Tag Archives: shams93

Wahabibi (Part 2)

 

Wahabibi (Part 2)
(Redfern)

For my lament for the situation of the Syrians I was thinking about the New Orleans jazz funeral, so part one of the piece is quiet and lonely, the acoustic oud by itself, while the second part of the piece adds more instrumentation that adds elements of the Jazz dirge through the prism of maqam music.

 

Shams93 is the brainchild of composer/performer Brian Redfern. Brian graduated from CalArts in 1998, having studied composition with Nyoman Wenten, Kobla Ladzepko and Wadada Leo Smith. In 2005 Brian switched from guitar to the ancient middle eastern instrument, the oud, studying with virtuoso Yuval Ron.

Previously Brian had been the guitarist for Los Hermanos de Jazz who had opened up for bands such as the Stone Temple Pilots and performed sessions for Death Row Records, back in the wild and crazy early 1990s. Back then he also created a project called “Aleister’s Bastards” inspired by the work 777 by Aleister Crowley. However at the time, he had no idea he lived right down the street from the famous occult author, Lon Milo DuQuette.

Shams93 runs the gamut from purely acoustic solo oud to electronic music and live electric performance. Brian plays both acoustic and electric oud and uses the ancient system of “Maqam music” from the middle east to compose new material based on ancient patterns.

He is greatly inspired by recent John Zorn projects such as the Crowley String quartet, which explore occult concepts with instrumental music inspired by western classical and avant guard.

Besides having earned an MFA from CalArts Brian is an initiated Freemason, 3○, 32○, Thelemite and self-initiated Sufi/Ishmaeli. He’s also a 3○ in the OTO and a probationer of the A∴A∴, so occult practice and meditation are massive influences on the music of Shams93.

Follow Shams93 via
Soundcloud
Website
and
Anthology Profile

 


Hermetic Library Anthology Project – Magick Music and Ritual 5

 

 

Wahabibi (Part 1)

 

Wahabibi (Part 1)
(Redfern)

Wa Habibi is a sung on Good Friday in the Christian tradition. Right now in the middle east many artists are choosing to cover this song to show their sympathy for the intense suffering of the people of Syria. Right now, whether they are Christian or Muslim (or Shia or Sunni) or Jewish or Yezidi or Druze, the diverse peoples of the region have become the sacrificial victims of intensely powerful and evil forces. Not since the crusades of the middle ages has such intense suffering been visited upon the people of the region. So I’m moved as an artist at least to write a lament for them and let them know I know what intense suffering is like and I cry for their pain.

‪شجر الزيتون يبكي وتناديه الشفاء‬

While my version is instrumental I wanted to share the lyrics the
singer Fairouz created for her version of the song:

Wa Habibi (My Beloved)

 

My beloved, my beloved

What state are you in?

He who sees you, for you would cry

You are the one and only sacrifice

 

My beloved,

What blame have the nations put upon you?

They melted you with wounds,

To which no healing would do

 

When in the dark orchard at night

The God Creator kneeled and prayed

Life was praying with the One

Who gave life hope and prayer

 

The olive trees are crying

As the lips of men quiver

My beloved how will you go?

Has loyalty gone forever?

 

My beloved, my beloved

What state are you in?

He who sees you, for you would cry

You are the one and only sacrifice

 

Shams93 is the brainchild of composer/performer Brian Redfern. Brian graduated from CalArts in 1998, having studied composition with Nyoman Wenten, Kobla Ladzepko and Wadada Leo Smith. In 2005 Brian switched from guitar to the ancient middle eastern instrument, the oud, studying with virtuoso Yuval Ron.

Previously Brian had been the guitarist for Los Hermanos de Jazz who had opened up for bands such as the Stone Temple Pilots and performed sessions for Death Row Records, back in the wild and crazy early 1990s. Back then he also created a project called “Aleister’s Bastards” inspired by the work 777 by Aleister Crowley. However at the time, he had no idea he lived right down the street from the famous occult author, Lon Milo DuQuette.

