Dear Friends,
This weekend, I had the rare
occasion to attend a concert. I had somehow come across the notice for this
concert a month ago, and found it intriguing. It was called: Songs of the
Desert Sufis, with Rajasthan Josh and Friends. Now I had never attended an Indian
music concert before, but it promised to be lively and colorful. Indeed it was,
and, as it turned out, just the tonic to take in between two Celebration of Life Services. This
group was from a state in India called Rajasthan. The music in the first half
featured folk songs from the 12th, 14th, and 17th
centuries. This particular concert was dedicated to the late Aga Kahn, and to a
musician recently killed by the Taliban, because his songs were those of
tolerance, peace and love. The carpet carefully laid out on the stage had first
been used by the famous musician, Ravi Shankar.
The audience was filled with
women dressed in beautifully colored silk saris. The second half of the concert
featured a fusion between local, contemporary artists, and these same elderly
musicians from India – simply amazing, the music transcended gender, age, race
and country of origin – with mutual respect and the overall love of music, it
was well received by the audience. Luckily, there were screens up that held
English translations of the songs, many of them being love songs. Think of the
poetry of Rumi, and you will know what I am talking about.
This fusion of music was like a marriage
and the old quotation: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and
Something Blue. Blue, or bleu, in this case, meaning something raw or pure. I
immediately thought of our church service, The Act of Consecration of Man, and
what the founders of our church had sought: a Movement for Religious Renewal.
Through the guidance of Rudolf Steiner, seven sacraments were re-enlivened with
not the past, but the future, in mind.
The enemy may tear down our
churches, temples and monuments, but they cannot tear down what lives in our
hearts and souls - the music goes on.
Wherever the darkness is touched
by the Light, there manifests rainbows of color.
May the Sun Spirit, proclaimed by
St. John the Baptist, ray into your hearts.
Dedicated to Tamara Alexandra Machala, 1969-2016: Educator, lover of animals and nature.
