The Spiritual Power of Music in Mali

I was moved, today, to hear a displaced Mali elder and a musician speak of the torture which has been inflicted on their land, talking in particular of the historical and current importance of music to the country and of the pain of having it denied them. Until the Islamists took over the northern regions music was the centre of everything, a rich and treasured tradition, the heart of their existence. To be denied what they love so much is, for them, the height of cruelty. It is their spiritual expression, though they may not see it in those terms. It must have been a similar pain which was felt by the many thousands of men and women who were forced to renounce their god, their faith, their beliefs down the ages -Cathars, Catholics, Protestants, Druids, pagans, herbalists, witches, shamans all have periodically been denied, or punished for, how they chose to serve Spirit, right up to the present day: we can see it in Tibet and in Mali, and in other places where religious and spiritual freedom is brutally discouraged. Anything that denies national, personal or cultural liberty is denying an aspect of God. The Fourth Ray, which governs Earth for now, is about the encouragement of harmony through conflict but also through beauty and the arts, sublime creativity in colour, form and sound to heal and transform at all levels. Music has inspired us forever and without it we would be much the poorer. The people of Mali know this more than most of us, and so it is doubly hard that, for now, their source of great reward has been removed from them, ironically in the name of what is claimed to be the true and only religion, and which of course, is not.   Further information about the Rays can found here.]]>