Shams93 runs the gamut from purely acoustic solo oud to electronic music and live electric performance. Brian plays both acoustic and electric oud and uses the ancient system of “Maqam music” from the middle east to compose new material based on ancient patterns.

He is greatly inspired by recent John Zorn projects such as the Crowley String quartet, which explore occult concepts with instrumental music inspired by western classical and avant guard.

Besides having earned an MFA from CalArts Brian is an initiated Freemason, 3○, 32○, Thelemite and self-initiated Sufi/Ishmaeli. He’s also a 3○ in the OTO and a probationer of the A∴A∴, so occult practice and meditation are massive influences on the music of Shams93.

Follow Shams93 via
Soundcloud
Website
and
Anthology Profile

 


Hermetic Library Anthology Project – Magick Music and Ritual 5

 

 

The Hermetic Library Anthology Album – Magick, Music and Ritual 5

The Fall 2012 album from the Hermetic Library Anthology project is now released at The Hermetic Library Anthology Album – Magick, Music and Ritual 5 for immediate download! Physical CDs of this Fall 2012 issue are also available as a pre-order.

Please join the Hermetic Library in thanking and promoting these artists who have contributed their work to this benefit anthology album project by picking up this release. Please also spread the word to people you think may be interested in the work of artists who combine magick, music and ritual.

Be sure to also check out the previous issues of the Hermetic Library Anthology and look for a call for submissions to the Winter 2013 anthology album on Dec 15th!

 

 

The full track list for this Fall 2012 anthology album consists of 16 tracks with over 2 hours of music:

Part I – Arrival

  1. Shams93 – Wahabibi (Part 1) 04:21
  2. Shams93 – Wahabibi (Part 2) 04:00
  3. Anantakara – Unlock an Immortal Seal 09:20
  4. Apollon – Juxtaposition of the Shadow Traveller 06:25
  5. Troy Schafer – Blue Death 01:22
  6. Ophwurld – Spontaneous Involuntary Feeling 07:18
  7. y3mk – Shalicu 07:16
  8. Mahatma Dalí – Elephant Graveyard 11:21
  9. Exomène – Doom 04:49
  10. Dr J Cephei – Mystic Prophecy 04:27
  11. (m) – Izmir 02:24

Part II – Departure

  1. Ikipr – Orbits (Reprise) 03:41
  2. Machabray – Empty Room (Part V) 04:25
  3. (m) – Dark Liquid Replicating 02:38
  4. David B Metcalfe – Fields of Light – Lumen Siccum 24:50
  5. Kim Cascone – Ros Crux – Alchemisphere Zero 34:09

 

This fifth album from the Hermetic Library Anthology Project is being released on Samhain in Fall 2012, at 15° Scorpio. This fifth issue completes the first full year of releases, one on all four quarters in 2012. Magick, Music and Ritual 5 brings together 16 tracks by 14 artists with over 2 hours of music which spans 2 physical CDs.

Two parts of this playlist seem to have developed for me a ritual structure, or at least a passage through liminality. The first part is an arrival which is also the departure from normal place and time and the second part is a departure from a place of imagination but also a return to world, having perhaps changed ourselves and world in the meantime. Beginning with a two-part track that develops from a mostly unadorned oud playing a lament and then unfolds in the second track to reveal a heavily processed and altered dirge; thus the circle of the ritual is cast. We move further into liminal place and time with a series of tracks leading deeper into the unknown, offering a self-reflection with mysterious overtones. This is an unfolding descent into a metaphorical and allegorical darkness that paradoxically reveals us to ourselves. The ritual progresses to a lacuna between parts, a space where in ritual one might do a specific working. You may decide each time you listen to take advantage of this place and time between parts to interact with this playlist by enacting your own work here in the space prepared by you and these artists. The second part of the playlist lifts us back through an ascent that returns us, not ourselves the same nor to the same world from which we departed but to see with new eyes a place slightly different than before. We have polished our vessel through travel into the self and have become better prepared to share our specific gifts with the world. Like the long delayed return of Odysseus, we are entering a season of increasing darkness from which light is inevitably liberated.

