Shamanism and Music

Shamanism and music combined thousands of years ago. By observing nature, shamans perceived that the power of sound could be used to help and heal others. The first drums and musical instruments were put to shamanic use, as were many of the early singing traditions. According to Tuvan musicologist Kira Van Deusen, "In a shaman's world music operates in several ways. It helps the shaman and other participants in a ceremony to locate and enter the inner world, opening the inner, spiritual ear and eye. Musical sound calls helping spirits and transports the shaman on the journey. Both the rhythm and the timbre of musical sound help heal the patient through the effects of specific frequencies and musical styles on the human body."(1)

Music is an essential tool in shamanic ritual and healing work. Music is the carrier of the specific intention or desired outcome of the ritual. Music is used to contain the energetic or spiritual aspect of the sacred space, which is defined physically by the assembled people who participate. Dance and song propel the ritual process forward by providing a vehicle for self-expression within the sacred space. Together the musicians create the necessary container that channels the energy generated by the performance in ways that the shaman can guide toward the ritual's intended outcome.
 

Three elements are constantly interacting in communal healing rites: the shaman who guides the flow and pattern of the ritual, the musicians who contain the sacred space, and the gathered people who participate. Interaction between all three elements is necessary to maintain the energy, flow and intention of the ritual.
 

Music is also used to crack open the part of the self that holds emotions in check. For example, in funeral rites among the Dagara people of West Africa, drumming and singing are used to open the mourners to grief. Grief is then channeled in such a way that it will convey the newly deceased soul to the afterlife. Without the help of the drummers, musicians and singers, the powerful emotional energy cannot be unleashed. If not channeled properly, grief is useless to the dead and dangerous to the living. According to Christina Pratt, author of An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, "This musical container of the ritual space must be maintained continuously. The musicians do not rest as long as the ritual continues, though the ritual may last one to four full days."(2)
 

Shamanic Music
 

Shamanic music is traditionally performed as part of a shamanic ritual; however, it is not a musical performance in the normal sense. According to Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder, who has studied with Siberian shamans, "musical considerations are minimal in shamanic performance. The shaman's focus is on the spiritual intention or the energy of what is being played. When the performer concentrates on the spiritual aspect of playing, it allows the music to become very loose, spontaneous, and innovative." Hyder explains, "My approach to music making changed decisively following my experiences in Siberia. For me it starts with the dungur [drum] and the expanded possibilities of variation arising from its superficially apparent instability. And it continues to open up with other musicians being equally free in themselves and in the context of a group. That opening up has the capacity to expand and expand further making the playing fresh, different and spontaneous each time."(3)
 

Shamanic music is improvised by the shaman to modify movement and change while actively journeying into the spirit world. It is a musical expression of the soul, supporting the shamanic flight of the soul. Sacred music is directed more to the spirit world than to an audience. The shaman's attention is directed inwards towards communication with the spirits, rather than outwards to any listeners who might be present.
 

Another way that the shaman expresses their experiences in the spirit world is through their physical movements in this reality. In their journeys, shamans are often flying, running, crouching, stalking and fighting unseen spirits. All of these movements are acted out for all to see in a shamanic performance.
 
A shaman uses various ways of making sounds to communicate with the spirits, as well as relate the tone and content of the inner trance experience in real time. Sound is regarded as one of the most effective ways of establishing connections with the spirit realm, since it travels through space, permeates visual and physical barriers, and conveys information from the unseen world. Shamans may chant, clap their hands, imitate the sounds of birds and animals, or play various instruments. Of particular importance are the shaman's drum and song.
 

Each shaman has his or her own song. It announces the shaman to the spirits and proclaims, "this is me; please help me." The song is usually sung near the beginning of the ritual and is often accompanied by drumming. Singing brings the heartbeat and body into resonance with the song similar to entrainment with the pulse of the drum. As the shaman's song invokes the intended spirits, the shaman comes into resonance with these spirit energies as well.

Shamanic experience can be expressed in many ways: through writing, art, and film, however it must be created after the fact. The one artistic medium which can be used to immediately express shamanic trance without disrupting the quality of the shamanic experience is music. The shaman's use of sound and rhythm is an audible reflection of their inner environment. This is the traditional method for integrating shamanic experience into both physical space and the cultural group.

1. Kira Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia (McGill-Queen's Press, 2005), p 108.
2. Christina Pratt, An Encyclopedia of Shamanism (The Rosen Publishing Group, 2007), p. 128.
3. Ken Hyder, Shamanism and Music in Siberia: Drum and Space. Tech. 11 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

Archaeoacoustics and 'Songs of the Caves'

Archaeoacoustics is a sub-field of archaeology and acoustics which studies the relationship between people and sound throughout history. It is an interdisciplinary field with methodological contributions from acoustics, archaeology, and computer simulation, and is broadly related to topics within cultural anthropology such as experimental archaeology and ethnomusicology. Since many cultures have sonic components, applying acoustical methods to the study of archaeological sites and artifacts may reveal new information on the civilizations examined.

 

The importance of sound in ritual practice is well attested by historical and anthropological evidence. Voices and instruments (pipes, drums) will also have played a key role for prehistoric societies, and a number of studies have sought to demonstrate that by measuring the acoustical properties of archaeological spaces and open-air locations. One of the principal difficulties, however, is to establish a robust methodology. Every space or location will have an acoustic signature, but that does not imply that vocal or musical performance was an essential part of ritual practice; nor that those places were specially designed or selected for their acoustical properties.
 

Palaeolithic painted caves have occupied a special place in this debate since studies in the 1980s suggested that the placement of paintings and murals within the caves might have been guided by the acoustics; that they might be directly correlated with resonance. In 2013, Durham University (Durham, England) archaeologist Chris Scarre joined a team of acousticians, archaeologists and musicians led by Professor Rupert Till (Huddersfield University) in a systematic on-site analysis of acoustic properties and prehistoric motifs in five Upper Palaeolithic painted caves in northern Spain: La Garma, El Castillo, La Pasiega, Las Chimeneas and Tito Bustillo. The Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project was supported by Spanish colleagues Manuel Rojo-Guerra and Roberto Ontañon, with permission from the Gobierno de Cantabria and Gobierno Del Principado de Asturias.
 

