www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Can Electronic Music be God Centered?

Shlomo lkhoolkhoon,
On another thread I listed some of the Electronic Music that is uplifting/God Centered. As I stated, all Music and be used for Good or Evil.

Another interesting electronic song is Viragi's The Seven Heads of Propaganda. In it, they use Country & Western guitar cords while quoting from Revelations 13:1.

There are several other songs within the
electronica Musical Genre that I believe are Uplifting/God Centered. But the question that I have is do others think that Electronica is all "evil" or do they think that it matters on the context of the lyrics within the melody. Further, what do people think of the Electronica branch of Techno which for the most part does not use any lyrics, but has the melody set the mood.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Well, I don't think we need to reconcile the secular world with the sacred things, faith with reason, etc.

I'm sure that there must be a difference between the music which is dedicated to God and to remember that we are in presence of the All-Holy (the music of the liturgy, or the mass, which is prescribed for the divine worship) and the music we use for fun in the discos, or at home.

There's a place for everything, and certainly the Church isn't the best place to use "profane" music fior example. People have the right to have a sacred environment in their Church which is suitable for devotion, the Liturgy is a sacred hour of the lives of the normal men, but we have all time to have fun and to be happy after that moment.

Shlomo Remie,
I have to disagree with you on your point: I feel that such an idea is a totally Western one, where we place parts of our lives into little boxes. How can we fulfill our journey of divinization if we do not reconcile our secular world with the sacred?

That is not to say that electronica has a place in the Divine Liturgies, but I am saying that if we do not try make all aspects of our life part of the divine, are we not being like those Sunday Christians that go to Church for show, but do not live the words spoken in the Gospels?

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Hi Yuhannon,

Music is one of my favorite topics! I like a lot of electronica. One of my favorites is Moby. He has said he is a Christian, although some of his ideas about Christianity seem a little off the wall to me. However, I take him at his word.

I think electronica can be God-centered, even when there are no words. Some of my favorite Moby songs have no lyrics. The way he puts music together moves me. I think it's beautiful, which makes me think of God. Even his songs about sorrow, which have lyrics, move me and bring my thoughts to God.

Even music that is not explicity Christian (ie: no recitation of verses or specific references to Jesus) can be God-centered. God is beauty and He is the Creator; when we create beautiful music it is a reflection of him.

God Bless you,

Jenny

I do not know about "electronica" and things of that ilk, but i do know about fine art ("classical") music. My music composition professor "wrote" a computer music piece that is a tone poem of the sequence "Veni creator spiritus." This sort of piece was more God-centered than many Masses i have heard.

Shlomo Akemner,
You state: Well suprisingly what your professor created was a part of electronica. As a matter of fact I have a CD called "Trance Opera Fantasies" that have an electonica version of two arias from the Opera "Lakme." The arias are Scene' Et Legende De La Fille Du Paria, and Sous Le Dome Epais Le Jasmin. The Le Jasmin tune was very big two years ago. Dance Clubs all over the world played it. And you should have seen people faces when they were told that the music was from an opera ! I have another CD called "Flama Flama" which is a modern techno version of a Roman Requiem all in Latin (as a Latin Major and a former choir singer it made me very happy to be able to sing and understand what was being said). I heard "Flama Flama" in Europe and brought back the CD with me. It became a minor hit in the Upper Midwest. It was fun to see Midwesterner dancing to real Latin Techo

Akemner when you said That is the point that I am making. That we need to bring the divine into the everyday world that we live in.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

Shlomo (Peace in Aramaic) Jenny,
I agree with you a hundred percent! When we reflect on how we can become better Christians (the Greeks call it Theosis and we Syriacs call it Divinization), then that calling will spill over into our everyday lives. That means to me, we can then influence our surroundings in a more positive way.

When I working at Wells Fargo in the mortgage department, I had many people coming to my desk because I was always bouncing and smiling. When they would come over they would see my icons and my the books that I would be reading on the Church and the like, and it was another way to draw people to Christ and his Church. I used my music not only to make me happy, but also to have those around me be happy too.

Poosh (Stay) BaShlomo (In Peace),
Yuhannon

As an Orthodox Christian, I am not not familiar with organ music being God centered.

Axios

Yuhannon,

It depends on what you mean by God-centered?

If you mean of God? Then the answer is yes.

If you mean proper for contemplation, prayer, Mass/Divine Liturgy? Then no.

No music in and of it's self is bad or not of God. Maybe some lyrics - yes. But not the guitar strumed or the drums beaten or whatever else melody.

At some point people are going to have to be honest with themselves and say: yes certain types of music does stimulate certain types of emotions, inner response, within the human being.

Rappers are going to have to admit that people don't listen to Barry White, his melody and lyrics, when they want to conduct a drive-by-shooting on someone or some people. Like wise Barry White or others of his music genre will have to admit that people don't listen to gangster rap, it's melody and lyrics, when they want to make out romanticly with the oppisite sex.

Electronic music can probably be the most God appropriate music in say movies like the Matrix or about some neo-punk culture or a movie about some girl that break dances awsome and goes to school all with out selling out into the drug and alcohol culture, in spite of her iron worker father that molests her.

I think the question is not so much - in what measure of God is electronic music in? But rather when do we apply electronic music to derive at God in our point - or those things of God in that point we are shooting for?

Justin

What a wonderful witness you are to the joy and beauty of God!

I'm just learning about the Eastern Christian concepts of Theosis/Divinization, but it does seem to me that since we are made in His image, when we are creative in our lives, we become closer to being one with God.

Poosh BaShlomo!


Jenny