Photo: Bettina Fricke 1972, OHR Musik Produktion

Word, Song, Sound

 I. A way back to God

In the triple rudiments of the architecture of Tibetan Cosmogony, - in which the highest stage is the eighth, for the void is included in the reckoning as the representation of the primeval, the unborn - the SENSE OF HEARING is understood as a manifestation of the eighth stage, the stage of the spiritual principal (Chi or Air).  Man raises himself to the eighth, "divine" level, which is usually unattainable for Humanity, with the aid of the Word, of the Song or surrender to the Inner Sound, to the Word of God, OM.

Word is the power aspect; Song the love aspect; Surrender to the Inner Sound is the direct way to God.

The EAR is a feminine organ.  "In the ears live the goddesses of the directions of space, of the governing of the element space, which is captured as a resonance in the muscle of the ear." (Avuveda, III, 8).  The ear is the womb of this resonance, which penetrates and immediately "tinges the spirit" as it says in an Indian adage.

Thus Word, Song, Sound exert a generative influence on the disposition of Humanity, they have the capacity to bring change.

In the most perfect way, allied to religious ritual, Word, Song, Sound lead Humanity near to God.

 II. A healing power

A mystery which we are today slowly, and still groping in the dark, moving towards again : the psychic healing power of Word, Song, Sound - already known to earlier centuries. An example: "But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.  And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.  Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well." [I Samuel 16:14].  How renowned was the later King David to become, who was summoned to this task.  How successful his labors were is related at the end of the 16th chapter of the Book of Samuel (this time not, as above, the Lutheran, but the masterful translation of Martin Buber) : "And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him."

This is the most refined effect of Music: as healing power.  It is no longer a Utopian idea to imagine that the relationships between pitch, interval, the structure of sound, rhythm and Cosmos, Mankind on the other side, could be structurally examined within the next ten or twenty years in the West.  India has possessed for millennia a huge fund of analogies between Music and Nature, Music and the human body, Music and our planetary system; in the final composition, for example, of a Raga it possesses the dramatic key to the mystery of the penetration of Music into the soul.  If we should succeed in experiencing moreover internally these newly-found perceptions about Music and Sound - the East has at the moment an unending and great culture (we are still in awe of it) - then we would be in a position once again to turn to Music in a healing way.

For musicians a small, interesting table (after Indian modal musical teaching):

Key-note or root = Soul

Second = Head

Third = Arms

Fourth = Breast / Heart

Fifth = Throat

Sixth = Hips

Seventh = Feet

If you try whilst playing to connect simultaneously the struck note with the part of the body mentioned, you very quickly come upon - presuming the music is pure and tonal - an enormous vibration and bodily identity with the sound, which lends a great persuasive power to this.

III. A seducer

The deluding effect of Word, Song, Sound, the sense- disorientating of resonance we know all too well besides the example of the Pied Piper of Hameln.  We are surrounded by it.  Word as deception, Song as seduction - for a while, through the advent of electronics - external Sound as seduction.  Is it not loathsome, how the greed of Man has exactly understood how to advance instinctively for its own pleasure the secrets of vibration, the suggestive power of Word, Song, Sound?  This greed, gigantically represented by the Capitalist System, in its most repulsive manifestation in consumerist propaganda: here Word and Music are blended with image for the purpose of deception, often in diabolically cynical form.  Foodstuffs, which we now know lead to an early death are offered with "swinging" music. 

In propaganda for tobacco or pharmaceuticals Music likewise creates a triumphant mood.  Music draws a veil over understanding.  It is a deadly deception, a disregard for Humanity.  As scent is less evident, less obvious, more secretive, industry has turned to it, in order to make preliminary influences on potential consumers through the means of perfume.  Osmology (the science of perfumes) has also emerged much more in our time, as has knowledge of the psychic power of Word, Song, Sound.

We are not asserting , but considering, that a large part of American and English pop music might be sought in just this dark region, where Music is seducer and in conjunction with seduction.  The volume of sound of some groups such as Deep Purple is destructive; it establishes aggression there, just where it wants to disappear.  In a new generation: US.

 IV: And as power / violence

 Altamont: Rolling Stones

Jericho: whoever doubts the authenticity of the conquest of Jericho as it is described in the Book of Joshua should immerse himself once more in the sixth chapter of this book and will meet with a truly gigantic, multimedia power ritual, where it wasn't, as is generally thought, the blast of the seven trumpets which shook the walls of Jericho, but the power of the first sound from the mouths of the people, whom Joshua had commanded to remain silent for seven day in front of the walls of Jericho; one can imagine with what psychic power, similar to an explosion, the blast was used and how it must have affected the walls. This collection of colorful examples actually had a goal:

Leading to the following final observation: if we have discovered that behind the medium of Word, of Music is concealed a region of unimaginable power and - in the negative case - violence, then this compels us to use this medium in conjunction with a new ethic.  If we have once realized that one can kill and be killed by the power of Word, Song, Sound - how then can we decide not to take the utmost care in what we give of ourselves, if we do not try to bring ourselves to letting only those things pass our lips which are for our mutual advancement.  The Egyptian merchant of the time of the Pharaohs, entrusted with the magic of Words, greeted his partner before every other word in the following way: He said 'Your undertakings prosper, they prosper, they prosper'.  The other returned the same sentence.  Yes, that's what we mean, in these many lines. What is true for Words, should be so a thousand times more for Music.  Let us make Music which is beneficial to us, which leads us from the OUTSIDE to the INSIDE.  There let us be united.

Peace and Joy!

Florian Fricke