This cover for this issue was designed and illustrated by Valerie Herron. When I think of the top heaviness of antlers, I actually think of the looming ominous canopy of fall trees in the dark with their skeleton arms and fingers sloughing off leafy skin. I also think of the way that the tree of life looms large above the single point at Malkuth, such a long, tall and precarious spectral ladder to the stars … a place, perhaps, where the dark romance of both old school esotericism and new American Gothic meet.

The Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com has an overall vision of Archiving, Engaging and Encouraging the living Western Esoteric Tradition. I started the benefit anthology project to help promote newer works in the Western Esoteric Tradition to the audience of the Hermetic Library and beyond. The anthology project also further raises awareness about the corpus and culture of magick and ritual.

I encourage you to check out the Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com, if you aren’t already familiar with it, as that’s the reason this project exists and may also offer inspiration to you. The site was started in 1996 and has ever since consistently been an extremely popular resource for students and researchers interested in the Western Esoteric Tradition.

Please join the Hermetic Library in promoting these artists who have contributed their work to this benefit anthology album project. Please also spread the word about these anthology albums to people you think may be interested in the work of artists who combine magick, music and ritual.

Hermetic Library
Hermetic Library Anthology Project
Hermetic Library blog
Hermetic Library audio pool

Production by John Griogair Bell
Artwork and Design by Valerie Herron
Mastering by SickTanicK of SKR

All songs used with permission. All rights reserved.

Rockr

“Rockr” is a track added by Shams93 in the Hermetic Library audio pool.

 

The Hermetic Library audio pool is a participatory place for sharing sounds and music of a living Western Esoteric Tradition. Music and performance can be a form of ritual and magick. Works and artists have long been inspired by the ideas of Western Esotericism and Mysticism. This group is to help create a space for sharing, music and other audio, and connecting with artists who feel drawn to these topics and ideas, or, especially, incorporate and manifest ritual and magick in their works. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the audio pool, head over to the Hermetic Library audio pool or contact the librarian.

Power of the Sphinx

 

Power of the Sphinx
(Redfern)

The Power of the Sphinx, from a tradition so old we don’t know how old really. These scales stretch back into the depths of time, some of this music literally goes back thousands of years. This tune is brand new, but based upon a very ancient scale. The Power of the Sphinx relates to instrumental music in that the instrument while it makes a sound, is a sound designed to engage the mind in a state of silence, and Silence is one of the most powerful mysteries of the Sphinx.

Who was the voice in Liber AL? Who were they who spoke as “We” in the Holy Koran? What is Ma’at? What is Nirvana? Who bade humanity the command ‘Man, Woman, Know Thyself’? This song is dedicated to that mystery.

Shams93 is the brainchild of composer/performer Brian Redfern. Brian graduated from CalArts in 1998, having studied composition with Nyoman Wenten, Kobla Ladzepko and Wadada Leo Smith. In 2005 Brian switched from guitar to the ancient middle eastern instrument, the oud, studying with virtuoso Yuval Ron.

Previously Brian had been the guitarist for Los Hermanos de Jazz who had opened up for bands such as the Stone Temple Pilots and performed sessions for Death Row Records, back in the wild and crazy early 1990s. Back then he also created a project called “Aleister’s Bastards” inspired by the work 777 by Aleister Crowley. However at the time, he had no idea he lived right down the street from the famous occult author, Lon Milo DuQuette.

Shams93 runs the gamut from purely acoustic solo oud to electronic music and live electric performance. Brian plays both acoustic and electric oud and uses the ancient system of “Maqam music” from the middle east to compose new material based on ancient patterns.

