SATCHIDANANDA




The Indian rudra vina is a wonderful and imposing instrument that is said to have had an ancient origin. Although its currency gradually diminished in the 19th century following the development of the surbahar, the bass sitar, there has since been a revival of interest in its sonorous music, and the rudra vina has been significantly modified, most notably by Zia Mohuddin Dagar, who added bigger gourds and thicker strings to enhance its resonant softness and depth. Best suited to slow alaps in the vocal dhrupad style, the introspective sound of the rudra vina is seductively immersive, its typically meditative mood evoking the ‘imaginal world’ or mundus imaginalis that Henri Corbin wrote about with reference to the Sufism of Ibn al’Arabi - the  liminal realm where invisible realities become visible and material things are spiritualized.

John Coltrane might have had some understanding of the idea of the ‘imaginal world’. Sympathetic to all kinds of metaphysical thinking, Coltrane had a spiritual awakening in the 1950s, about a decade before he died, which helped to free him from the narcotic and alcoholic addictions that had been ruining his life. From then on, his consciousness shifted from a focus on the purely musical to the mystical, his flamboyant improvisational technique subjected to what he felt was a higher purpose. His classic A Love Supreme, a work of intense, hymn-like spirituality, recorded in 1964 and released a year later, was a case in point. In the album’s liner notes, Coltrane alluded to the difficulties he had been experiencing and how he was overcoming them: ‘As time and events moved on, I entered into a phase which is contradictory to the pledge and away from the esteemed path. But thankfully now, through the merciful hand of God, I do perceive and have been fully re-informed of his omnipotence. It is truly a love supreme’. Widely acclaimed as a jazz masterpiece, the record proved to be hugely popular and influential, Coltrane becoming revered enough for an African Orthodox Church in San Francisco to incorporate his music and lyrics into its liturgy, and to elevate him to sainthood. 

Described as one of the most complicated and misunderstood of all 20th century musicians, ‘a respected yet divisive figure who was scorned by the jazz mainstream for most of her life’,  Alice Coltrane suffered greatly after the death of her husband. After seeking help from two gurus, she immersed herself in Indian culture and philosophy, changed her name to Turiyasangitananda, became a spiritual leader, and in 1982 founded an ashram in southern California. Hitherto a bizarre mix of modal jazz, Indian influences, and string orchestras (with Coltrane herself playing harp, piano, and organ), her music was transformed into something more cosmic and psychedelic, dominated by choral voices, percussion, and synthesizers. Its avowed purpose was devotion and rapture. On Sundays Alice Coltrane would lead the community, many of whom were musicians, in gatherings that were like Gospel services sung in Sanskrit; many of their devotional songs, very similar to Indian bhajan music, were later released on private press cassettes for a limited audience, and some years ago David Byrne included a selection of them on an album for his admirable Luaka Bop label. They are extraordinary pieces of music, trancelike and exultant.

Alice Coltrane may have known that she was a part of a long lineage of bhakti music and poetry that originated in the 7th or 8th century CE in South India. With an emphasis on devotion and surrender to God that brought spiritual experience to many marginalised people, especially women, whose opportunities for religious expression were often very limited, bhakti removed all need for an intermediary between an individual and his or her personal relationship to God, and as such it challenged the conventional Brahmanical hierarchy. Women bhakti saints, many of whom led normal domestic lives, rejected asceticism and wrote about their love of God in songs and poems that used the vernacular language of ordinary people. While Alice Coltrane’s life and ideas were colourfully different, especially in relation to the norms of American culture, they were just as brave and radical; decades after it was recorded, her music still seems joyous, eccentric, and necessary.

For further exploration:

 Rudra vina:  http://www.rudravina.com/

Zia Mohiuddin Dagar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5trNs7M3MU

A Love Supreme: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/21158-a-love-supreme-the-complete-masters/

Alice Coltrane:  https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/23135-world-spirituality-classics-1-the-ecstatic-music-of-alice-coltrane-turiyasangitananda