About “AHATA – ANAHATA”

When, as a young student of Olivier Messian at the Paris Conservatoire, we were studying Hindu rhythm with the great composer, Alain Daniélou was cited as one of the rare references in the field – at least, at the time. It was the first time I’d heard of Hindu rhythms and modes, which are universal in character, as they are often found, hidden, unconscious, almost without the composer’s knowledge, in many Western classical works.

A “tala,” commonly translated as a “rhythm,” is much more than a mere rhythm; each rhythmic structure, forming a cycle in itself, has a name to describe it, a symbolic name indicating its esoteric character. There are thousands of them, described by Sarngadeva in the 13th century in his immense treatise, the Sangita Ratnakara, meaning “Ocean of Music.” The origin of sound itself is divine, sacred. Thus, a note, or “swara,” is far more than just a mechanically or physically produced note. It is the enunciation, the signature of the spiritual soul that plays it.

In India, music is a “revealed” art, for Sound IS God: Nada Brahma. Sound is Creator; and from the emission of the primordial Sound — whose pronunciation is the Oblation of Sacrifice, in the consubstantial form of “Agni,” the Creator Fire — the worlds are formed, as are speech, language, and gestures, as various manifestations of the Holy Spirit and the Divine Soul.

A symphony of sounds and colors plays within God, intoxicated by His own Game, His Divine Lila, in the ecstasy of His Self-Manifestation; through this Power of Manifestation, He emanates His Force, His All-Powerfulness, His Consort: the Divine Shakti, the “Mother of Worlds,” the Universal Virgin, the Primordial Ocean, of which She is the Entity. She is the Entity of Relativity, and He, the Supreme Principle. Lovingly entwined, inseparable, Two in One, They constitute the Fundamental Unity upon which all rests. A Supramental Trance, at the Summit of Creation.

Thus, Unrevealed, Silent, Unheard, this primordial Sound reveals itself, manifests as an audible sound: “Ahata.” Here, what Isabelle Clinquart writes in her Petit Traité de Musique Carnatique takes on its true meaning and place. I quote her: “… Thus, musical sound and the musical experience are steps toward the realization of the Self. Music is considered a spiritual discipline that elevates the inner being to divine peace and bliss. One of the fundamental aims of a Hindu is knowledge of the true meaning of the universe, of its immutable and eternal essence, and this objective is first achieved through a perfect understanding of one’s own Self. The highest aim of music is to reveal the essence of the universe, and the ragas are part of the means to grasp this essence. Through music, one can reach God.”

We are, therefore, far removed from what Western music gradually became over the centuries, which progressively detached itself from the fundamentals upon which the successive appearance of musical notes rests, one after the other. They form intervals based on whole numbers; thus, the factors 2, 3, and 5 generate the entire scale of sounds perceptible to the human ear and usable musically through the use of elaborated scales or modes, each based on these sounds, whose pitch and frequency are far from imprecise. Natural sounds, true intonation.

These intervals, or primordial proportions based on whole numbers that are found consistently throughout Nature — and play a significant role in our mental perception-communication system — are deeply embedded within the deepest layers of what structures both our nervous system and, at the core of our brain, our mode of receiving and interpreting auditory messages, deciphering their meaning, their significance. Especially in the musical realm, which is based on quite precise semantic principles: thus, the factor 2, governing the octave interval, “opens” space, determining the spatial framework within which sounds will evolve.

Registers are generally defined from high to low, octave by octave (factor 2) and, as such, these registers are already “meaningful” and significant. Thus, the three Vedic worlds, the domain of gods who rule over them (the three “strides” of the monkey-faced god, Hanuman, who “leaps” from India to the island of Sri Lanka, crossing the sea in a gigantic bound to free Sita from the demon Ravana who holds her captive) can be evoked and “heard” in a deeply powerful, magical, and operative way, allowing these three registers to resonate within the human ear.

