Sven Grünberg - OM (2023) [Hi-Res]

OM, as some linguists believe, was one of the first syllables that a person uttered in the dark of ancient times. At the same time, we can say with confidence that it was recorded in the Upanishads, literary monuments created at the beginning of the first millennium BC. In them, as in most philosophical teachings that originated on Indian soil, OM is defined as a verbal symbol. In the future, the territory of the use of Om has spread far beyond India and now it is known all over the world.
OM is a multi—valued symbol. Here and now, perhaps, the most important thing for us is that OM symbolizes being in its integrity and unity: macro- and micro-cosmos, universal and individual, Universe and individual, living and inanimate, unity of the past, future and present. The unity of human nature and culture. The unity of man...
It is customary to say about music that it brings peoples closer together, helps to form universal values. There is a great deal of truth in this thesis, but how many times has it been used in the interests of imperialist culture: let the world be filled with symphony orchestras and opera theaters that arose and developed at the royal and princely courts of Europe of the XVIII and XIX centuries, in fact far from the people even in the countries where they originated, not to mention they were able to assimilate the achievements of the musical culture of all the peoples of the world.
Perhaps that is why the true fulfillment of the mission of music turned out to be possible only for those currents that were not born at the behest of the authorities or some stratum, but grew out of the desires and needs of the people themselves. In the cultural area of Europe, it was jazz and rock that were able to organically combine the impulses emanating from different regions of the world.
The latest electronic acoustic technology has given this trend new opportunities. Maybe soon we can talk about a truly unified music of the world, in which each particular work, nevertheless, is peculiar, since it is born of the composer's unique personality. Which, however, should not mean isolation in itself, in a narrow regional framework. Rather, it will be a subjective reflection of the versatility of the world, revealed in its wholeness. Of course, the perception of such music can only be subjectively multifaceted. One can assume that a Chinese will hear one thing in such works, an Englishman another, Russians a third, etc., but still each of them will be able to call this music his own.
This record is a clear illustration of the emergence of a trend of truly unified world music: Grunberg's European, Chinese, Indian, Tibetan intonations, motifs, instrumental colors merge together so organically that it seems it could not have been otherwise. At the same time, electronics is not opposed to traditional music, but rather indicates new, yet unexplored paths that, thanks to the opportunities provided by technological progress, are born here and now like this, and there and in the future may turn out to be completely different. However, (and this is probably the most important thing), the constant aspiration to the future, which is realized in the present, also brings back to us the past, that truly ancient human sound — OM. And here it is not just a sound or a word, but above all a symbol that conveys the richness that it has carried in itself throughout its history.
Linnart Myall