He is greatly inspired by recent John Zorn projects such as the Crowley String quartet, which explore occult concepts with instrumental music inspired by western classical and avant guard.

Besides having earned an MFA from CalArts Brian is an initiated Freemason, 3○, 32○,Thelemite and self-initiated Sufi/Ishmaeli. He’s also a 3○ in the OTO and a probationer of the A∴A∴, so occult practice and meditation are massive influences on the music of Shams93.

Follow Shams93 via
Soundcloud
Website
and
Anthology Profile

 

 

The full track list for this Summer 2012 anthology album consists of 23 tracks, including the bonus download, and over 3 hours of music:

Part I — Voice of the Sun

  1. Eyes of Wood – The Challenge 04:11
  2. The Transmutations – Highgoat Ponds 04:10
  3. Paranoia Department – Invocation 07:00
  4. Black Church – Dakota 02:15
  5. Shadowcaster – The Drowning 05:03
  6. Galen Wade – Two Moons 03:52
  7. Ophwurld – All Creatures 10:36
  8. Shams93 – Power of the Sphinx 02:57
  9. December Luna – The Golden Rule (Lo-Fi Mix) 03:13
  10. Ralph Buckley – Mary Magdalene 04:42
  11. Johann Heyss – A voz do falcão 03:56
  12. Worms of the Earth – Luciferian Sabbat 06:57
  13. (The Hermetic Order of the) Al Qaeda – Call of the 30th Aethyr 10:04
  14. Mahatma Dalí – Dignitas Supremus 05:13

Part II — Vision of the Moon

  1. Exomène – Migration 03:56
  2. Zavier Krall – Grievance 1 & 2 14:58
  3. StrykninY – Outro into 07:46
  4. i AM esper – Swept Beneath The Black Waters Part 3 12:48
  5. Michael Idehall – Belzebuth (Hermetic Library Mix) 12:31
  6. Astral Bloodletter – When The Sun Speaks 09:20
  7. PhiMinD – Choronzon 02:34
  8. Apollon – The Angel falls. Begin. 09:16

Bonus Track — Silence of the Stars

  1. Kim Cascone – Alchemisphere One 34:02

 

The Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com has an overall vision of Archiving, Engaging and Encouraging the living Western Esoteric Tradition. I started the benefit anthology project to help promote newer works in the Western Esoteric Tradition to the audience of the Hermetic Library and beyond. The anthology project also further raises awareness about the corpus and culture of magick and ritual.

This Summer 2012 issue of from the anthology project is the fourth release but also the penultimate album in the first full cycle of seasons for the anthology project. Magick, Music and Ritual 4 brings together over 3 hours of music which span 2 physical CDs plus a bonus track for digital downloads.

I’ve given somewhat poetical names to the several parts of this issue based on how each part of the overall playlist felt to me as I was putting it together. The first part of this issue seems to me carries the feeling of Summer during the day, that gives the gift of the Voice of the Sun. The second part seems like a darker journey reminiscent of the Summer at night, offering a Vision of the Moon. The bonus track is a binaural meditation that could be taken as that liminality in the very dark before the light returns when consciousness is altered, a dream time when is heard the Silence of the Stars. These three parts are each distinct, in that they have each a character of their own, but they also participate in a complete and contiguous playlist.

The artists who have participated on this anthology album span continents, languages, countries, and regions. There are a variety of ages, experience levels, styles here as well. Some artists have participated before on anthology albums or in the Hermetic Library sound pool, while some have not been heard before in either.

The ongoing visual theme of the anthology covers has past the bright promise of Spring, represented in the previous, and now smolders in the crazy-making heat of Summer. The Sun has conquered the sky and this brings the leisurely joy of wealth, the ecstatic exertion of work and also the weary climax of both.

Summer to me is a union of many opposites that transcends the abyss of differences. This issue of the anthology seems to be an exploration of that idea and feeling.