Their methodology in recording the acoustics of these caves was to use a swept-sine (also called a chirp) source signal in conjunction with a set of microphones, adjusting the position of the set-up to provide an overview of the acoustics of specific sections of the caves. In each location that was measured, the position of imagery on the cave walls was also recorded. The fieldwork generated a large body of data that was used to generate acoustic maps of the five caves that could be compared with the distribution of the imagery (paintings or engravings, representational images of animals, or abstract symbols). A Principal Components Analysis (a mathematical method used to reduce a large data set into a smaller one while maintaining most of its variation information) provided an averaged set of acoustical characteristics. This showed that the variance of the acoustic data can be explained by two main components, associated with (a) temporal decay of energy (rate at which it fades to silence) in the cave space and (b) the existence or absence of resonance. Other factors, such as the distance of motifs from the original cave entrances (some of them now blocked) were also recorded.
 

Statistical analysis concluded that motifs in general, and lines and dots in particular, are statistically more likely to be found in places where reverberation is moderate and where the low frequency acoustic response has evidence of resonant behavior. The results suggest that the location of Palaeolithic motifs might indeed be associated with acoustic features, and that an appreciation of sound could have influenced behavior among Palaeolithic societies using these caves. The study also demonstrated the application of a systematic methodology of recording and analysis to the archaeoacoustics of prehistoric spaces.

Honoring the Spirits of the Home

Shamanism is a way of perceiving the nature of the universe in a way that incorporates the normally invisible world where the spirits of all material things dwell. Shamans have different terms and phrases for the unseen world, but most of them clearly imply that it is the realm where the spirits of the land, animals, ancestors, and other spiritual entities dwell. Spirit encompasses all the immaterial forms of life energy that surround us. We are woven together into a net of life energies that are all around us. These energies can appear to us in different forms, such as spirits of the land or spirits of the home. Spirits of the home are the spirits that inhabit our place of refuge: where we live, where we work and where we play. These kinds of spirits share our homes with us and help us in our times of need.
 

Honoring the spirits that share our homes is important for our well-being. House spirits in many ways are the heart of the house itself and can affect the home's atmosphere as well as influencing the occupant’s moods and physical health. All homes have spirits, and in many cases there are layers of spirits. Spirits of the home are the echoes of people, of events, of ideas which have become imprinted upon a location, for better or for worse. House spirits may manifest as vague feelings or impressions associated with an area, but more often they appear with a clear physical form. Spirits of the home may be the manifestation of a home's spirit or they may be a spirit that is strongly tied to a home, but either way they have the ability to influence a person or family's luck, health, and mood. Most homes will have several different spirits associated with them, usually at least one with the home itself and in homes with an attached yard possibly more.
 

Honoring the spirits of a home is much easier than most people realize. It requires being open and aware of their presence without judgment or expectation. Know that the spirits are there and acknowledge their presence. Be respectful of them in word and action. Here are some good ways to honor the spirits of your home:
 

Cleanse Your Home
 

Honoring the spirits of your home begins with cleansing your abode. Your house holds the energies of all your emotional ups and downs. It collects the energies of all of your houseguests, domestic disputes, family emergencies, holidays, and so on. Picking up negative energy that is not ours can make us less balanced and can cause blockages to the natural flow of energy in our body. We may feel tired, unbalanced, anxious, depressed or even sick. The most important thing you can do is to smudge yourself and your home each day. Smudging is a method of using smoke from burning herbs to dispel negative energy. Sage, cedar and sweetgrass are traditionally used for smudging. To smudge, light the dried herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle, and then blow out the flames. Then use a feather or your hands to fan the smoke around your body and home. I recommend cracking a window or door for ventilation and for releasing unwanted energies.
 

Bless Your Home
 

Blessing a home, similar to cleansing one, is merely working to keep certain energies flowing within the house. We perform blessings on our homes to attract harmony, happiness, and prosperity to our dwelling and that can be done as often as we feel the need to. Many shamanic practitioners recommend the use of holy or consecrated water for blessing a home. The practice of charging water with intention, words, and sound is widely practiced in indigenous cultures throughout the world. In fact, people have believed in our ability to influence water since the days of antiquity. The Christian tradition is the obvious example, with the ongoing performing of rituals that turn regular water into holy water. Essentially, holy water is water with salt added during a rite of blessing. Learn how to make your own consecrated water, and use it for cleansing, protection and blessing. Pour some holy water into a spray bottle. To bless and protect your home, spray holy water around the perimeter of your dwelling and yard. You can also incorporate an incantation or spoken prayer into your blessing. This can be as simple as saying, "I bless this home with happiness. I bless this home with love. I bless this home with prosperity…"
 

Make Offerings to the Spirits
 

Offerings are a beautiful way to acknowledge and honor your household spirits. Giving and receiving are an essential part of any relationship. Anything can be used as an offering, but food is common in many cultures across the world. A simple way to incorporate food as an offering is to simply leave a portion of your meal for the spirits near the hearth or on an altar. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. Offerings can be made weekly, monthly or annually and might include fresh flowers, herbs, incense, fruits, milk, or wine. The offerings serve as an acknowledgement and sign of gratitude for the spirits presence and beneficial activity.
 

Listen to the Spirits
 

Developing a relationship with your house and its spirit is very important for your home is your sanctuary; it keeps you safe and warm and protected from the elements. Let your home speak to you. As shamanic practitioners, we are often able to hear things that others cannot. And we know that it is not uncommon for spirits to speak up when they want something specific. Our houses can be the same way. Take some time to sit quietly in your house and listen to it. Be open to communication and let it tell you what color walls it was happiest with, what kind of music it prefers, or what holiday traditions it was fondest of; and let these messages guide your offerings.

