The currency of creation - the wealth of the universe lies in the immeasurable number of rhythms that interact with one another in every single moment.
Vibrations that permeate the earth from the deepest part of the ocean to the most elevated cloud in the sky. Everything has its own unique rhythm that converses with other unparalleled rhythms to create a moment. The moment we often refer to as the present.
My curiosity often leads me to various environments where I am able to observe whether things occur in the same way in different places. For example, I wonder whether traditional tattoos or scarification is conceived to have the same purpose in all indigenous communities that practice it across the world. The same curiosity has led me to plunge as deep as I can into the bounds of sound. Can sound seize to exist? And if so, what assumes its place?
Through my observations, so far, I find that nothing exists without sound. Even silence possesses its own exceptional body of rhythm that eases the spirit, and softens the subconscious.
I recently wrote a piece for an organisation I hold very dearly, where I discuss the possible origins of sound. Many inidgenous African communities attribute the beginning of cosmic creation to the sounds of The Great One (uNkulunkulu). According to the philosophies of BaVenda and VaShona, Ngoma-lungudu is the drum that holds the voice of Mwali/Mwari (God). Not only did the world begin through the vibrations of that which created us, there are also drums that are dedicated to the divine force that created all living things.
Rhythm can embrace patterns of healing. The sound of waves crashing can rid the mind of clutter. The intonation in a mother’s voice can ease the tension of a crying baby.
Hearts that beat. Trees that sway. Our mother Earth gave birth to a symphony of rhythms. Our role as her children is to ensure that the patterns of sound which we recreate remain harmonious. As the history of the world has shown us time and time again the damaging effects of disharmony.