You will hear this, at some point, in the course of the work for which this text serves as a kind of introduction. While the factor 2 always produces a sound of similar significance — octave after octave — the factor 3 serves to differentiate the expressive character of sounds.

“It is on the basis of this observation that theories of the sound scale, based on what is known as the ‘cycle of fifths’ (useful for tuning musical instruments relative to each other, though in a limited way), were developed in Greece, China, and, of course, India. This only holds for the first few fifths, as we soon reach a limit beyond which our audio-mental apparatus is incapable of identifying sounds, attributing precise meaning to them.” (Alain Daniélou, Sémantique Musicale, page 45)

Let us never forget that these “meanings” are fundamentally esoteric, addressing regions of our being that are either superconscious or even subconscious, where such vibrational “signifiers” are inscribed — as if etched on a subtle gelatin. This is capable of triggering extremely powerful, profound responses both in individual and collective consciousness through these vibrational structures and waveforms, by way of our brain … and our ears!

In this sense, to be brief, the factor 3 always represents movement, activity. It determines differentiation, cycles, relative time, and perception.

Perception, an essential word, encompasses a scale that ranges from the most ordinary, low perceptions to those of “awakened consciousness” — that of the initiate or yogi, that of the warrior capable of deploying the “wings of perception” and thereby achieving heightened states of consciousness, like Sufi mystics or Toltec warriors; like the great initiated musicians of India or Persia, or Heavenly Beings such as the great rishi Narada, who directly received the revelation of the art of music from the Trimurti (the Hindu Trinity, “Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva”) and, in turn, passed it on to other sages, and these, to all humanity.

This highlights the importance of this “manna”… the fundamental importance of viewing “ahata,” the “audible sound” — and the music, which is its syntax — as essential nourishment for both body and spirit.

And to discern what we listen to, to truly understand how the sound and music that enter us can have a constructive, healing, awakening, harmonizing effect, a source of strength, health, light, joy, true knowledge; or, conversely, a destructive one, a factor of multiple neuroses, dependencies, terrible diseases of all kinds, dulled minds, and profound imbalances within both individuals and society, a disruptive factor, a source of terrible violence and accidents of all sorts.

We consume so much “audio” today, devouring it automatically, yielding to our most primitive impulses; yet often, this audio is not music but mere noise and inflation, barbarisms, as proof, if any were needed, of our society’s absolute ignorance and neglect of the true superior powers of sound. Increasingly, this audio — rhythmically and sonically dark, low, and dense — tends to become a poison, making human beings’ vital centers — their plexuses — turn in reverse; such vibrations are genuine killer torpedoes introduced into the very heart of our cells, deep within our physical bodies, inoculating the vibrations of death that many mistake for the liberating energy of life. A terrible deception! One we will pay for dearly, sooner or later, as a society.

Whereas we could introduce “mantras,” powerful vocal formulas of secret sounds — Nada Brahma — carriers and vehicles of Immortality.

Having already mentioned factors 2 and 3 (giving rise to the octave and the fifth or its inverse, the fourth), let us now cite what Alain Daniélou says about the factor 5 (in ratios such as 5/4, 5/3, 45/32, 15/8, 10/9, etc.): “Emotion and sensation appear with factor 5. All intervals that trigger an emotional mechanism use factor 5. All hypnotic rhythms are based on factor 5.” (Sémantique Musicale, page 63)

I could give further examples and quotes, but we lack the space here. However, it seems important, one last time, to refer to what Alain Daniélou writes in Sémantique Musicale, page 56:

“The existence of three numerical elements (2,3,5) in the practice of all musical systems is easily demonstrated by experience in any music that is not constrained by fixed-pitch instruments, as long as the measurements are taken on living music with semantic and emotional content. Their systematic use gives immediate psycho-physiological results. If music, on the other hand, becomes an abstract construction that does not take into account our mental perception-communication system, its direct effect on our vital mechanisms is greatly weakened. It is evident that it is possible to divide the scale on bases other than so-called ‘natural’ intervals, but the intervals obtained are then transposed in our perception, assimilating them to intervals near the 2-3-5 system. The notable weakening of the psycho-physiological effect of music is due to the mental energy used in feedback mechanisms to interpret the sounds.