 

As with any relationship it takes time and effort to build a connection with your house spirit, but it is worthwhile. Most home spirits are more open to human connection than the spirits of the land. Keep in mind that spirits choose to come into relationship with the person seeking. You can seek a connection, but the spirits must choose. Respect and connection to spirits is what makes for an authentic relationship, which is what the shamanic practitioner yearns for in a society that has severed itself from nature and spirit. Humans have lost touch with the spirit world and the wisdom of inner knowing. The spirits, however, have not forgotten us. They are calling us to a path of environmental sanity, to rejoining the miraculous cycle of nature.

The Shamanic Horse

The drum, often called the shaman's horse, provides the shamanic practitioner a relatively easy means of controlled transcendence. Researchers have found that if a drum beat frequency of around three to four beats per second is sustained for at least 15 minutes, it will induce significant trance states in most people, even on their first attempt. The drum becomes the practitioner's mount, and the drumstick becomes a riding crop. Riding the rhythm of the drum at the speed of sound, the practitioner journeys to the inner planes of consciousness and back.
 

Through the sound of the drum, which is customarily made of wood from the World Tree (axis mundi), the practitioner is transported to the cosmic axis (spinal column) within and conveyed from plane to plane. As noted Tuvan Siberian ethnomusicologist Valentina Suzukei explains: "There is a bridge on these sound waves so you can go from one world to another. In the sound world, a tunnel opens through which we can pass, or the shaman's spirits come to us. When you stop playing the drum, the bridge disappears."(1)
 

The shamanic horse, namely the single-headed frame drum, originated in Siberia, along with shamanism itself thousands of years ago. Shamanic drumming is considered one of the oldest methods for healing and accessing inner wisdom. Practiced in diverse cultures around the planet, this drum method is strikingly similar the world over. Shamanic drumming uses a repetitive rhythm that begins slowly and then gradually builds in intensity to a tempo of three to seven beats per second. The ascending tempo will induce light to deep trance states. Practitioners may progress through a series of trance states until they reach the level that is necessary for healing to occur.
 

Basically, shamanic drumming is a technique of accessing and directing archetypal or transpersonal powers for healing and manifesting what is needed to benefit the community. It is a simple and effortless way to still the incessant chatter of the mind, thereby inducing a shamanic trance state. Shamanic drumming carries awareness into the transcendent realm of the collective unconscious, the infinite creative matrix of all that we are, have been and will ever be. It is an inward spiritual journey of ecstasy in which one interacts with the inner world, thereby influencing the outer world.
 

During shamanic flight, the sound of the drum serves as a guidance system indicating where the journeyer is at any moment or where they might need to go. The drumbeat also serves as an anchor or lifeline that the traveler follows to return to their body when the trance work is complete. One of the paradoxes of rhythm is that it has both the capacity to move your awareness out of your body into realms beyond time and space, and to ground you firmly in the present moment. It allows you to maintain a portion of ordinary awareness while experiencing nonordinary awareness. This allows recall or recollection of the visionary experience. When ready to exit the trance state, the practitioner simply slows the tempo of drumming, drawing consciousness back to normal. Shamanic drumming continues to offer today what it has offered for millennia -- a simple and effective technique of ecstasy.
 

Although sounding simple and redundant, the unique connection between the drum and the practitioner gives this drumming great power, richness and depth. According to Valentina Suzukei, "shamanic drumming is not monotonous at all. Constant changes in timbre and volume keep them interesting...If you don’t listen for timbre, but only for pitch and rhythm the music is boring, monotonous. But the player's every smallest change of mood is reflected in timbre."(2)
 

It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the shamanic practitioner to communicate with the spiritual realm. Drumming opens one's inner, spiritual ears and eyes and also calls the helping spirits. By changing and listening to the tones, pitches and harmonics of the drum, the practitioner is able to send messages to and receive them from the spirit world.
 

The Shaman's Steed
 

The role of the horse in Siberian shamanism is predominately that of an animal that transports a shaman in his journeys, especially his journeys to the World Tree. In the shamanic traditions of East, Central and North Asia, winged horses symbolize the shaman's soul or the shaman's steed carrying the rider to Heaven. Among the Yakut people of Siberia, the drum was symbolically called kulan-at or "wild horse." The drum was the very heart of the shaman's steed. The Buryat, a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia, make their drums out of horse skins. The Buryat see the stars as a herd of horses tethered to the World Tree, which is represented by the pole star.
 

Throughout Mongolia, the drum is called Omisi Murin, which translates as Spirit Horse. The repetitive, rhythmic cadence of shamanic drumming is evocative of a horse on a journey. Mongolian and Siberian shamans describe it as the blissful, transcendent state that one mounts and rides from plane to plane. As Siberian shaman Tania Kobezhikova puts it, "My drum can connect me to the earth or carry me like a flying horse."(3) We can ride Spirit Horse on journeys through the inner realms of consciousness. As a form of transport for the body and the soul, Spirit Horse will let you ride him and will take you where you want to go. Do you need to get somewhere physical or spiritual? Spirit Horse will assist you and serve as your guardian spirit, giving safety in your physical and metaphysical journeys.

1. Kira Van Deusen, "Shamanism and Music in Tuva and Khakassia," Shaman's Drum, No. 47, Winter 1997, p. 24.
2. Kira Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia (McGill-Queen's Press, 2005), p. 124.
3. Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum, p. 122.

Your Guide to Shamanic Drumming

I am pleased to announce the publication of my first online course, Your Guide to Shamanic Drumming, on Insight Timer. Insight Timer is a free smartphone app and online community with over seven million meditators, making it the most active meditation community on the planet. The meditation app made Women's Health and Time magazine's list of best apps. Three thousand meditation teachers publish free guided meditations, music and talks on the app. With 130,000 free guided meditations, including six of my shamanic drumming tracks to support your shamanic journeys, you can meditate on Insight Timer for as long as you want without ever paying a cent. Please note that courses are a premium offering and require either an individual purchase or an active subscription. You can purchase my course for $19.99 or start your 7 day free trial then subscribe to unlock all 1,871 Insight courses, playlists and premium features. Download the Insight Timer app here.
 