I encourage you to check out the Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com, if you aren’t already familiar with it, as that’s the reason this project exists and may also offer inspiration to you. The site was started in 1996 and has ever since consistently been an extremely popular resource for students and researchers interested in the Western Esoteric Tradition. You may also wish to check out other posts at the Hermetic Library blog and the Twitter and Facebook reflections to see how the library engages people in a living Western Esoteric Tradition.

Please join the Hermetic Library in promoting these artists who have contributed their work to this benefit anthology album project. All proceeds from album sales will support the library to help cover hosting costs and other expenses like materials acquisitions.

Hermetic Library
Hermetic Library Anthology Project
Hermetic Library blog
Hermetic Library audio pool

The Hermetic Library Anthology Album – Magick, Music and Ritual 4

The Summer 2012 album from the Hermetic Library Anthology project is now released at The Hermetic Library Anthology Album – Magick, Music and Ritual 4 for immediate download! Physical CDs of this Summer 2012 issue are also available as a pre-order.

Please join the Hermetic Library in thanking and promoting these artists who have contributed their work to this benefit anthology album project by picking up this release. Please also spread the word to people you think may be interested in the work of artists who combine magick, music and ritual.

Be sure to also check out the previous issues of the Hermetic Library Anthology. Anthology albums are planned for release around cross-quarter days. (Look for a call for submissions to the Fall 2012 anthology album on Sep 15th!)

 

 

The full track list for this Summer 2012 anthology album consists of 23 tracks, including the bonus download, and over 3 hours of music:

Part I — Voice of the Sun

  1. Eyes of Wood – The Challenge 04:11
  2. The Transmutations – Highgoat Ponds 04:10
  3. Paranoia Department – Invocation 07:00
  4. Black Church – Dakota 02:15
  5. Shadowcaster – The Drowning 05:03
  6. Galen Wade – Two Moons 03:52
  7. Ophwurld – All Creatures 10:36
  8. Shams93 – Power of the Sphinx 02:57
  9. December Luna – The Golden Rule (Lo-Fi Mix) 03:13
  10. Ralph Buckley – Mary Magdalene 04:42
  11. Johann Heyss – A voz do falcão 03:56
  12. Worms of the Earth – Luciferian Sabbat 06:57
  13. (The Hermetic Order of the) Al Qaeda – Call of the 30th Aethyr 10:04
  14. Mahatma Dalí – Dignitas Supremus 05:13

Part II — Vision of the Moon

  1. Exomène – Migration 03:56
  2. Zavier Krall – Grievance 1 & 2 14:58
  3. StrykninY – Outro into 07:46
  4. i AM esper – Swept Beneath The Black Waters Part 3 12:48
  5. Michael Idehall – Belzebuth (Hermetic Library Mix) 12:31
  6. Astral Bloodletter – When The Sun Speaks 09:20
  7. PhiMinD – Choronzon 02:34
  8. Apollon – The Angel falls. Begin. 09:16

Bonus Track — Silence of the Stars

  1. Kim Cascone – Alchemisphere One 34:02

 

The Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com has an overall vision of Archiving, Engaging and Encouraging the living Western Esoteric Tradition. I started the benefit anthology project to help promote newer works in the Western Esoteric Tradition to the audience of the Hermetic Library and beyond. The anthology project also further raises awareness about the corpus and culture of magick and ritual.

This Summer 2012 issue from the anthology project is the fourth release but also the penultimate album in the first full cycle of seasons for the anthology project. Magick, Music and Ritual 4 brings together over 3 hours of music which span 2 physical CDs plus a bonus track for digital downloads.

I’ve given somewhat poetical names to the several parts of this issue based on how each part of the overall playlist felt to me as I was putting it together. The first part of this issue seems to me carries the feeling of Summer during the day, that gives the gift of the Voice of the Sun. The second part seems like a darker journey reminiscent of the Summer at night, offering a Vision of the Moon. The bonus track is a binaural meditation that could be taken as that liminality in the very dark before the light returns when consciousness is altered, a dream time when is heard the Silence of the Stars. These three parts are each distinct, in that they have each a character of their own, but they also participate in a complete and contiguous playlist.

