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When someone first asked me how I knew I was playing music as a spiritual practice, I thought this was a pretty good question. Anybody can declare that this is what they are doing, but what makes it so? How is it different?The answer for me is that playing as a spiritual practice means that for the player, the playing is done in the personal context of who he/she was before being born and where he/she is going after leaving this life. That is what is different. If one is playing just to see how good one can get in this lifetime, then this is a craft, not a spiritual practice.
Regardless of the cultural style or tradition, this underlying approach will be found in all music described as sacred, that the music connects one with the greater universe, both in space and time. I note that in my own journey, there was a point after about 25 years where I realized that what I was after might well take many, many more lifetimes. This was fine by me, as by then - with the arrival of Earthgate, my first real composition - I had tasted the reality of deep connection, and had gained patience.
A thousand lifetimes? No problem, that's fine, I can wait....
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I have been following Pierre's music since I first heard him in Paris in 1975, on his album 'Pres du Paris'. Born in Algeria, Pierre grew up in Paris, immersed in the jazz, world, blues and celtic influences of the time.I finally had the chance to meet him this year, in Seattle, and found his character as full and graceful as his music. I had always felt a shared approach with him, and although he expresses his relationship with music in completely secular terms, it is indeed coming from the same depths. " I only play my truth," he said. "If it's not 'Pierre', I just don't play it."
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