Music Monday: Koyaanisqatsi

"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."~Translation of the Hopi Prophecies Sung in KOYAANISQATSI

...and now for something a little different. Though this is my "official" Music Monday post, I am sharing a trailer for a film for which the music is key, Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance.

I am probably something of an oddball when it comes to the way I run recreationally, as I don't wear an i-pod or MP3 player while on the roads or trails. When I first started exercising again a little over four(!) years ago, I did for a short time, listen to an inexpensive MP3 player, but now find the "noise" a little distracting. That's not to say I don't "like" music, in fact (as evidenced I hope by my previous Music Monday posts), I like to think I appreciate "good" music more now than in the past.

To me, the musical sound scape invites us to search all of its corners, and I particularly enjoy traveling to those islands that sing/celebrate in tones and languages which I can't comprehend linguistically or intellectually, but can feel deep in my bones. I don't know much about the technical-nature of music, have never played an instrument, and being unable carry a proper tune, but I do enjoy being moved by sound.

As a youth growing up on the nicer side of urban Amercia, my friends and I listened to KRS-1, Public Enemy, Nirvana, AC/DC... the normal mix of urban and punk(-ish) tunes. One afternoon, while in undergraduate school, I was thumbing through the used albums(!), and came across a dark cover with light gray digital markings and a single bright red word splashed across the front: Koyaanisqatsi. Just below the title in small white, crisp print were the words "Music by Philip Glass."

Late at night, when I close my eyes, sometimes I still hear Albert DeRuiter's baritone (monotone?) chant from the title track of Philip Glass' soundtrack, which is clearly audible in the trailer above...

Laissez les bon temps rouler!