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The psychedelic organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach

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ControlledChaos

ControlledChaos

Nature is analog, ever flowing and continuous.
If I were to think of a perfect piece of music to accompany a breakthrough DMT trip, it would have to be 'Passacaglia in C Minor' by Bach. Several types of music have been described as 'psychedelic', usually referring to music with many layers and timbres hitting you with some kind of wash of sound. But not every psychedelic song strikes a good balance between the spiritual aspects of psychedelia and the wacky chaos that unfolds in the psychedelic experience. Bach's organ music seems to satisfy both the sublime and the chaotic sides of psychedelia. It's music of moving parts, as layers of different melodies interlock perfectly, independent and equal. This counterpoint creates something of a well oiled machine, sounding right while still giving you a wash of sound; a truly intricate and complex palette of sound.

As profound as the structure of this music is the melodies themselves. These are not boring mundane melodies. They give way to this almost ecstatic, circus-like sound. In some ways this sound can be related to the archetype of the DMT jester, if one is inclined to overthinking things. These sounds circle around counter-melodies like a merry go round. You can picture a certain kaleidoscopic multicolored geometry within your mind listening to this music. And if we think of Bach and his motivations, you'll find his music is squarely within the realm of the spiritual. Though Christianity has many flaws and shortcomings, it was all Bach knew in the confines of 18th century Germany, and within these confines he strived for a sound that reaches into the realm of the divine, of the spiritual, of the sublime. And I think in many respects he achieved this. For this reason I think this music would be great for a voyage into hyperspace. I definitely plan on hearing it next time I sit with Ayahuasca.
 
I really liked your description and analysis. It is precisely for this strong spiritual imprint that a great director like Tarkovsky used Bach's pieces for many of his films.

I never thought of Bach's music as psychedelic, actually, but my impression has always been that of "spiritual mathematics".
I don't know if it makes sense :lol:
 
This is a nice piece of music. Thanks for the tip. I'm listening to it on spotify right now.

Though i generally don't like fugues very much, i find the so-called great fugue in g-minor for organ also a realy interesting piece to listen to.

Never listened to it on psychedelics though.
 
Thank you for covering these thoughts.
After I tried to trip to classical music, I no longer listen to any other.
The kindest, most sensual, most beautiful and full of harmony psychedelic journeys I had with the classical music.
Earlier I've listened to psy-trance, ambient, dub, psy-dub, but it doesn't even compare to that.

Probably, I had to create another thread about classics but my tips could be useful four you.
So, just my 2 cents.
I should say Bach is not my cup of tea either in the usual state or on psychedelics.
I don't know why, Bach is too thrilling to me. Makes me anxious.
In my opinion, Mozart, Saint-Saens, Claude Debussy, Chopin are perfect for tripping.

This compilation was very good, I tripped to it.

This is a nice compilation too.



I'd like to highlight these melodies.

Debussy - Arabesque No. 1
Saint-Saens : The Swan
Clair De Lune · Claude Debussy
Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major, K. 332 Mozart
 
dragonrider said:
This is a nice piece of music. Thanks for the tip. I'm listening to it on spotify right now.

Though i generally don't like fugues very much, i find the so-called great fugue in g-minor for organ also a realy interesting piece to listen to.

Never listened to it on psychedelics though.
Click to expand...

Another great Bach piece that fit that kind of description I made is the 'Sonata in E flat major' for organ. It takes relatively simple melodies but expand upon them elaborately-

 
A little update.


I have to say I changed my opinion about Bach right now.
You know, thanks to you and your topic I started to percieve the music of Bach completely different.
I listened to this.
And now I fell in love. Really.

So I love it! Yes!
When I'll have some DMT I gonna try to trip to this music too.

I am sure I will get the new and interesting experience.
 
I found this piece last night and I think this would also be a great one to trip to-

Cantata No. 29 Sinfonia

In particular, at around 50 seconds there's this progression in the music that sounds like some sort of beautiful ascension. In a way it reminds me of the 'astral observatory' tune on Zelda Majora's Mask.
 
strooster said:
A little update.


I have to say I changed my opinion about Bach right now.
You know, thanks to you and your topic I started to percieve the music of Bach completely different.
I listened to this.
And now I fell in love. Really.

So I love it! Yes!
When I'll have some DMT I gonna try to trip to this music too.

