{"id":10136,"date":"2012-08-11T11:10:37","date_gmt":"2012-08-11T18:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/?p=10136"},"modified":"2012-08-11T11:12:42","modified_gmt":"2012-08-11T18:12:42","slug":"a-quick-note-on-sacred-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html","title":{"rendered":"A Quick Note on Sacred Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are a couple stories I\u2019m in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I\u2019d like to chat a bit about music. I\u2019m about to record this week\u2019s episode of A Darker Shade of Pagan<\/a><\/em>, and I\u2019m getting ready to see the great Peter Murphy<\/a> in concert this evening. So music is foremost on my mind.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CmKmpgX3MBk<\/p>\n

Murphy is, of course, a famous student of Sufi mysticism and religion<\/a>, and that sense of the sacred imbues his work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf someone calls themselves a Sufi\u2026 you can be sure that they\u2019re not\u2026Sufism isn\u2019t a fad or cool fashion spiritualism\u2026 its at the dead center of your being. Yes YOURS; where the \u201cI\u201d is effaced in the You\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Next week the band\u00a0Dead Can Dance<\/a>\u00a0officially returns with a new album of original songs after a 16-year-absence (my advance digital order has already been filled, I\u2019m enjoying it a bit early). That album,\u00a0\u201cAnastasis,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0shows a duo, \u00a0Brendan Perry<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lisa Gerrard<\/a>, utterly confident in their creative union, wise elders and teachers for a merging of creative eras and mythologies that is every bit as transcendent today as it was when they began in the early days of the 4AD label in the UK. Back then, they were counted among the Goths and art-school students who preferred This Mortal Coil, The Cocteau Twins, and Bauhaus to the (generally) brighter and more populist alternatives on offer within pop-culture. Now, the band\u00a0returns as a mythic arts movement they helped inspire reaches its maturity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

httpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9Ll3TaVmIfk<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to remember who they really are, and not be robbed of their potential because of mediocrity. We\u2019re prepared to commit all of our time creating the mad, harmonic structures of music in order to reach with soft hands into their hearts.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve written before about Dead Can Dance\u2019s return<\/a>\u00a0and their impressive influence, so I won\u2019t reiterate that here, but I bring them up because both Murphy and Dead Can Dance represent a struggle for sacred music that surpasses labels and categories. They are reaching for something more ephemeral, and perhaps more important, than success or pleasing a fanbase, they want to expose their souls, and in doing so touch ours.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve often written about \u201cPagan Music\u201d but the longer I listen to music, and the more I explore artists who mine the numinous, the more I think such labels do nothing but limit musicians. The best \u201cPagan\u201d artists regularly\u00a0transcend\u00a0such labels<\/a>, and aren\u2019t interested in leading a movement of Pagan bands who sing songs about the gods. The yearning to develop something akin to \u201cContemporary Christian\u201d music within our own\u00a0communities\u00a0is, I believe, counter-productive to the impulses that actually move us into sacred territory.<\/p>\n

When I construct\u00a0\u00a0A Darker Shade of Pagan<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>each week I don\u2019t think about the Pagan pedigrees, I think about what inspires and envelops me. When I think about music that makes the dead dance, I don\u2019t think about whether that artist is \u201cone of us,\u201d I ask if that artist moves my Pagan soul. I hope you find that music, as I continue to journey in my own quest.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are a couple stories I\u2019m in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I\u2019d like to chat a bit about music. I\u2019m about to record this week\u2019s episode of A Darker Shade of Pagan, and I\u2019m getting ready to see the great Peter Murphy in concert this evening. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[20,575,1554,3548],"class_list":["post-10136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paganism","category-religion","tag-a-darker-shade-of-pagan","tag-dead-can-dance","tag-music","tag-peter-murphy"],"yoast_head":"\nA Quick Note on Sacred Music<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are a couple stories I'm in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I'd like to chat a bit about music. I'm about\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Quick Note on Sacred Music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are a couple stories I'm in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I'd like to chat a bit about music. I'm about\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Wild Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-11T18:10:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-08-11T18:12:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Pitzl-Waters\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Pitzl-Waters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html\",\"name\":\"A Quick Note on Sacred Music\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-11T18:10:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-11T18:12:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/2ce8d6a747a6ae70a0c7c6ba856756ee\"},\"description\":\"There are a couple stories I'm in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I'd like to chat a bit about music. I'm about\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Quick Note on Sacred Music\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Wild Hunt\",\"description\":\"A modern Pagan perspective\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/2ce8d6a747a6ae70a0c7c6ba856756ee\",\"name\":\"Jason Pitzl-Waters\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ed3ff2ce956bbf7278dd3ee42208861?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ed3ff2ce956bbf7278dd3ee42208861?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jason Pitzl-Waters\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/author\/jasonpitzlwaters\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Quick Note on Sacred Music","description":"There are a couple stories I'm in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I'd like to chat a bit about music. I'm about","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Quick Note on Sacred Music","og_description":"There are a couple stories I'm in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I'd like to chat a bit about music. I'm about","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html","og_site_name":"The Wild Hunt","article_published_time":"2012-08-11T18:10:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-08-11T18:12:42+00:00","author":"Jason Pitzl-Waters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Pitzl-Waters","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html","name":"A Quick Note on Sacred Music","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-11T18:10:37+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-11T18:12:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/2ce8d6a747a6ae70a0c7c6ba856756ee"},"description":"There are a couple stories I'm in the midst of writing, but none are quite ready for primetime. So instead I'd like to chat a bit about music. I'm about","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/08\/a-quick-note-on-sacred-music.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Quick Note on Sacred Music"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/","name":"The Wild Hunt","description":"A modern Pagan perspective","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/2ce8d6a747a6ae70a0c7c6ba856756ee","name":"Jason Pitzl-Waters","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ed3ff2ce956bbf7278dd3ee42208861?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2ed3ff2ce956bbf7278dd3ee42208861?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jason Pitzl-Waters"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/author\/jasonpitzlwaters"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}