Western music operates on an artificial sound system based on constant mental adjustment through feedback mechanisms. Moreover, Western theory and musical notation do not take into account the physical and physiological realities based on controlled phenomena of hearing that have little to do with the theories in harmony and acoustics textbooks, which are largely based on approximate observations made on inaccurate musical instruments. These observations have often not been verified since Pythagoras and the systematizations of his Greek, Arab, or European successors.

Experiments with properly tuned instruments are convincing and are immediately applicable in precisely melodic forms, such as, for example, classical Indian music, authentic flamenco, or jazz improvisation. Musicians, initially skeptical, were deeply surprised when they had in their hands instruments tuned with precision according to the principles of binary, ternary, and quinary.”

This was precisely the case with an electronic instrument invented by the late Alain Daniélou, the “Semantic,” a prototype developed by computer scientists and acoustic engineers who had the opportunity to work directly under the direction of the eminent philosopher and ethnomusicologist.

Never before used by a composer, this instrument is uniquely tuned with extreme precision according to the scale of intervals highlighted and brought to light by Alain Daniélou in some of his works on comparative musicology and musical semantics.

Let us note, however, the current limitations of the instrument: a limited series of timbres, quite unconvincing in terms of musicality, a lack of expressiveness in touch, a horizontal keyboard with accordion buttons that does not really allow for virtuosic playing (unless perhaps one is an experienced accordionist!), and no possibility of vibrato, glide, or pitch bend, even though sliding notes, called “meend” in Indian music, are essential for expressing not only the interpreter’s own musicality but also inspirations of genius, occasionally capturing an unheard note in the course of a raga’s development.

It was of great interest to allow the creation of an initial work conceived for the Semantic (thus played on this instrument), to experiment within the framework of a contemporary work inspired by the Esoteric Philosophy of Sound briefly mentioned at the beginning of this text, which could gradually, with perseverance, form the foundations of a new musical language for Western composers; to open up new doors and windows for them, revealing promises and landscapes of incomprehensible richness and beauty; a renewed music, based on principles of the sacred and the divine, ushering in a new era for humanity in the art of sound, as in everything else, for one cannot exist without the other.

My approach may indeed be clumsy, still imperfect and full of inaccuracies, but it may perhaps serve as pioneering work, which has always been somewhat my hallmark, breaking new ground, both in music and in the general realm of human existence.

“Ahata-Anahata” (literally, the Audible and the Inaudible) was composed on the Semantic, based on its most interesting feature, the ability to use a scale of intervals beyond the Western well-tempered system (in which the octave is divided into twelve intervals, theoretically equal and identical to each other, octave by octave, though some are not natural intervals). The Semantic, on the other hand, provides the musician with a scale of 36 notes or micro-intervals per octave, among the 52 in Daniélou’s scale.

Given the relatively short duration of this work for a music based on a modal system (not a tonal one), where “time” is fundamental in establishing the atmosphere of the piece — notably through the “drone,” the uninterrupted tonic (the tonic of the mode used, held throughout, and developed over the raga performed by the musician, singer, or instrumentalist) — I have worked mainly on two modes, whose tonics are, successively, an E-flat (corresponding to a weak minor third interval from C as tonic; E-flat minor, corresponding to the fraction 75/64, carrying an emotional character of sadness and desolation) and natural F (4/3), whose interval character with respect to the C tonic is calm and tranquility, passivity, a quality that we know, is always a great force.

On this calm and tranquility, therefore, great strength, great power, can be established.

