Shaman’s songs sometimes deeply moves us. We afterwards wonder what was the meaning, the significance. In what language the song was sung? Why was I moved?

I started singing in a shamanic way many, many years ago, The first discovery was that I did not sing in any known language. Just words happened while I was trance drumming. Or, in the first years, when I used the Indian srhuti-box. Basically  I sung ‘non-sense’ words. To speak non-sense words has been known in the past as ‘speaking with tongues’, in the Koptic church many ages ago, it is also known as ‘ghibberish’.  This word is thought to originate from the word jib, an old Roman word, meaning “language” or “tongue”.

There is not much information regarded to channeled singing of shamanic songs. Therefore a short entry in this blog.

Singing nonsense – words: channeling songs – entering the transpersonal realm and Glossolalia

In the history of spontaneous singing one of the well known ‘gibberish’ songs is the so called AIM song  the ‘American Indian Movement song.’ Such a song, according to the Wikipedia: ‘comprises non-lexical vocables (abstract sounds rather than semantic words).” The AIM song is regarded as intertribal, therefore it is deliberately not language-specific and makes use of non-sense words, that is ‘gibberish’.

Interestingly OSHO created a meditation to release tension and come into the state of no-mind based on speaking gibberish. Some shaman’s will definitely use ‘gibberish’, as we know that antropologists state that “shamans’ songs are sung in a sacred language, the language of the spirits which is not understandable for ordinary people, and have to be translated by the actual helper of the shaman.  The Siberian shaman’s song (tadybye syo) was said to be an indispensable part of shamanistic ritual. The shaman used a specific language (tadybye wada) to invoke the spirits he worked with.

In one anthropological text spontaneous singing is classified after 4 other varieties as ” “a language used to communicate with the auxiliaries. The helping spirits in animal shape of a shaman speak a kind of animal language. This is the tongue of ecstasy (or trance).” (In: Hoppál, Mihály, and János Sipos. “Shaman Songs.” (2010).)

First step to shamanic channeled singing: voice-liberation

The first step into the transpersonal realm of shamanic singing is to explore the freedom of your voice – to be able to express you via your voice, without constraints. This is called voice-liberation. Only after voice-liberation you can start shamanic singing (and drumming). At the Quita Quixote I give individual sessions in voice-liberation .

Once you have found your own voice in all the freedom, we than start with steps into the transpersonal realm of channeled or shamanic singing. In singing such songs you will quickly discover some key elements of liberation – awareness that there is no one who sings. Glimpses of our own nature, our own source, which is enlightened.

Glossolalia is the scientific term for speaking in tongues, and Pattison (1968) stated: ‘Prophets and mystics of Assyria, Egypt, and Greece reportedly spoke in foreign tongues during states of ecstasy and uttered unintelligible phrases said to be revelations from the gods. ‘ Although glossolalia is sometimes associated with the Church, it is more encompassing, May pointed out it can be found in many religious environments. This author also showed that glossolalia and similar speech-phenomena occur in various forms during shamanistic rites of the New, and especially of the Old, World.

Shamanic singing and ‘Who-Am-I’

The essence of shamanic singing is that you as a person are not doing it, you are merely the vessel through which your voice expresses the transpersonal realm you can come into contact with, when the ego-structure and its aspects vanish. In shamanic singing you are invited to focus your awareness on the origin of the action: the source you are in which the singing manifests itself. This is in line with the path Ramana carved out for us: go back to the ‘Who-Am-I’ field and you will be surprised what happens.

This is one of the free entries & rides into the transpersonal realm we offer at the Quinta Quixote (QQ). Out sole purpose is to help people to become awake, to reach the state of Enlightenment  and thus to reach our ultimate balance.

Once we recognize we are that silent source of all our perceptions and actions, our I-identification is gone and we are free.

Only a Free Person can contribute to the Balance in our Ecosystem. All problems we encounter NOW are due to the fact that mankind is blind and defined by old programming and mechanisms. The Ego-structure needs to crumble, otherwise we will not survive in the 21st century! To assist seekers to reach this aim, is our sole mission at the QQ.

Literature

Pattison, E. M. (1968). Behavioral science research on the nature of glossolalia. Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, 20(3), 73-86.

May, L. C. (1956). A survey of glossolalia and related phenomena in non-Christian religions. American Anthropologist, 58(1), 75-96.