Course Description 

In this four-part audio course, best-selling author Michael Drake teaches about the power of shamanic drumming to improve well-being, promote spiritual growth and deepen our understanding of the inner self. Shamanic drumming is a form of repetitive rhythmic drumming. Its purpose is to induce ecstatic trance states in order to access innate wisdom and guidance. The essence of shamanism is the experience of direct revelation from within. Shamanism is about remembering, exploring and developing the true self. Shamanic practice heightens the ability of perception and enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. Once connected with your inner self, you can find help, healing and a continual source of guidance. To practice shamanism is to reconnect with your deepest core values and your highest vision of who you are and why you are here.

Drawing from 30 years of shamanic practice and teaching, Michael presents the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to our modern lives. Through a series of simple lessons and exercises, he teaches the basic shamanic methods of drumming, journeying, power practice and healing the earth. You will learn how to alter your state of consciousness to access higher wisdom, renewed power and untapped insight. There are no prerequisites to learning shamanic drumming. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this course will help you harness the power of drumming. 

 

Drumming is a spiritual practice that can help us heal and restore ourselves and our communities. It is one of the quickest and most powerful ways to open the heart and connect with a power greater than ourselves. The drum is a time-tested vehicle for healing and self-expression. It can be used to address any number of health issues including trauma, addiction, depression and chronic pain. Recent research reviews indicate that drumming accelerates physical healing, boosts the immune system and produces feelings of well-being, a release of emotional trauma and reintegration of self. You can listen to the introduction and read the course outline here.

Abel Selaocoe: Shaman with a Cello

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is redefining the parameters of the cello. He combines virtuosic performance with improvisation, singing and body percussion. Abel moves seamlessly across a plethora of genres and styles, from collaborations with world musicians and beatboxers, to concerto performances. But his solo shamanic performances are something else: he directs all his energy at communicating with the audience. He is both entertainer and minister, but he is also a healer, expanding the potential of his cello, and singing with a virtuosity that is never undermined by playing to the audience, gently coaxing them to sing along rather than resorting to the cliche of a hand-clapping accompaniment.

He has become a master of various pieces of digital equipment that enable him to create backing tracks--vocal, instrumental and percussive--with which he can play and sing along, as well as layering the sound by doubling voice and cello tracks. It comes close at times to being an over used gimmick, and yet, he knows just when to pull back from dependence upon the wonders of audio technology. In an instant, he will return to a masterful stroke of the cello's bow or a plaintive undulation of spine-chilling voice.

Selaocoe's resonant throat-singing is a wonder to behold, never just a display, but a way of conjuring the spirits of the ancestors he mentions in his introductions and invites into his performances. In a way that is common to so much African music, from the song of a bush village through to gospel, soul and rap. Selaocoe's show is not just superb entertainment, but also a form of teaching: his message is explicitly about love, community and healing. He brings all three of these essential qualities of humanity together in a way that leaves the audience uplifted and transformed. The wonder of Abel Selaocoe is that he can make any venue feel like a sacred gathering place. 

 

His debut album Where is Home? Hae Ke Kae on the subject of home and refuge was released in September 2022. It's dual title, in English and Sesotho, reflects the album's diverse program which draws from vibrant European and African influences: pieces inspired by South African and Tanzanian musical tradition share a space with works by J.S. Bach and Giovanni Benedetto Platti, some of which are renewed with instrumental and lyrical improvisations. The title of the album holds multifaceted significance for the Manchester-based musician: "Home is the place that empowers you; it's not only a geographical place but in people as well, where you can live a life of empowerment and not of oppression. I've learned to find my different homes through the cello." Abel Selaocoe represents Africa on the move.

Music Born of the Cold

Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq won the Polaris Prize in 2014 for Canada's best album of the year. Animism contained sounds never heard before in Canadian pop music: breathy throat singing, screeches, roars and other human sounds for which the English language has no names. Tagaq's music was ambiguous. She seemed a shamanic figure. 

 

Suddenly, she and other throat singers were everywhere. Indigenous artist Caroline Monnet incorporated Tagaq soundtracks into her hypnotic art videos. Some touring rock groups hired throat singers as opening acts. For a time, no television variety program was complete without a guest spot for throat singers.  

 

Tagaq may have seemed like a new and unique voice. But she had basically jazzed up a genre of Inuit music that has been performed on the land we now call Canada for thousands of years. Inuit throat singing, or katajjaq, is a distinct type of throat singing uniquely found among the Inuit. It is a form of musical performance, traditionally consisting of two women who sing duets in a close face-to-face formation with no instrumental accompaniment, in an entertaining contest to see who can outlast the other. One singer leads by setting a short rhythmic pattern, which she repeats leaving brief silent intervals between each repetition. The other singer fills in the gap with another rhythmic pattern.
 

The sounds used include voiced sounds as well as unvoiced ones, both through inhalation or exhalation. The first to run out of breath or be unable to maintain the pace of the other singer will start to laugh or simply stop and will thus be eliminated from the game. It generally lasts between one and three minutes. The winner is the singer who beats the largest number of people.
 

Originally, katajjaq was a form of entertainment among Inuit women while men were away on hunting trips, and it was regarded more as a type of vocal or breathing game in the Inuit culture rather than a form of music. Katajjiniq sound can create an impression of rhythmic and harmonious panting. Inuit throat singing can also imitate wind, water, animal sounds and other everyday sounds.
 

Notable traditional performers include Qaunak Mikkigak, Kathleen Ivaluarjuk Merritt, as well as Alacie Tullaugaq and Lucy Amarualik who perform in the katajjaq style. Several groups, including Tudjaat, The Jerry Cans, Quantum Tangle and Silla + Rise, also now blend traditional throat singing with mainstream musical genres such as pop, folk, rock and dance music.

