Sacred Music Traditions Of The World (VIDEOS)

There is something -- well, everything, really -- about that spiritual experience that is ineffable and eternally elusive. It's no wonder, then, that an integral part of virtually all major world faith traditions is music. It is the language of the soul, after all. What can't be said in words can certainly be expressed in melody and felt in rhythm.

HuffPost Religion has compiled here a series of photos and videos of timeless musical devotion. While this collection is woefully incomplete, it is intended to be an introduction to the world's major sacred music traditions, as well as a peek at some of the modern permutations of that spiritual practice. In the future, we hope to delve more deeply into the songs and sounds of specific faiths. But for now, enter the melody and see what is revealed.

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Hindu Devotional Music

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Indian classical music has two main sub-genres: Carnatic and Hindustani. These come from the South and North, respectively. Carnatic music is focused on vocals, but can also feature violin (for melody), mridangam (for rhythm) and tambura (for drone). Carnatic music is believed to have divine origins in the Hindu tradition.
In this photo, Indian Hindu devotees play musical instruments during a procession in Allahabad, India. Allahabad, in Southern India, is one of the main gathering sites for the annual Magh Mela festival (and the massive Maha Kumba Mela, which occurs once every 144 years and hosted some 60 million people in 2001, making it the largest gathering in recorded history) on the banks of the Ganges river. The festival is part of one of Hinduism's holiest pilgrimages. Devotional music is a large part of the gathering.
In the next slide is video of a modern take on Carnatic music.

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Indian classical music has two main sub-genres: Carnatic and Hindustani. These come from the South and North, respectively. Carnatic music is focused on vocals, but can also feature violin (for melody), mridangam (for rhythm) and tambura (for drone). Carnatic music is believed to have divine origins in the Hindu tradition.

In this photo, Indian Hindu devotees play musical instruments during a procession in Allahabad, India. Allahabad, in Southern India, is one of the main gathering sites for the annual Magh Mela festival (and the massive Maha Kumba Mela, which occurs once every 144 years and hosted some 60 million people in 2001, making it the largest gathering in recorded history) on the banks of the Ganges river. The festival is part of one of Hinduism's holiest pilgrimages. Devotional music is a large part of the gathering.

In the next slide is video of a modern take on Carnatic music.

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Comments

[natashastar]

10:12 AM on 04/18/2011

Sing your heart's song and dance your prayers. Happy Pescah.

[Chris Utzig]

11:08 AM on 04/16/2011

Music is my absolute favorite aspect of human culture, needless to say of religion as well.

[mmkay]

11:11 PM on 04/12/2011

Small point. Allahabad is not in southern India. Remember, location, location. location. It is in India, however, so some well-deserved props on that point.

[Dewts]

10:42 PM on 04/12/2011

for an article on sacred music of the world I DON'T WANT A SLIDESHOW!! give me some sounds guys.

[Dewts]

10:43 PM on 04/12/2011

my b. i feel dumb :(

[juliethomas734]

05:50 AM on 03/18/2011

Indian Music tradition is so amazing.It had so many different cultures and folk musics.It was a great filling when we heard all this folk music.

keyboards

[juliethomas734]

05:46 AM on 03/18/2011

Great blog. There's a lots good data in this blog,

[ResistImperialism]

08:36 PM on 03/16/2011

Love Indo-Pak devotional music!

[Terri Liles Mason]

03:51 PM on 03/16/2011

Inspired by Hindu devotional singing, OmGaia sings of human devotion to Mother Earth

www.omgaiamusic.com

[Osapient1]

08:21 PM on 03/14/2011

Not ONE word from the MSM

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-maher-islam-keith-ellison/

[oldwookie]

12:47 PM on 03/13/2011

A few other examples, although so disparate that they couldn't be called "movements:"

-The medieval music of Hildegarde Von Bingen, and indeed early music in general.
-The work of modernist composers such as Messaien, Part, Penderecki, Cage and Terry RIley. (symphonic music seems to be one of the areas of art where spirituality has remained a constant even through to the modern and postmodern era)
-The transcendent undercurrent in a lot of electronic dance music
-Much of Bob Dylan, although ironically his "Born Again" stuff doesn't seem as spiritual as his earlier and later stuff.

Heck, once you get past the pop charts it's hard to find music that doesn't have a sacred element to it.Right now I'm listening to Trout Mask Replica and the next thing on my ipod is the Edwin Hawkins singers.

[sabelmouse]

11:28 AM on 03/13/2011

i jusyt love nusrat fateh ali khan. though there is one qawwal in particular i love and can't remember the name of.
it's been driving me crazy for years. it's probably not even on cd as i had a tape from a concert.
this one is nice though.

[Amritpal Sidhu]

03:50 PM on 03/13/2011

tumhe dillagi bhull jaani padegi........may be.. big fan of nusrat myself as well

[sabelmouse]

09:07 AM on 03/14/2011

thank you but sadly no.
the one i mean is very long possibly more than 30 minutes, has a long slow introduction, and then becomes very fast, ecstatic, not knowing anything i'd defy anyone not to want to dance with joy and embrace the universe upon hearing it.

[cliffhammond]

05:12 AM on 03/13/2011

Awesome.

[jbdrs]

01:35 AM on 03/13/2011

They left out HEAVY METAL, and some other stuff.

[AG creative]

01:03 AM on 03/13/2011

It truly brings tears to your eyes seeing humans working together towards a common goal of harmony.

[PostModernGuy]

11:22 PM on 03/12/2011

Okay, I spoke too soon. The Tibetan Monks are just astounding.