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Following modern utopian and human potential movements from the 60s through the 80s, one theme that runs through these groups is the inclusion of music and sound-making in their organized practices. As these groups sought to give their members the tools or environment from which to liberate themselves from the constraints and norms of postwar life, music was a common vehicle for that personal and spiritual liberation. Music—like collective, collaborative farm work or group guided meditation practice—was another channel for personal and group expression of a new ideal of living and being.
However, contrary to surface expectations, the contemporaneous folk revival movement with its message of freedom, equality, and emancipation was not the template for the music created by these groups. Rather, some of these groups borrowed structures and ideas closer to the emerging free improvisation movement—along with inspiration from psychedelic rock and classical Hindustani musics. Improvisation was a natural grounding adopted by these movements for its ability for groups to work together often regardless of musical skill development or practice.
On these recordings one might find a guided meditation, helping the curious work through a simulation of the group's own practices on relaxation or insight. Some releases were vehicles for a group's leader to speak directly to potential initiates from outside the circle of the group. Almost always, improvised sound provided a backdrop to the proceedings. The more forward-thinking of these records used improvised and electronic sound to emphasize the technology of stereo sound recording to allow listeners to fill the air of their private spaces with sounds that evoked a mood or sought to deliberately create a spiritual and altered environment.
This music was not intended to be consumed for its own sake as a purely aesthetic experience but instead the music often served social, spiritual, or communicative functional ends. The act of playing instruments together became an exercise in learning, collective relationship building, and inter-group relationship management. As individual players, members could take part in an art practice as personal liberation therapy and introspective discovery that embodied the larger group's message and philosophy for living.
These freeform jams often lived in the moment at group meetings for initiates only. If the music was recorded at all or even went so far as to be released, the majority of these records were released in small, private press runs. In a time long before the Internet made connection, communication, and mass content distribution easier, marketing was a low budget affair, getting the word out via the group's in-person meet ups, the group's own publications, or word-of-mouth—although sometimes small ads appeared in the classified sections of like-minded publications with larger distribution.
By releasing this music into the world, one must not assume that the groups expected to "make it" with their music and sign to one of the large major labels that controlled the music industry. Rather than a commercial enterprise or an exercise in building stores of social capital (which in our social media environment is a goal in itself), the goal of a physical record was to communicate the group's principles and message with the larger world. Album sleeves displayed artwork illustrating some aspect of the group—perhaps a photo of the group together or showing artwork created by group members reflecting their principles. Liner notes detailed the philosophy or functional purpose presented on the record by the group alongside a postal addresses for listeners to write to learn more about the group's ideas or discover how to connect in person.
Pavaka Group music is not from this older era or the movements outlined here. Pavaka Group music seeks to reflect the possible conditions of human potential and therapeutic liberation for a new audience, in a new millennium. Pavaka Group music exists to give musical context to a new generation of human potential leaders who exist primarily online: sharing their words, waiting for new initiates, and a new movement to emerge.
credits
released September 2, 2022
Recorded March-May 2016
Written & Produced by William Selman
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studios NY
Photography & Words by William Selman
Design by Gabriel Benzur
William Selman is an musician and multimedia artist currently based in Portland, Oregon. His work employs analogue and
digital synthesis techniques, live percussion and instrumentation, and his own rich field recordings to create compositions and sound art focused on the ideas of place, embodiment, and the elevation of the everyday....more