Thus, I have used it to express, when the time comes, this power and this force, this intensity, which is never, in any case, violence, as in rock music, for example. The listener will experience it, feel it for themselves, better than with words or explanations.

The note F is extremely important in the Indian musical tradition, as it forms the fourth interval from the tonic C (shadja) in the seven-note scale or swaras of Indian music, both Hindustani and Carnatic.

As for “shrutis” or micro-intervals between swaras, there are twenty-two, though in reality many more, some of which are kept secret.

Without delving into considerations that would take us far afield, the scale based on the note F — Madhyama grama — the mid-range scale, aids meditation and is useful in character formation.

This F sounds as the tonic throughout the central and final parts of “Ahata-Anahata,” but the subtle key that manifests to introduce the resolution of the Vedic ritual is the second degree, “rishaba,” the note of the Sacred Bull (rikhab), associated with the Moon and “soma” — the drink of immortality for the gods, inducing ecstatic trance — and which, here, is actually the perfect fifth (3/2) of the C, the lower fourth of F.

“Ahata-Anahata” (the Audible and the Inaudible): the heart of the work is the “Semantic,” but the score has been conceived as a Vedic Ritual transposed into music, a highly significant musical drama, in which the Inaudible provokes the Audible, and the Audible attracts the Inaudible, like the Eagle swooping down on the Lamb (symbolizing the soul).

The occult power of “Anahata” (the Inaudible) being incorporated into “Ahata” (the Audible) is one reason why “the Audible” carries within it this capacity to reveal “the Inaudible.”

The complexity, yet extreme simplicity, and above all, the absolute unity of the two aspects of “nada” (1) (the Primordial Sound, beyond the Audible and the Inaudible), the complete interpenetration of the Inaudible in the Audible and the Audible in the Inaudible — Two in One — carries not only great power, great strength, but an inner ecstasy that could be compared to the spiritual rapture — including the physical body — of the Soul’s ecstatic Love for its Divine Beloved.

Such is the Power of Sound or “Power Sounds,” the substrate of the language of the Gods, the occult signature of the Principles by which They manifest the worlds; they are the cosmic energies that Nada Brahma Creates from its divine power of self-manifestation.

Just as each letter of an alphabet generally corresponds to a well-defined sound (a phoneme) — and the articulation and emission of that sound by the positioning of the tongue inside the palate are not random — so too with the Divine Alphabet… used by the Supreme Lord: the Ineffable Being Pronounces the formulas of power (mantras) and the sacred verses (slokas) of its Own Creation — the Book of the World — based on specific intervals (whole numbers, sacred proportions) and secret rhythmic structures, the fundamental immortality of the Power-Life dances and sings:

a Song, a Dance, which are both Candelabra of Light and the Royal Naga, the Descending and Ascending Serpent, the Secret Fire: “Agni,” the Creator:

…the Manifesting Power of the Primordial Sound (Creative Power, which in itself is a power of Alignment and Assembly of cosmic filaments or strings, like the Hair of the Supreme Lord, the Hair-Winds of Shiva) … kindles the supramental powers of God, principles of creation which, within the Supreme Divinity, are His own organs, worlds, inner deities, plexuses, or chakras, homes, pillars, Holy Arches of Will-Power.

Of inconceivable dimensions. Inner Proportions, inherent to God’s Manifested Trinity.

Chakras: “Merukhand,” the Spinal Column, symbolized by the sacred mountain, Mount Meru, at the summit of which lies the dwelling place of the gods, the Axis of the World, that of all worlds and creatures; the Ray of Creation, the Cosmic Scale.

The Ladder of the World, along which souls ascend and descend; evolve the Notes (swaras), inspired by the gods.

These “notes” are beings. The ragas, invisible entities, divine beings. Silent Sounds, messengers of the music of the spheres, that one must know how to capture, to deeply hear within oneself, in the deep silence of the mind. “Nada Brahma.”

Igor Wakhévitch. Geneva, June 5, 2006