The Mystery of Life Energy

December 23, 2023

The year 2023 went out with a bang here in Western MA because, apart from the usual celebrations and gatherings, we witnessed a wonderful and unique concert – the annual Winter Solstice performance by the Paul Winter Consort. This venerable jazz quintet has been together in one form or another for over 50 years, usually ending the year in New York City (population 8.4 million), at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (capacity 8,600), where they have been the artists in residence for 40 years. Due to renovations there, they had to find another venue, and for reasons that aren’t quite clear (but which I’m not complaining about!), they ended up in the village of Florence (pop. 915), at a converted church that is now a performance center (capacity 330).

A not-so-brief digression: The church was established by abolitionists and suffragettes in the 1840s on the grounds of an earlier utopian community; well-known historical figures like William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass spoke there, while human rights crusader Sojourner Truth lived a few blocks away for nearly 10 years. The former Congregational Church has been reincarnated as the Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity (bombyx is the Latin name for the mulberry silkworm), so named because one of the projects launched almost 200 years ago as an alternative to cotton plantations and slave labor was a silk mill with former slaves as paid employees (https://bombyx.live/about/).

The Winter Consort has been widely known and honored for performing world music, as well as music based on animal calls(!). This year’s diverse configuration featured a Brazilian keyboardist, a Bulgarian bass player, an African-American gospel singer, and even a cellist from New Hampshire. The pieces that impressed me the most, and that created the deepest sense of interconnection, were the ensemble’s interpretations of several pre-recorded animal sounds. Their best-known piece is called “Wolf Eyes”, and is a sort of call-and-response to the howls of a wild timber wolf. Eerie doesn’t begin to describe the relationship that evolves between the two voices, as Winter, on his alto sax, clearly speaks the language of wolves. Have a listen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3JQF2NSlB0&ab_channel=Mignon15

When the piece ended, Winter had all the indoor lights turned off and invited us to join in a collective howl. The darkness created an unusual sense of unity, in part because our closed eyes ensured that our self-conscious and self-critical judging minds would be silenced, so people were quite willing to dive in and let their emotions loose (even the normally reserved British lady sitting next to me). Winter called this  performance “The Howlellujah Chorus”, a name which gets my vote for Best Pun of the Year.

This reminder of the oneness of all life was enhanced by the resonance created by our choral singing. It was another version of meditative chanting – an inter-species kirtan (Hindu devotional prayer). Something similar to this musical fan energy effect,  but on a global scale, will be happening next month on February 14, with the World Sound Healing Day. I’ll say more about it then as the day approaches, but in the meantime, check it out here: https://www.worldsoundhealingday.org/

Book link:  Chapter 8 – Group energies. Measuring fan energy at a baseball game, page 210