 

Tudjaat (Madeleine Allakariallak and Phoebe Atagotaaluk) performed on the song "Rattlebone" from Robbie Robertson's 1998 album Contact from the Underworld of Red Boy. The album is composed of music inspired by Aboriginal Canadian music (including traditional Aboriginal Canadian songs and chants), as well as modern rock, trip hop, and electronica, with the various styles often integrated together in the same song.
 

To learn more, watch this video of Inuit throat-singing sisters Karin and Kathy Kettler from Canada. The sisters carry on the traditions of the elders from their mothers' village in Kangiqsualujjuaq, Nunavik, which is located in northern Quebec.

Free Shamanic Songs and Chants

I recorded a collection of multicultural songs and chants in 2011 and made them freely available for download at Archive.org. I learned these songs and chants from shamanic mentors and spirit guides. When a spirit is invoked, there is often an accompanying rhythm and chant that evolves. Shamanic practitioners often use specific rhythms and chants to "call" their spirit helpers for the work at hand. Each practitioner has his or her own song. It announces the shaman to the spirits and proclaims, "this is me…please help me." The song is usually sung near the beginning of the ritual and is often accompanied by drumming. The drum opens portals to the spirit world and summons the helping spirits.
 

Sacred or shamanic music is traditionally performed as part of a ritual, however it is not a musical performance in the normal sense. The music is directed more to the spirit world than to an audience. The practitioner's attention is directed inwards towards communication with the spirits, rather than outwards to any listeners who might be present. The practitioner is focused on the healing intention or spiritual energy of what he or she is playing, to the point that musical considerations are minimal.
 

Singing and drumming are extremely powerful tools for restoring the vibrational integrity of body, mind, and spirit. When coupled together, they move us to a level of awareness beyond form, a place where we discover our own divinity. Each song and chant on this recording has a specific purpose for invoking or paying homage to helping spirits and deities. Each one creates a vibratory resonance that allows these forces to be called forth. You can download Sacred Songs and Chants at: https://archive.org/details/SacredSongsAndChants.

Manchu Shamanic Drumming

In her scholarly article "The Symbolization Process of the Shamanic Drums Used by the Manchus and Other Peoples in North Asia," ethnomusicologist Lisha Li establishes a universal framework describing how the drum as a symbol transmits symbolic meanings among shamans, people and the spirit world. She provides an in-depth analysis of the symbolic functions of the drum from an ethnomusicological point of view. All elements of drum music such as timbre, rhythm, volume and tempo play an important role in Manchu shamanic ritual. By using different parts of the drumstick to play on different parts of the drum, different timbres can be produced for transmitting different meanings. Different rhythms transmit different meanings and enable the shaman to contact different beings in different realms of the cosmos. Volume and tempo arouse feelings in the listener and communicate symbolic meanings directly as aural sense experience. The drum is also a visual symbol loaded with symbolic meanings.
 

In Manchu shamanic drumming, rhythmic patterns with odd accents are frequently used, which are related to the cosmology of Manchu shamanism in which the cosmos has nine levels divided into three regions. As Lisha Li points out, "before healing a patient, the shaman beats his drum very hard three times, then chants and beats the drum repeatedly in three-fold rhythms. According to old Manchu shamans, "Three-accented Patterns" are for accessing the Celestial Realm, "Five-accented Patterns" are for conveying the intention of spirits to the people, "Seven-accented Patterns" are used to drive away malevolent spirits, and "Nine-accented Patterns" are for working with all living beings in different regions of the cosmos."
 

Lisha Li. 1992. "The symbolization process of the shamanic drums used by the Manchus and other peoples in North Asia." Yearbook for Traditional Music 24:52-80.

The Shaman's Drum

The drum, sometimes called the shaman's horse, provides the shaman a relatively easy means of controlled transcendence. Researchers have found that if a drum beat frequency of around three to four beats per second is sustained for at least fifteen minutes, it will induce significant trance states in most people, even on their first attempt. During shamanic flight, the sound of the drum serves as a guidance system, indicating where the shaman is at any moment or where they might need to go. The drumbeat also serves as an anchor, or lifeline, that the shaman follows to return to his or her body and/or exit the trance state when the trance work is complete.
 

The sound of the shaman's drum is very important. A shamanic ritual often begins with heating the drum head over a fire to bring it up to the desired pitch. It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the shaman to communicate with the spiritual realm. Part of the shaman's training involves learning to hear and interpret a larger range of frequencies than the normal person can. The shaman listens and finds the right tone, the right sound to which the spirits will respond. Through the many tones, pitches, and harmonics of the drum, the shaman communes with the subtle and normally unseen energies of the spirit world. 

Tuvan shamans believe that the spirits of nature create their own sound world, and it is possible for humans to communicate with them through the sound of the drum. According to Tuvan ethnographer and former shaman Mongush Kenin-Lopsan, "We understand the spirits answers mostly from the tangible results of the communication, in terms of benefit or harm. But some people actually hear the spirits singing." Tuvan shamans use the drum to convey to the spirits of a place their greetings, any requests, and thanks. It is a spiritual practice designed to help human beings relate to all of nature. Tuva (southern Siberia) is one of the few places in the world where the shamanic heritage has remained unbroken.
 

Drumming opens the shaman's inner, spiritual ears and eyes and also calls the helping spirits. As Tuvan musicologist Valentina Suzukei explains, "By changing and listening to the frequencies and overtones of the drum, the shaman is able to send messages to, and receive them from, both the spirit world and the patient. For example, the shaman might use the overtones to send signals to the sky, where they provoke a voice from the cosmos; in turn, the cosmic signals are caught on the drum and reflected to the shaman through the creation of subsequent overtones."

Rhythm Healing

The key to understanding the shaman's world is to realize that the universe is made of vibrational energy. According to quantum physics, everything in the universe, from the smallest subatomic particle to the largest star, has an inherent vibrational pattern. The entire universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through the healing vibrations of shamanic drumming. The shamanic drum is a tool for altering the vibrational state of the shaman and/or the healee or a particular situation in the community. To put it simply, shamanic drumming is an ancient form of rhythm healing.

