed tears when emotion, that quintessentially human experience, overwhelms us. We cry with sympathy, too, and not just for people we know. You’d be forgiven…
