Past Programs
New Age - 2008
TaKeTiNa - Rhythm Consciousness
19/09/2008
Every human life moves to a beat. From the womb to the end of life, we are driven by powerful rhythms which we barely understand - the pulse of our blood, the beat of our heart, the wheeling of the seasons, walking and breathing, sunset and sunrise. Austrian composer and percussionist Reinhard Flatischler calls this the 'forgotten power of rhythm', forgotten because he thinks our natural connection with rhythm has disappeared. Since 1970 Reinhard has been helping people reconnect with their rhythmic consciousness through a method he has devised known as TaKeTiNa. Integrating rhythms, body movement, clapping and vocalizing, TaKeTiNa is according to Reinhard, "a spiritual path using rhythm for the evolution of human consciousness."
It's also a method for healing the body and mind by re-wiring neural pathways through the use of rhythmic patterns. Reinhard himself learned the piano from the age of four and later studied at the Music University Vienna. But after travelling to India to study tabla drumming, he spent three years learning shamanistic techniques with the renowned Korean shaman and master-drummer Kim Suk Chul, and now percussion has become his life. Reinhard with his wife Cornelia was in Australia recently giving TaKeTiNa workshops and I joined the circle of followers hoping to gain an insight into rhythmic body-consciousness.
The Inner Voice
22/08/2008
Two voices of hypnotic beauty take us on an inner journey of meditation. Czech singer Iva Bittova confronts time and death, while Prem Williams, from Queensland duo Sacred Earth, sings a mantra to Ganesha, the Hindu elephant-headed god who removes all obstacles.
Wisdom of the Gong Master
20/06/2008
With his long grey hair and weathered face, Don Conreaux looks a lot like Willie Nelson. But he's no country singer. Don Conreaux is the Gong Master. "The Gong Master of Ceremonies", he adds. "Most everything that we do is a ceremony." Don is Artistic Director of the Mysterious Tremendum Sacred Tone Ensemble which travels the world providing social rites of passage. These events which might take place in a concert hall, in a desert or at Stonehenge combine sacred conch playing, overtone chanting, Himalayan Singing Bowl improvisations and gong performances. But these are no ordinary gongs. They are massive disc-shaped Tam Tams, one metre wide, made of copper, tin and nickel and struck with a felt-covered mallet. According to Don, the gong is directly descended from the Bronze Age 5000 years ago when they were used as a spiritual technology for healing by shamans. It's a lineage he happily accepts.
Don has been following the gong for more than 40 years and this week he shares the wisdom of a Gong Master.
The Himalayan Singing Bowls
02/05/2008
The Singing Bowls are believed to have originated with the Bon Shamans of Tibet many centuries ago. They're renowned for their ethereal sound tones which seem to hover and vibrate with great intensity. And this is because the bowls are made from a combination of at least seven different metals, mainly copper, tin and nickel, which when struck with a mallet or rubbed with a wooden wand set up unusual harmonic overtones. These days the Himalayan Singing Bowls are in demand by New Agers for meditation, but they're also used by sound therapists like my guest tonight Aidan McIntyre.
Aidan is a world authority on the Singing Bowls, a teacher and practitioner, who travels the world performing ceremonies and healing with sonic massage, a technique where he places the bowls along the back of a person lying face-down and then begins to vibrate the bowls. I caught up with Aidan McIntyre when he was in Australia recently giving workshops on the Himalayan Singing Bowls and other healing instruments.
Hymns Ancient and Electronic
04/04/2008
Celebrating one of the world's most influential hymnbooks, Hymns Ancient and Modern published in 1861, we hear Australian composer Nicole Skeltys explain why she's begun writing hymns for the electronic age, using samples from the Apollo moon landing of 1969. We also hear a traditional choral version of Alfred Lord Tennyson's favourite hymn, 'Holy Holy Holy', and a bluegrass rendition of 'How Great Thou Art'.
Nicole Skeltys is an Australian composer best known for being part of the successful dance group Biftek. But Nicole has had some life-changing events recently, including illness, and these have prompted her to re-evaluate her life and to take on a spiritual journey. Describing herself as a 'technological angel', she's now teamed up with Tanya Andrea Stadelmann in a group called The Jilted Brides and has been writing what she calls electronic hymns. In fact on their album Larceny of Love Nicole has written a suite of three hymns and we hear the final hymn called 'Joy', filled with treated voices for choir, synthesisers, bells and the sound of the Apollo astronauts.
Faith on Tour
28/03/2008
It's been a busy month for music lovers with world-class performers arriving in Australia every week it seems, and so tonight on The Rhythm Divine we're going to play catch up - with music from singers and musicians you might have missed. We're taking faith on tour and our line-up includes the Sufi-influenced Turkish musician Omar Faruk Tekbilek; the pure tones of Deva Premal, a follower of Osho whose Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh chants are mesmerising; and Irish singer Sinead O'Connor whose latest album is called Theology, with songs taking the Book of Psalms for inspiration.
