World Music

Bringing back an old favorite...tried to cover the enitre globe in this one.

Pulsing rhythms tell our story

Pounding drumbeats give us glory

Stomping feet and clapping hands

Call to all throughout the land

 

Men and women, old and young

Sing the songs we’ve always sung

Songs of joy and songs of pain

Songs of heat and heavy rain

 

Great masked leaders in a trance

Join their people in a dance

Beg the gods to bless our fields

So large crops of yams we yield

 

Heart, soul, body, intertwine

In song and dance to the divine

Dark bodies glistening in the sun

Stopping once the day is done

 

* * * * *

 

From the local mosque we hear

The call to prayer, loud, long and clear

Facing Mecca, bowing low

Sing praise to Allah, soft and slow

 

Children gather in the street

To dance and play to wild drumbeats

One plays flute, another sings

Stories of genii and kings

 

Far across the desert sand

Comes a merchant caravan

To play a tune of silk and spice

For those who pay the highest price

 

Tonight, the city celebrates

The joining of two young soul mates

Their voices rise in harmony

A vocal wedding symphony

 

* * * * *

 

 

 

 

Sing to me a simple rhyme

Of when Krishna was in his prime

A raga played on sitar strings

Embracing many living things

 

Air, fire, water, metal, wood:

Are these truly understood?

Music is simplicity

Found in mountains, wind and sea

 

Where is balance? Find the Tao

Listen to the silence now

Slowly let the zither’s song

Put your mind where it belongs

 

Dance and vocals, drums and flute

Travel down the old Silk Route

Turn a new melodic page

Sing your story on a stage

 

* * * * *

 

Do you search here for youth’s fountain?

See instead life in the mountains

Pan pipes make potatoes grow

As they have since long ago

 

Sing of legends in the stars

Play earth’s praises on guitars

Pound on drums a complex beat

Dance with us, and be complete

 

Spaniards came, as did their slaves

From large ships upon the waves

They took our land, our pride, our fruits

But never could they take our roots

 

And if those others never came,

Where would Huayno get its name?

Yes, they gave us a new sound

That gained back our cultural ground

 

* * * * *

 

 Listen for Earth Mother’s heart

To beat within her sacred parts

What are we without the drum?

Without it, what would we become?

 

Keep the drumbeat, keep it going

As the river’s steady flowing

Receive Earth’s Spirit in our song

Our heads held high, our voices strong

 

Around the drum, our souls connect us

Our people and our Earth protect us

We in turn protect the Earth

We know her everlasting worth

 

Song and dance and beating drum

Remind us where we all come from

Our ancient ways will thus survive

Never forget—we’re still alive!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Leslie Philibert]

A good poem with a lot of interesting religious imagery, which fits in well to the music theme and your concern for our world.Good idealistic poem.