“For many, the most symbolic aspect of a mountain is the peak because it is believed that it is closest to heaven or other religious worlds” This painting by Nicolas Roerich was the starting point for this month’s composer’s choice. Its called Vanishing Ice and if you google search his images you will find a huge list of paintings by this enigmatic artist. Roerich is a complex character being an adventurer, a spiritualist, a writer, an archaeologist and painter. He moved in high political circles in the USA, UK and India and was connected to the theosophical movement and produced a vast amount of magnificent oil paintings in the field , travelling extensively through the Himalayas, India and the rest of the world. He spoke many languages and wrote a book called Shambhala ( not to mention the set designs for Dhiagelev, the setting up of art and yoga schools in New York and perhaps a spot of spying…) Shambhala is a mythical kingdom from Tibetan and Hindu Tradition – mythical in italics because in the modern sense the word implies not real ~ Shambhala points to many cultures’ stories of a place where enlightened humans have created aShambhala – by Stephen Fearnley
Power Of The Pentatonic – by Stephen Fearnley
What do the song “Amazing Grace”, the big ET music scene from the movie “Close Encounters”, Ancient Celtic folk music and the chanting “OM”Chakra scale have in common? They are all expressions and variations of the Pentatonic musical scale. The Pentatonic scale is perhaps the most ancient and universal scale we know of: It’s based on 5 notes (pent = ancient greek for 5 and tonic= tone). Its use in music is wide ranging from ancient to modern times. Heres a quote from Wiki: Pentatonic scales occur in Celtic folk music, German folk music, Nordic folk music, Hungarian folk music, West African music, African-American spirituals, Gospel music, Bluegrass music, American folk music, Jazz, American blues music, rock music, Sami joik singing, children’s song, the music of ancient Greeceand the Greek traditional music and songs from Epirus, Northwest Greece, music of Southern Albania, folk songs of peoples of the Middle Volga area (such as the Mari, the Chuvash and Tatars), the tuning of the Ethiopian krar and the Indonesian gamelan, Philippine kulintang, Native American music, melodies of China, Korea, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Vietnam (including the folk music of these countries), the Andean music, the Afro-Caribbean tradition, Polish highlanders fromPower Of The Pentatonic – by Stephen Fearnley