Fascinating Insight Linking Indian and Gospel Music

Zac HicksArt and Worship, Worship Theology & ThoughtLeave a Comment

A while back I posted on a wonderful little session where Bobby McFerrin exposed the trans-cultural nature of the pentatonic scale.

I think a similar insight can be seen here in the common, trans-cultural “soul” of music as blues/slide guitarist Derek Trucks talks about his influences (thanks to Coral Ridge Music’s Lindsey Blair, for pointing this video out to me!). A little after the 8-minute mark, Trucks notes how though the tonality of an Eastern scale and a bluesy gospel scale may be different, they have a similar soul, a similar way of expression. He says, “For me, it seems like it’s coming from the same place; it’s devotional music.” He demonstrates it in a side-by-side playing of the two melodies.

Perhaps I’ll just simply say that, when the soul sings (or plays), evidence of our common Maker begins to reveal itself…a kind of musicological argument for the existence of God.

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