Rhythm healing is an approach that uses therapeutic rhythm techniques to promote health and well-being. Rhythm healing employs specialized rhythmic drumming patterns designed to influence the internal rhythmic patterns of the individual and harmonize those which are thought to be causing the illness or imbalance. When administered correctly, specific rhythms may be used to accelerate physical healing, stimulate the release of emotional trauma and produce deeper self-awareness. This technique has been used for thousands of years by indigenous cultures around the planet to treat a variety of conditions.

Rhythm healing relies on the natural laws of resonance and entrainment to restore the vibrational integrity of body, mind and spirit. In resonance, the sound waves produced by the drum impart their energy to the resonating systems of the body, mind and spirit, making them vibrate in sympathy. When we drum, our living flesh, brainwaves and auric energy field entrain to the sound waves and rhythms. This sympathetic resonance forms new harmonic alignments, opens the body's energy meridians, releases blocked emotional patterns, promotes healing, and helps connect us to our core, enhancing our sense of empowerment and stimulating our creative expression. A single-headed frame or hoop drum works best for rhythm healing -- the larger the drum, the greater the resonance.

Finding the right rhythm

A rhythm healer may have a repertory of established rhythms or improvise a new rhythm, uniquely indicated for the situation. Determining the right rhythm in each case is a highly individual matter. No predetermined formulas are given. The rhythmist needs to create a dialogue between the sounds he/she produces and the responses of the person being treated. The drumming is not restricted to a regular tempo, but may pause, speed up or slow down with irregular accents. The practitioner may stop playing altogether, or suddenly hoist the drum skyward and bang it violently, throwing the disease into the heavens, returning it to the spirit world.

Tuvan shamans, for example, often improvise sounds, rhythms and chants in order to converse with both the spirit world and the healee. The sounds produced by the shaman and the drum go out and certain frequencies and overtones are then reflected back. Information is generally received as subtle vibrations, which the shaman then interprets as sounds, images or as rhythms.

To find the right rhythm, invoke the spirit of your drum, and ask it to come to you and become your ally. State your intention -- what you desire or expect to accomplish -- in a clear and concise manner, and then sit and meditate with your drum for a few minutes. By stilling the mind, you will be able to connect with the spirit of the drum. When you feel ready, pick up your drumstick and begin to play whatever feels appropriate. When you focus on the spiritual intention or the energy of what is being played, it allows the music to become very loose, spontaneous and innovative.

I learned that when I trust my intuition to play the appropriate rhythm, which I do not know in advance, I cannot go wrong. I know that when I open up and play what I feel, the drumming is fresh, different and spontaneous each time. Rhythmic improvisation is a musical expression of the soul. It is a way to let spirit work through you for the purpose of healing and helping others.

Rhythm healing is about finding the right rhythm. Rhythm and resonance order the natural world. Dissonance and disharmony arise only when we limit our capacity to resonate completely with the rhythms of life. The origin of the word rhythm is Greek meaning "to flow." We can learn to flow with the rhythms of life by simply learning to feel the beat or pulse while drumming. It is a way of bringing the essential self into accord with the flow of a boundless, interrelated universe, helping us feel connected rather than isolated and estranged. To learn more, look inside The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming.

Native American Gourd Rattles

Native American artisans have long utilized gourds to make many items, including utensils, serving bowls and rattles. The gourd rattle represents the three kingdoms in Native American culture, with the animal kingdom represented by feathers, the mineral kingdom represented by rocks inside the rattle, and the plant kingdom represented by the gourd itself. Music, many Native people believe, is a vessel used to transform ourselves into spiritual beings capable of healing ourselves and others through the transfer of energy, and these rattles are commonly used during ceremonies of song and dance. The following are some examples of gourd rattles crafted by Native Americans:
 

The Kachina Rattle
 

The gourd rattle used by the Hopi Katsinam (spirit messengers) is highly symbolic. Often only painted light blue with little decoration, this special instrument is used in Kachina dance and ceremony, and also as a gift given to children during their initiation ceremonies into the Kachina Society. The rattle is constructed of a flattened gourd, which represents the earth, and the handle represents the axis of the Hero Twins, iconic figures of ancient Hopi lore who help keep the earth spinning.
 

The Peyote Rattle
 

The Peyote rattle (pictured above) was frequently used during Native American church ceremonies, and was an important element of the Half Moon ceremony. A community elder is in charge of leading this ceremony, which involves the ingestion of dried peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus that was believed to induce visions. This rattle was also constructed from a spherical gourd shape and filled with nut or seed.
 

The Iroquois Rattle
 

According to the Iroquois or "people of the longhouse," the gourd rattle is the sound of Creation. The Iroquoian creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of "the Creator's thoughts." The seeds of the gourd rattle embody the voice of the Creator, since they are the source of newly created life. The seeds within the rattle scatter the illusions of the conscious mind, planting seeds of pure and clear mind.
 

The Shaman's Rattle
 

The shaman's rattle is used to invoke the assistance of power animals and helping spirits. It is also possible to direct energy with rattles, much like a magician with a magic wand. Healing energy can be mentally transmitted through the rattle and out into the environment or into a patient's body. Prayer and intention can be broadcast to the spirit world. Moreover, you can create sacred space by describing a circle with the rattle while shaking it.

Drumming in the New Year 2022

Season's Greetings! I wish to thank all of my Spotify listeners for making 2021 a standout musical year! We made it through another wild year together. I had a lot of firsts this year. I had over 7,000 listeners. My music was added to 2937 playlists this year and was streamed nearly 35,000 times in 89 countries. I am looking forward to another year of creating and sharing my music.

 

As 2021 comes to a close, I will be celebrating New Year's Eve by drumming out the old year and drumming in the New Year. Drumming in the New Year is a great way to set the tone and intention for 2022. It is also a good time to reflect on the year ending to see where you have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. It is an opportunity to feel gratitude for all that has been received and accomplished throughout the past year. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden your perspective and start you out on the right track. What will you be "drumming" into your life for 2022?

