‘Sacred Sounds’ to Accompany ‘Harmonia’ Affair

While Catholic, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim mystics--including Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet--are gathering with scientists next week in Newport Beach for a spiritual conference called “Harmonia Mundi,” a companion evening series has been planned to focus on inspirational music and poetry.

“Sacred Voices, Sacred Sounds” will explore “how music is utilized to transform consciousness and awareness,” says Ronald Wong Jue, founder and president of the East-West Foundation, which is sponsoring the six-day conference that opens Monday at the Marriott and Le Meridien hotels.

“Music really elevates people’s awareness of spiritual values,” Jue said in a recent interview. “If you want to get in touch with the spiritual, I’d rather hear Bach than just read about (the subject).”

The evening events are a separate series from the “Harmonia Mundi” daytime conference. There is an admission charge, but the public does not have to register for the conference.

Among the artists participating in the evening series, at UC Irvine’s Bren Center, are sarod master Ali Akbar Khan, the David Hykes Harmonic Choir, the Dimitri Pokrovsky Ensemble from the Soviet Union, and the Tsukusuma Noh Troupe from Japan.

Poets Robert Bly and Alan Ginsberg also will give readings, but not of their own poetry. Jue said that they will read “literature of various sacred traditions.”

According to Jue, the arts became a very important component in planning of the conference.

“We wanted very much to communicate some of the concepts in a different, non-cognitive way--ideas such as peace, harmony and compassion. Some of these religious ideas are difficult to communicate on a cognitive level.

“Music is a wonderful metaphor of harmony, for instance. People playing diverse instruments get together and play together. That’s how the music series began: Let’s look at music as a metaphor for harmony.

“But since we were also trying to go back to the various mythical traditions of the various religions, we felt that in order to communicate the essence of some of the teachings, we needed to look at music.

“If you look at all spiritual traditions, you will find that music and sound have been tremendously important. Not only do many religions have an oral tradition, but many times they communicate the spiritual through music and movement.”

Some groups were picked, according to Jue, because they “blended East and West.”

The Hykes Harmonic Choir combines Tibetan overtone chanting and medieval Western melodic material. The Pokrovsky Ensemble blends Russian folk song and liturgical traditions.

Other participants were chosen because of a particularly illuminating aspect of the art form.

“One of the things in Japanese music is the use of pauses and different instruments to symbolize different states of mind,” he said. “That gives an idea of how to communicate a certain concept through music.”

Jue is sensitive that some people would describe all this as “touchy-feely” pop psychology. He recoils from the term “new age.”

“I don’t even know what (new age) means,” Jue said. “We have never thought of doing it along that genre. If you look at the (daytime) program, you’ll see that we really wanted to look at people who have contributed to the field, who have some history, who really have written and presented those ideas for a long time. We were not developing a fad presentation.”

The schedule of “Sacred Voices, Sacred Sounds” at UCI’s Bren Center:

* Monday, 8 p.m.: Sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, flutist Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Robert Bly will read.

* Tuesday, 8 p.m.: Tsukusuma Noh Instrumental Group, excerpts drawn from traditional Noh dramas. Poet Allen Ginsberg will read.

* Oct. 4, 8 p.m.: “Concert on Feminine Spirituality.”

* Oct. 5, 7 p.m.: Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, will speak. The Dimitri Pokrovsky Ensemble will present songs and dances of rural Russia.

* Oct. 6, 7 p.m.: The Dalai Lama of Tibet will speak. The David Hykes Harmonic Choir will sing.

* Oct. 7, 8 p.m.: Music by Michael M. Tirsch; Brooke Medicine Eagle and Susan Osborn.

In addition to the evening series, the Tibetan Shartse Monks will perform dances and rites of healing at 2 p.m. on Saturday as part of a one-day symposium at the Newport Marriott Hotel. (There is a special fee for the all-day symposium: $60 in advance, $70 at the door.)

The six-day “Sacred Voices, Sacred Sounds” series will take place at 8 p.m. Monday through Oct. 4 and on Oct. 7 and at 7 p.m. on Oct. 5 and 6 at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center. Series tickets range from $60 to $125. Tickets to individual events are $12 to $25 (with $2 discounts for full-time students and monastics). Tickets: (714) 856-5000. Information: (714) 250-0110.

Information about the “Harmonia Mundi” conference: (714) 250-0110.