There is always a special aura that descends upon a venue that hosts sacred cultures blended into distinct styles and genres of music. The feeling is ecstatic, somber and deeply enriching, especially in terms of spiritual nourishment. That is an approximate description of what the World Sacred Music Festival is about. After every three years since 1999, Los Angeles becomes the venue of all the sacred riches of the city, welcoming even other forms of sacred music from cities and nations across the world.
The 16-day sacred music festival facilitates performances, music events and a grand spiritual movement throughout the city of Los Angeles. For this duration, music transcends cultural, ideological and religious boundaries, embalming it wholesomely in the hearts of men with a resounding uniformity. Neighborhood boundaries are crisscrossed and cultures mingled, sacred riches are shared and hearts cajoled. The last edition of the sacred music festival was held at numerous landmark theaters in the city of Los Angeles. The amazing thing is that, some events were hosted in churches and others in temples.
The World Sacred Music Festival
Besides the concerts held in churches, temples and theatres, the music festival also features outdoor music extravaganzas, hosting the world’s best artists from the local and international scene. The festival usually comes in the month of September, guaranteeing that the weather will be fair during a hilarious two-week festival. Besides the music, speeches, sermons and verse juxtapose the musical shows to keep the audiences thrilled. As for the music, the festival is in a class of its own, Talent, passion love, commitment, experience and prowess in art rule the day, as amateurs and pros alike take to the rhythm of sacred songs, one after the other. The general maxim here is to share what is good for one community with the other communities in an interchangeable manner.
The annual sacred music festival is today a global destination of sacred music lovers, having had only four editions so far (1999, 2002, 205, and 2008). Incredibly the sacred music fun has seen an attendance level of over 120, 000 people throughout the festival. The Los Angeles festival was meant to forerun a similar festival in four continents beginning from 1989, the year of the Dalai Lama’s millennium. This was a commemoration of the Dalai Lama’s persistent message of peace, spirituality and cultural understanding and harmony among nations.
The world sacred music festival is a brainchild of UCLA’s center for Intercultural Performance, Foundation for World Arts and Earthways Foundation. The partners have committed themselves to attaining the non-commercial citywide festival that is entrenched in a community-oriented need for mutual integration. Music allows each individual in the community to expand their limited definition of the people’s cultural heritage. In a way, this festival helps people to go beyond those familiar myths about other cultures and religions in particular, to a point which you can adequately explore the potential of interfaith and intercultural collaboration.
Festival partners contribute in kind assistance and or through volunteering their time for the community-building initiative which anchors on goodwill participation. The World Sacred Music Festival is partly funded by the James Irvine Foundation, the Annenberg Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Additional support is given by the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, Vesper Society, His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for Western United States, Time Warner Cable Television and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Diverse art forms that represent the ultimate in musical creativity in each community remain in the heart and memory of the audience forever. You will for instance listen to and sing along to grass root folk music and then to some classic jazz performances before settling down to the richness of formal Asian and European classical traditions.
It is an amazing musical gift to hear the mystical legacies of Japan, Christian choral customs, Arabic exotic fragrance intoned with African drummed dance rhythms, Jewish traditions and the Sufi sacredness of the Turkish communities. There is a distinct shared value in all of these varieties of sacred music, one that rests with every human mortal. Such is the richness of the sacred music festival.
The world Sacred Music Festival of Los Angeles is a festival of its own kind in the world, and it is gaining popularity at a phenomenal rate, maybe owing to the fantastic organization and running of the festival in previous editions.
[...] 10. The World Sacred Music Festival [...]