I am sure I will get the new and interesting experience.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you appreciate his music. Helmut Walcha is a great organist too for this stuff. You might also enjoy this piece, which is a transcription of his Cantata No 29 Sinfonia-

Listen at about 50 seconds in to the beautiful progression is these notes. Sounds almost as if Bach traveled to hyperspace and pulled that melody straight out of there.
 
I was thinking about this thread, and I believe that I could expand this thread to also include the greater north German organ tradition of the baroque period; a tradition Bach took to its pinnacle. The north German organ school employed organs built for complexity, in dense and multi-layered polyphonic compositions. Pieces would alternate between strict interlocking melodies and free-form displays of virtuosity and improvisation. These contrasting yet complementary elements of both strict polyphony and free improvisation formed the bedrock of many north German organ compositions and gives the music this infinitely complex, kaleidoscopic qualities. Two great composers in this tradition are Dietrich Buxtehude who brought the tradition to its apex (and directly influenced Bach) and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck who started this tradition. I have two great Spotify links for each composer:

Dietrich Buxtehude -

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck -
 
nice to see someone appreciating Bach! I had a 3 year long Bach phase during which I listened to nothing else. You should definitely listen Helmut Walcha's work, his interpretation of Bach is... something else! Passacaglia is also one of my favorites. I also really like Prelude and Fugue in A minor, but most interpretations are too fast, Walcha plays it at a slower tempo and the piece just transforms into something... deeply religious! Walcha was blind, he had everything memorized! and you can notice the effect of this independence from notes and sheets.


This is a good compilation of his work! hope you'll like it!

I have never combined organ music with DMT though, I tried once or twice and... it just didn't seem to go well with it. I would say, my first DMT trip brought my Bach phase to an end... I started listening to afghan, indian and irani classical music. For me, that is THE dmt music.


Rahim Khushnawaz, one of the great maestros... this was recorded at his home, in his garden, on a simple sony walkman! There are just two intruments, Rubab, the main instrument, and the indian Tabla, and of course the canaries! The birds you hear are his pets, they sing along with him. Much of this music culture is lost due to the never ending war, but a few bits and recordings have survived, for which I am truly thankful.
 
Ah... I didn't read all the replies before posting, of course Walcha has been mentioned already! can't speak of Bach without mentioning Walcha!

Organ music goes wonderfully with acid or similar substances but with DMT... it becomes a bit too complicated because there's already so much going on and so quickly. Also, the tones can be too shrill sometimes. For me, the perfect DMT music has to be simple and complex at the same time. Simple in terms of melody or the simple tones, almost repetitive to a certain extent, yet complex in the way it is played. In afghan music there is a type where one single phrase is played over and over for several minutes, each time with slight changes in the rhythm. As in this one


Rubab has just 3 main strings and 4 frets (plus 3 drone strings and 13 sympathetic strings) so the space is rather limited, you can go beyond 4 frets down the neck but it gets difficult since the neck grows thicker and there are no frets. The artist therefore has to make the most out of the least. The diversity of notes becomes irrelevant when you can express just a few notes in dozens of different ways, with different intonations, stresses, degress of softness, slides, hammer ons and pull ofs etc. The details are so subtle... and this I think goes really well with DMT. The superficial simplicity allows the mind to open up and become receptive without being overwhelmed, and once you're in there, that is when the true magic and complexity reveals itself.


This short piece sums it up the best.
 
Dasein said:
Ah... I didn't read all the replies before posting, of course Walcha has been mentioned already! can't speak of Bach without mentioning Walcha!

Organ music goes wonderfully with acid or similar substances but with DMT... it becomes a bit too complicated because there's already so much going on and so quickly. Also, the tones can be too shrill sometimes. For me, the perfect DMT music has to be simple and complex at the same time. Simple in terms of melody or the simple tones, almost repetitive to a certain extent, yet complex in the way it is played. In afghan music there is a type where one single phrase is played over and over for several minutes, each time with slight changes in the rhythm. As in this one


Rubab has just 3 main strings and 4 frets (plus 3 drone strings and 13 sympathetic strings) so the space is rather limited, you can go beyond 4 frets down the neck but it gets difficult since the neck grows thicker and there are no frets. The artist therefore has to make the most out of the least. The diversity of notes becomes irrelevant when you can express just a few notes in dozens of different ways, with different intonations, stresses, degress of softness, slides, hammer ons and pull ofs etc. The details are so subtle... and this I think goes really well with DMT. The superficial simplicity allows the mind to open up and become receptive without being overwhelmed, and once you're in there, that is when the true magic and complexity reveals itself.