The artists who have participated on this anthology album span continents, languages, countries, and regions. There are a variety of ages, experience levels, styles here as well. Some artists have participated before on anthology albums or in the Hermetic Library sound pool, while some have not been heard before in either.

The ongoing visual theme of the anthology covers has past the bright promise of Spring, represented in the previous, and now smolders in the crazy-making heat of Summer. The Sun has conquered the sky and this brings the leisurely joy of wealth, the ecstatic exertion of work and also the weary climax of both.

Summer to me is a union of many opposites that transcends the abyss of differences. This issue of the anthology seems to be an exploration of that idea and feeling.

I encourage you to check out the Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com, if you aren’t already familiar with it, as that’s the reason this project exists and may also offer inspiration to you. The site was started in 1996 and has ever since consistently been an extremely popular resource for students and researchers interested in the Western Esoteric Tradition. You may also wish to check out other posts at the Hermetic Library blog and the Twitter and Facebook reflections to see how the library engages people in a living Western Esoteric Tradition.

Please join the Hermetic Library in promoting these artists who have contributed their work to this benefit anthology album project. All proceeds from album sales will support the library to help cover hosting costs and other expenses like materials acquisitions.

Hermetic Library
Hermetic Library Anthology Project
Hermetic Library blog
Hermetic Library audio pool

Dark-lord

“Dark-lord” is a track added by Shams93 in the Hermetic Library audio pool.

 

The Hermetic Library audio pool is a participatory place for sharing sounds and music of a living Western Esoteric Tradition. Music and performance can be a form of ritual and magick. Works and artists have long been inspired by the ideas of Western Esotericism and Mysticism. This group is to help create a space for sharing, music and other audio, and connecting with artists who feel drawn to these topics and ideas, or, especially, incorporate and manifest ritual and magick in their works. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the audio pool, head over to the Hermetic Library audio pool or contact the librarian.

Jawbone 05/12

“Jawbone 05/12” is a track added by Shams93 in the Hermetic Library audio pool.

 

The Hermetic Library audio pool is a participatory place for sharing sounds and music of a living Western Esoteric Tradition. Music and performance can be a form of ritual and magick. Works and artists have long been inspired by the ideas of Western Esotericism and Mysticism. This group is to help create a space for sharing, music and other audio, and connecting with artists who feel drawn to these topics and ideas, or, especially, incorporate and manifest ritual and magick in their works. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the audio pool, head over to the Hermetic Library audio pool or contact the librarian.

Space Merchant

“Space Merchant” is a track added by Shams93 in the Hermetic Library audio pool.

 

The Hermetic Library audio pool is a participatory place for sharing sounds and music of a living Western Esoteric Tradition. Music and performance can be a form of ritual and magick. Works and artists have long been inspired by the ideas of Western Esotericism and Mysticism. This group is to help create a space for sharing, music and other audio, and connecting with artists who feel drawn to these topics and ideas, or, especially, incorporate and manifest ritual and magick in their works. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the audio pool, head over to the Hermetic Library audio pool or contact the librarian.

Resistance

“Resistance” is a track added by Shams93 in the Hermetic Library audio pool.

 

The Hermetic Library audio pool is a participatory place for sharing sounds and music of a living Western Esoteric Tradition. Music and performance can be a form of ritual and magick. Works and artists have long been inspired by the ideas of Western Esotericism and Mysticism. This group is to help create a space for sharing, music and other audio, and connecting with artists who feel drawn to these topics and ideas, or, especially, incorporate and manifest ritual and magick in their works. If you would like to submit your work for consideration as part of the audio pool, head over to the Hermetic Library audio pool or contact the librarian.