What is the purpose of life in the universe?
This question of questions, the purpose of life, is not for the mind alone. Attempting to grasp its magnitude, our feelings, instinct, and our body must have an equal share of understanding it. The Armenian philosopher, musician, and choreographer G.I.Gurdjieff (1866-1949) emphasized we all are one and connected and great nature is our common mother. But how could we see that? How could we see our destruction of one another’s existence in untold numbers of terrible wars, seeing our abuse and ingratitude to our Mother Earth, seeing the vanities that make up our personal lives…? Our love of nature is our love, and it is a restricted, self-centered kind of experience. We need to look at it also from the opposite side — to see that we are loved by Nature. We talk of Mother Earth, but this is thought of as just a figure of speech nowadays. We need to take it literally. We must realize that we are not only part of Nature, but we have the special privilege of knowing that this is so, and we should have our three centers: the mind, the body, and our emotions being harmonic and actively participating in understanding the concept. Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic waking sleep. However, the method of Self-observation begins the process of inner change and transformation, which leads to freedom from long-standing patterns of behavior and entry into a more conscious state of presence and being. Gurdjieff’s interest in and understanding of traditional and sacred music were profound. He believed that the traditional, ritual and sacred music of different cultures both preserved and revealed essential characteristics of those cultures and conveyed deeper meanings rooted in their traditions. Gurdjieff’s music has its basis in the music that he heard during his 20 years of travel in Armenia, the Middle East, and many parts of Central Asia, India, and North Africa. Gurdjieff has been a witness to a myriad of folk music and dance traditions and music performed in different temples and monasteries. His music is meditative and in this program that includes pieces such as the prayer, chant from a holy book, prayer, and despair, and others were created as part of his teachings and performed at his institute “Harmonious Development of Man; at Château du Prieuré at Fontainebleau in France and were part of his methods for developing self-observation, attention towards ourselves and our surrounding.
Another part of the program is focused on “Arevagali” and also some folk songs and melodies collected by the Armenian composer and priest Komitas. The ancient Armenian ritual piece “Arevagali” also called Sahari which is a Hymn, a sunrise melody played by the instrument Zurna which then followed with a dance rhythm, has its roots in Armenia’s Pre-Christian, pagan rituals (Armenia adopted Christianity in 301 AD) the Arevagali’s are played in all ritualistic ceremonies where there is some beginning, wedding, family, presenting of the cosmic tree, and most importantly at the beginning of agricultural works, especially the rituals of opening the first furrow at springtime.
The melody emphasizes the idea of passing the boundaries, transitioning from one state of being into another. “At midnight a group of people from the village together with the Zurna player and the oldest man in the village visit the field, leaving the zurna player at the borderline of the village and the field, the others reach the center of the arable land and make a small circle there. The old man comes to the center, under the Polar Star, while the others walk four different directions in a cruciform manner, North, south, East, and West, and pour seeds. After that, they go to the center and together with the Zurna player go back home in silence. In the early morning, at the first rays of the sun, the whole village dressed in their best and decorated with flowers gathers around the field, The zurna player faces the sun, and plays the “Arevagali”. Then, merry dance music follows and villagers dance a circle dance around the field, and after that with prayers, with gratitude, and wishes of stewardship towards nature and the Earth, the first furrow is opened”. In some places, following the Zurna melody, the song Aravot Luso (morning Light) is sung, a song by St. N. Shnorhali the Catholicos of Armenia in the 12th century.
The Armenian folk songs and melodies collected by the Armenian composer Komitas (1869-1935) and presented in this program are
basically focused on harvest, ploughing, hoeing, threshing, and dedicated to different trees like the apricot tree, songs picturing and praising an element of earth, all are expressions of love towards nature, emphasizing the nurturing of nature.
The Mother Earth Project will be premiered at the Maastricht Musica Sacra Festival on September 24th and 25th, 2021.