Why is Music an Essential Part of Life?

The critically acclaimed documentary, "Intangible Asset No. 82" reveals this without implicitly telling us the answer. We discover it through a viewer's participation in Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker's quest to find an elusive Korean shamanic drummer. After hearing a recording, Barker made a commitment to find and learn from the master drummer. Yet despite his official designation as one of South Korea's cultural treasures or "82nd intangible asset," Kim Seok-Chul remained elusive. Barker's seven year journey becomes a rite of passage, as he has meaningful encounters with the engaging and eclectic characters who will eventually lead him to the enigmatic shaman only days before the master's death. To view the trailer visit "Intangible Asset No. 82."

"Intimate Apprenticeship"

Streaming live on the Co-Creator Radio Network on Tuesday, May 24, at 11 a.m. Pacific time/2 p.m. Eastern time, on her show "Why Shamanism Now?: A Practical Path to Authenticity," Christina Pratt talks to Paula Denham, founder and Director of the Sacramento Shamanic Center, who shares her experience with local and intimate apprenticeship. Working with the guidance of her helping spirits, Denham has cultivated an ongoing system for teaching and apprenticeship that steps out of the workshop format and back into the power of the circle, of community, and of the personal growth and accountability inherent in authentic shamanic practice. Prior episodes from "Why Shamanism Now" can be downloaded for free from the iTunes library. 

Tuvan Art and Shamanism

Tim Hodgkinson is an English anthropologist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. Hodgkinson, along with Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder and Tuvan master shamanic musician and throat singer Gendos Chamzyryn, comprise the electroacoustic improvisation trio K-Space. After making a series of trips to Tuva to perform and study shamanic culture, Hodgkinson has published an essay exploring the relationship between art and shamanism. In the abstract Hodgkinson explains, "Tuvan art invokes a particular construction of 'nature' (and of an experience of nature) as a total cosmos embracing both 'this' and 'other' worlds. The concept of küsh (spiritual energy or force) bridges the boundary between art and shamanism, but does not abolish it. Both art and shamanism set in motion a movement of the imagination that extends beyond everyday modes of representation. They diverge, finally, in three ways: first, by the degree to which occasion is determinative: second, by the direction of movement between material and imaginary planes (being there/being away with the spirits): third, by the specific role given to the shaman in relation to the imagined." Read more of "Musicians, Carvers, Shamans" published in Cambridge Anthropology Vol 25.

Siberian Shamanic Drumming: Drum and Space

Ken Hyder is a percussionist and member of the British-Siberian experimental music ensemble K-Space. The electroacoustic improvisation trio was formed in Tuva, Siberia in 1996 and has released three CDs, including Infinity (2008), which is a new, revolutionary album which is different every time you play it. Infinity will not work in a standard CD player and requires a computer to play it. Each time the CD is played, supplied software remixes source material located on the disc and produces a new 20-minute musical piece. The music produced by the CD is eclectic improvising that is deeply rooted in Siberian shamanic music. John Cavanagh of The Herald in Glasgow said in a review of the album that even though he knew each listening was the result of a "computer triggered sequence," it always sounded like a "cohesive musical work, as though it was meant to be that way."

Hyder, who has studied with Siberian shamans, has published a very informative guide to the dungur or Siberian shamanic drum. The essay examines how the dungur is constructed, how it is played, and the role it plays in shamanic practice. In shamanic performance, musical considerations are minimal. The focus is on the spiritual intention or the energy of what is being played. As Hyder explains, "My approach to music making changed decisively following my experiences in Siberia. For me it starts with the dungur 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." To learn more, read Drum and Space (PDF).

Shamanism and the Spiritual Warrior

Streaming live on the Co-Creator Radio Network on Tuesday, May 17, at 11 a.m. Pacific time/2 p.m. Eastern time, on her show "Why Shamanism Now?: A Practical Path to Authenticity," Christina Pratt explores how the shamanic relationship between humans and helping spirits supports our inner warrior. Humanity has offered many paths to support the spirit warrior's quest for self-realization, but most of these paths are unreachable by the ordinary contemporary individual. Pratt tells listeners that helping spirits offer assistance, creativity and perseverance in fulfilling our own unique path. Prior episodes from "Why Shamanism Now" can be downloaded for free from the iTunes library.