Joy Harjo: "I Pray for My Enemies"

In her first new recording in a decade, Joy Harjo -- the first Native American named Poet Laureate of the United States -- digs deep into the indigenous red earth and the shared languages of music to sing, speak and play a stunningly original musical meditation that seeks healing for a troubled world -- I Pray for My Enemies, newly released in March 2021.
 

Collaborating with producer and engineer Barrett Martin on this unique new album, Harjo brings a fresh identity to the poetry and songs that have made her a renowned poet of the Muscogee Creek Nation and one of the most authentic and compelling voices of our times.
 

In a recent interview Harjo said, "The concept for I Pray for My Enemies began with an urgent need to deal with discord, opposition. It could have been on a tribal, national or a personal level. I no longer remember. The urgency had a heartbeat and in any gathering of two or more, perhaps the whole planet, our hearts lean to entrainment -- that is, to beat together."
 

Latin Grammy-winning producer, composer and founding father of the historic Seattle music scene, Barrett Martin brings a new dimension to Harjo's unique sound-world -- her words and music spoken, sung and explored in a vibrant mix of classic instrumental sounds. Harjo and Martin describe it as "funkified spoken word" inspiring "elegant jazz, urban soul, and inner city, reservation grit." Harjo sings and speaks her poetry, as well as playing saxophone and flute, on an album she describes as "very much of-the-moment."
 

Martin holds it all together with drums, upright bass, keyboards and production duties on I Pray for My Enemies. He assembled an all-star band to explore Harjo's work, featuring Peter Buck (R.E.M.) on electric guitar and feedback; Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) on electric guitar solos; Krist Novoselic (Nirvana) on acoustic guitar; and Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) on electric guitar solos. Additional players include renowned Iraqi oud master Rahim Alhaj; trumpeter Dave Carter and percussionist/backing vocalist Lisette Garcia. Harjo's stepdaughters sing harmony vocals, and her husband Owen Sapulpa plays surdo drum on the album. 

 

Harjo defines songs and poems as distinctly different expressions, and both are featured in the 16 tracks that make up I Pray for My Enemies. Her words and music, older and newer, get a fresh new identity here. The album opens, however, with a traditional Muscogee song "Allay Na Lee No." "Music travels," she says, adding, "It travels through history, ancestors and especially loves ports and waterways."
 

Some of Harjo's defining poems appear here -- "An American Sunrise," "Fear," "Running" and "Remember" -- refracting her own experience as a Native American woman of her culturally defining generation. "Calling the Spirit Back," from an early collection of Harjo's poems, and the new song "How Love Blows Through the Trees" -- written when COVID-19 reached her home in Tulsa, OK -- echo the suffering of a world experiencing a pandemic.
 

"Once the World Was Perfect" is based on a version of a Muscogee Creek creation story, which describes a time similar to now. She says, "We lost our way in the dark, forgot who we were, then had to find our way again."
 

Vignettes and "licks" of songs and poems also appear on I Pray for My Enemies, ranging from the epiphany of "We Emerged from Night in Clothes of Sunrise" to the playful "trickster" piece "Rabbit Invents the Saxophone." Both feature Harjo's soulful sax. "Stomp All Night" delivers all the primal energy the title suggests, inspired by Muscogee Creek social dances. Harjo's poetic music is just the medicine the world need at this time.

The Modern Shamanic Sound of Namgar

"Nayan Navaa" is the superb new album from Namgar, a band that plays modern sounds rooted in traditional music from the Republic of Buryatia in southern Siberia. The Moscow-based band led by renowned female Buryatia vocalist Namgar Lhasaranova features Buryat, Russian, Tuvan and Norwegian musicians. Together, the band presents a unique multi-ethnic musical mix that includes shamanic vocals, throat singing, galloping rhythms, rock, jazz, and mesmerizing soundscapes.
 

The melodic music Namgar creates was passed down to Lhasaranova from her grandparents and father, who sang to her as a child. The inventive arrangements are new, but the stories told in the songs are as old as the indigenous Buryats themselves, with tales and myths of ancient Mongol fighters, champions, horses and famous battles. The lyrics are based on traditional Buryat and Mongolian songs, reflecting Buryat nomadic culture. Topics include hunter, wedding, family, and yokhor round dance songs, as well as songs about horses, ancestors and shamanic rituals.
 

The group uses various traditional instruments from Buryatia and nearby regions such as the yataga (a 13-stringed zither), the chanza (a three-stringed lute), the khomus (jaw harp) and the morin khuur (a two-stringed bowed instrument), along with modern instruments like electric bass and drums to craft its unique sound. Lhasaranova has a beautiful, impressive voice. Her power, energy and amazing vocal range go beyond words and language, taking her listener on a journey to Siberia and the world of the Buryats, people whose roots reach back to Ghengis Khan and the Mongolian Empire.

Jim Pepper's Classic Peyote Song "Witchi Tai To"

Jim Pepper (1941-1992) was a jazz saxophonist, composer, and singer of Native American descent. Born in Salem, Oregon, Pepper grew up in Portland. He moved to New York City in 1964, where he came to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of The Free Spirits, an early jazz-rock fusion group that also featured Larry Coryell and Bob Moses. His primary instrument was the tenor saxophone (he also played flute and soprano saxophone), and his characteristic incisive, penetrating tone and soulful delivery was unique for its time. A similar timbre was taken up by later players such as Jan Garbarek, Michael Brecker, and David Sanborn.

Of Kaw and Muscogee Creek heritage, Pepper also achieved notoriety for his compositions combining elements of jazz and Native American music. Jazz trumpeter Don Cherry and saxophonist Ornette Coleman encouraged Pepper to reflect his roots and heritage and incorporate it into his jazz playing and composition. His "Witchi Tai To" (derived from a peyote healing chant of the Native American Church which he had learned from his grandfather) is the most famous example of this hybrid style. The song first turned up in 1969 on an album by the band he was playing with at the time, Everything Is Everything. But it's the 1971 version from his own solo album Pepper's Pow Wow that's the definitive version. The song has gone on to be covered by numerous artists including Harper's Bizarre, Ralph Towner, Jan Garbarek, and Brewer & Shipley.