This short piece sums it up the best.
Click to expand...
Very beautiful music! but I must say, personally, I find it anything but simple, not even on the surface. (which is not a defect or anything else, but it does not seem to me to reflect the description very much).

If I have to think of a repetitive, simple but complicated music, with very subtle differences, that can create a stabilizing atmosphere for a trip, where you don't get thrown from side to side from sudden changes, I would name this album:

[YOUTUBE]

The intimacy of Sanders' sax can certainly help awaken deep and hidden thoughts.
 
Dasein said:
nice to see someone appreciating Bach! I had a 3 year long Bach phase during which I listened to nothing else. You should definitely listen Helmut Walcha's work, his interpretation of Bach is... something else! Passacaglia is also one of my favorites. I also really like Prelude and Fugue in A minor, but most interpretations are too fast, Walcha plays it at a slower tempo and the piece just transforms into something... deeply religious! Walcha was blind, he had everything memorized! and you can notice the effect of this independence from notes and sheets.


This is a good compilation of his work! hope you'll like it!

I have never combined organ music with DMT though, I tried once or twice and... it just didn't seem to go well with it. I would say, my first DMT trip brought my Bach phase to an end... I started listening to afghan, indian and irani classical music. For me, that is THE dmt music.


Rahim Khushnawaz, one of the great maestros... this was recorded at his home, in his garden, on a simple sony walkman! There are just two intruments, Rubab, the main instrument, and the indian Tabla, and of course the canaries! The birds you hear are his pets, they sing along with him. Much of this music culture is lost due to the never ending war, but a few bits and recordings have survived, for which I am truly thankful.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually did have a DMT experience that pointed me towards middle eastern music, but in a different way. I actually was listening to music from Zelda Ocarina of Time on Ayahuasca and felt a very powerful feeling when I played the music from the Water Temple, which samples a clearly middle eastern melody. After that I dove into the music theory behind that track and it led me on a rabbit hole of middle eastern classical music.

However it's been hard to find authentic instrumental middle eastern music that isn't either an Americanized version or has bad quality recording or too much singing and activity in it. So if you have any suggestions for any middle eastern classical artists or composers I'd love that.
 
Dasein said:
[...]For me, that is THE dmt music.

[YOUTUBE]

Rahim Khushnawaz, one of the great maestros... this was recorded at his home, in his garden, on a simple sony walkman! There are just two intruments, Rubab, the main instrument, and the indian Tabla, and of course the canaries! The birds you hear are his pets, they sing along with him. Much of this music culture is lost due to the never ending war, but a few bits and recordings have survived, for which I am truly thankful.
Click to expand...
My word! Quite unexpectedly, this one moved me to tears.... such beautiful simplicity means the powers of expression come through in a different way.


The effect of the child's voice cannot be overlooked (and did someone pour a cup of tea at one point?) Gotta love a bit of ambiance.

Thanks for sharing.
 
ControlledChaos said:
However it's been hard to find authentic instrumental middle eastern music that isn't either an Americanized version or has bad quality recording or too much singing and activity in it. So if you have any suggestions for any middle eastern classical artists or composers I'd love that.
Click to expand...

Well, for afghan rubab, Ustad Mohammad Omar is the biggest name amongst the 20th century afghan musicians. Almost every other big artist from from 60s-70s was his student, including Rahim khushnawaz. Unfortunately, there aren't many recordings! There are only 3 albums of Ustad Mohammed Omar on spotify, plus a few recordings on youtube but that's all! here's the spotify link:


Ustad Rahim Khushnawaz also has only 2 albums on spotify, which, as I mentioned before, were recorded on a walkman at his home. There are also a few recordings on youtube.



From the younger generation, there is Homayoun Sakhi, again, only one album on spotify, but multiple recordings on youtube.


Then there is Khaled Arman who creates a very beautiful blend of afghan and indian style.



I also really like irani tar and setar, I have listened to Hossein Alizadeh a lot, but spotify removed the albums I really liked... and I cant find them anywhere else, but you can google him. The late Mohammed Lotfi is from the older generation, sort of a grand Maestro!
As for indian classical, the 3 big names, Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and Hariprasad Chaurasia. This is a good introduction, once you are familiar with these names and their music, you will know what true classical music is and will be able to explore further on your own.
 
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