Conscious Music

I used to say that I listen to any kind of music except Country. Then Steve Abel played me Johnny Cash. Now all I can say is I listen to any music as long as it is conscious.

When I say conscious music I mean lyrically or melodically. Music has played a crucial role in my intellectual, emotional, political and spiritual development and I still use music every day to inspire, motivate, energise and remind I-self. Music is a part of my daily prayer and meditation.

The first LP I ever bought was David Bowie's Man Who Sold The World at about the age of seven. My older brother Peter was my hero and anything he was listening to I wanted to hear. Bowie's music was subversive, brilliant and disturbing shit and I loved it. Between us we owned every Bowie album produced til Lodger.

I went through a range of influences as a young teenager, including such people as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and a Hungarian band called Beatrice.

Then at the age of 14 I discovered the Sex Pistols.

Punk blew my mind open. Like hip hop was later, this was a form of music that was uncontrolled and real. Listening now to my old Stiff Little Fingers records it sounds a little naive but what was powerful was hearing some young guys saying stuff I thought and felt, unmediated by record company marketing decisions and slick video production.

The Sex Pistols introduced me to the word 'anarchy' but it was bands like The Clash and The Dead Kennedy's that taught me about politics. Hearing a voice coming out of America that was directly challenging the rise of the new right was a revelation, and I was honoured to have the chance to meet DK front man Jello Biafra on his spoken word tour of Aotearoa last year (2003). It made me happy to see him still doing it, especially after meeting Black Flag singer Henry Rollins on his spoken word tour and discovering he was just an American meathead.

I guess I caught the second wave of punk, and while there was a kind of manic joy in headbashing to The Exploited, Anti-Nowhere League, (Kiwi band) No Tag and the like it all started to get a bit pointless. Rebellion and dissent easily becomes channelled and manipulated into self destructive and safe expressions of anger by the spectacle society. Anarchism is not the same as nihilism.

I had been listening to Bob Marley since he toured Aotearoa (although I missed the concert at Western Springs) as well as the second ska wave (Specials, Madness, The Selector, Bad Manners). Bob's 'punky reggae party' and the wicked dub coming from The Clash (Blackmarket Clash) and SLF (Bloody Dub) gave me a path back to something more roots.

Becoming more African identified, as a mixed blood who had had little exposure to that side of I-self, was a journey through reggae music. The deeper teachings contained in the songs of Burning Spear, Culture, Abyssinians, Ras Michael, Count Ossie and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari has been an integral part of the trod since the realising of the truth of Far I.

Since then I have tripped on jazz, 60's psychedelia, classical European, flamenco, trance, hip hop and classical raga. Most extraordinary was Winston Rodney at the Powerstation, transporting us through inexpressible realms.

I know that music can unlock the wings of our psyche and fly us to other dimensions. It can unlock memory and awaken our minds. It is an incredible gift given to some to share among us and to ease our load. For that, as the prophet says, the singers and players shall be there.

Selah