 
Over seven minutes in length, "Witchi Tai To" is beautiful, powerful, and very moving. Assisting Pepper in the recording studio were guitarist Larry Coryell, bassist Chuck Rainey, pianist Tom Grant, drummers Spider Rice and Billy Cobham, and then wife Ravie Pepper on flute, shakers, and vocals. The song begins with the peyote chant plain and unadorned, and slowly segues into Pepper's beautiful, flowing sax line that sets the tone for the rest of the tune. When Pepper begins to blow his sax, there is so much raw emotion and power packed into his delivery it can still bring chills decades later. Pepper died on February 10, 1992 of lymphoma. Listen to Jim Pepper's "Witchi Tai To".

"Witchi Tai To" Lyrics:

Witchi-tie-to, gimee rah
Whoa rah neeko, whoa rah neeko
Hey ney, hey ney, no way

Witchi-tie-to, gimee rah
Whoa rah neeko, whoa rah neeko
Hey ney, hey ney, no way

Water spirit feelin'
Springin' round my head
Makes me feel glad
That I'm not dead

Witchi-tie-tie, gimee rah
Whoa rah neeko, whoa rah neeko
Hey ney, hey ney, no way

Witchi-tie-tie, gimee rah
Whoa rah neeko, whoa rah neeko
Hey ney, hey ney, no way

Hands of the Spirits

Among Iroquois medicine societies of present-day central and upstate New York, rattles are often described as hands of the spirit beings. The sounds emanating from the shaking of a rattle during a ceremony serve as a primary means of communicating with the spirit world. Rattles are ritually used to invoke the assistance of power animals and helping spirits. The shaman's rattle draws the spirit world and its inhabitants into the material world. The shaman thus embodies the helping spirits to perform shamanic tasks. Healing energy can be mentally transmitted through the rattle and out into the environment or into a patient's body. Prayer and intention can be broadcast to the spirit world. Moreover, sacred space can be created by describing a circle with the rattle while shaking it.

According to the Iroquois or "people of the longhouse," the gourd rattle is the sound of Creation. The Iroquoian creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of "the Creator's thoughts." The seeds of the gourd rattle embody the voice of the Creator, since they are the source of newly created life. The seeds within the rattle scatter the illusions of the conscious mind, planting seeds of pure and clear mind.

The turtle rattle is central to Iroquois tradition, beliefs and ways of life. The Iroquois derive their own values from the characteristics of the turtle such as perseverance, longevity and steadfastness. It is said that when the turtle rattle is shaken, "the Earth stops to listen."(1) The turtle rattle is a symbol of the world on the turtle's back, Turtle Island. The Creator is said to have loved snapping turtle best. When Mother Earth hears the sound of the turtle rattle, all of creation awakens and moves to its shaking beat. The crack of a turtle rattle, which shakes the Earth, draws the attention of the spirits at the beginning of a ceremony or meeting. "To Shake the Earth" is a metaphor often used in Iroquoian communities to describe the purpose of the turtle rattle. From a shamanic perspective, caretaking the rattle and playing it properly during ritual fulfills the destiny of the human spirit -- to sustain the order of existence.

1. Visions of Sound: Musical Instruments of First Nations Communities in Northeastern America, By Beverley Diamond, 1994.

Shaman's Journey Song

Journey Song

I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.
All around
I float
among whirlpools.
All around
I float
among shadows.
I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.
Whose canoe
is this
I stand in?
The one
I stand in
with a stranger.
I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.

--Northwest Coast Tsimshian (1)

1. David Cloutier, Spirit, Spirit: Shaman Songs, Incantations (Providence: Copper Beech Press, 1973), pp. 67-68.

Sacred Hoop Prayer Song

The circle or sacred hoop is a universal symbol that can be found in many indigenous cultures around the world. Within the cosmology of primal peoples, the circle represents life. All aspects of life, energy, and the ever-moving universe spiral in circles. The plants, the animals, the minerals, and the elemental forces of nature all exist within the circle. The sacred hoop, sometimes known as the medicine wheel, represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. All creatures walk the circumference of the sacred hoop, experiencing birth, life, and death. This archetypal journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify completion, wholeness or fullness. After completing a cycle of learning on the sacred wheel, each of us returns to the source, the Great Mystery at the center or heart of the circle. Listen to "Sacred Hoop," my prayer song to the circle of life. Available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.

"Twilight Owls" Music Release

Twilight Owls combines trance-inducing drums, flutes and nature sounds in a rousing celebration of shamanic music. Shamanic music is a way to evoke and internalize animal archetypes. An animal archetype represents the spirit and attributes of the entire species of that animal. Shamanism is the endeavor to cultivate ongoing relationships with power animals to gain insight, healing methods, and other vital information that can benefit the community. Owl medicine includes prophecy, wisdom, stealth, silence, intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, shapeshifting, and keen vision that can pierce all illusion. Call upon Owl to unmask and see what is truly beneath the surface -- what is hidden or in the shadows. Owl is a messenger of omens who will call out to let all share in its vision.

A shamanic performer uses various instruments to communicate with the spirits. The first instrument you hear on "Twilight Owls" is the Native American Flute, an ancient wind instrument used to announce to the spirits that ceremony is beginning. Its sound represents the voice of the birds, the voice of the wind and the voice of the soul -- those things that are free to move and fly. The next instrument you hear is the drum. Its steady beat is akin to the primal pulse, the heart, throbbing within all that exists. The shaman uses the drum to create a bridge to the spirit world and summon the healing power of spirit. Drum and flute merge with Tawny Owl calls and the sounds of nature weaving the musical fabric of the song. Available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby.