FreQ Nasty :: The Art Sutra + Dub Kirtan All Stars

If any sort of lasting philosophy and direct experience came out of the rave scene it was P.L.U.R. Peace Love Unity & Respect which is a great feeling and way of being. Now that’s all well and good inside the club, but how do you sustain that attitude, perhaps even substance free, outside in the world when bad or frustrating situations arise throughout the week? Turns out, thank goodness, that the cornerstones of P.L.U.R. and its practice are not a new idea. Groups of people around the world have been exercising it’s outlook a lot longer than the 20+yr old electronic music dance scene. In some places, 5000 years longer!

International DJ and music producer, FreQ Nasty, has teamed up with the Mahasukha Center in Los Angeles, CA to create The Art Sutra; a three day “urban” retreat (September 10th – 12th, 2010) that places emphasis on the skills of music and visual design, dance, and creativity and how they are connected to a much older spiritual system. A path that can generate and sustain, in one sense, all that P.L.U.R. you know exists. The event culminates Sunday night in an exciting new musical form and performance called the Dub Kirtan which will be performed by FreQ Nasty, David Starfire, and a host of other incredible musicians and singers. You can register to attend either the whole retreat or just Sunday nights Dub Kirtan by emailing : hello@theartsutra.com

We live in a fast paced world of commerce and production, an industrial wheel of subjective progress; but, in all its unquestioned frenzy, where is it headed? I asked FreQ Nasty a few questions to better understand this unique three day experience of finding inner calm.

IAAL :: So what exactly is an “urban” retreat? How is this event different than a traditional retreat? Do you stay at the center?
FreQ Nasty :: It’s a retreat in the sense of retreat from the stress of work, car fumes and our internet obsessed life in the big city, but without having to go to the trouble of leaving LA itself. We’re all busy doing our thing but it doesn’t have to be one or the other. With a weekend event like this we can both get a little head space and download some of the wisdom of the 1000′s of year old Buddhism and Yoga traditions, and still make sure our business is being taken care of. In fact teachings like these help our business to STAY taken care of. So you can spend all weekend with us, but no, you can’t sleep at the center!

IAAL :: What is a Kirtan? Has a Dub Kirtan ever been performed?
FreQ Nasty :: Kirtan is the form of call and response chanting traditional to many of the south Asian spiritual traditions including Yoga, various forms of Hinduism, Buddhism and others. Mostly its done in the west in a very trad format of sitar, tamboura, tablas, mrdunga or pakawaj drums, or any combo of these. The idea is to let go of our neurotic and limited idea of who we are thru the music, much like you would at a rave dancing to dope music till the sun comes up. But with the call and response vibe it makes this easier to do without drugs. It’s the same high tho.

Reaching the Buddhist idea of selflessness, or the Hindu idea of the Atman which brings an incredible experience of well being, connectedness to others and grounded-ness. You cut thru the bullshit of the daily grind by riding the music into something that is bigger than us. The difference here is that the performers who are creating the vibe ere are all electronic producers and Dj’s, so we’re going to be experimenting with heavier beats and sub bass that will bring the club vibe to the kirtan, and the kirtan high to the club without having to gobble a load of pills. We’ve never heard it done this way and so wanted to make something fresh happen that would give people who love club music an in to a scene that is traditionally very acoustic.

IAAL :: It seems from all that is being presented over the weekend that there is a wheel of different activities, from yoga, to inner voice training, to meditation. Are they all connected to sustaining peace? Is this what you call a system or “practice?”
FreQ Nasty :: All these teachings are using Art and Music as a metaphor to help us understanding the wisdom of these ancient traditions in a more experiential way. The Buddhist idea of ‘Selflessness’, or ‘Emptiness’ can be a very difficult philosophy to grapple with, but when Art and Music is involved we can see hear and feel these concepts directly. We can come to deep understanding of how we can keep the good feeling of a Yoga asana ( physical postures) practice going for more than 45 minutes after the class till someone cuts you off on the 405 Highway on the way home and you flip them the single finger salute and spoil it all. Yes we’ll have physical asana practice, but its the understanding of impermanence, of change, of how Yoga really works, of accepting reality for what it is and not trying to make it something that it is not which really changes our perception of our lives and those we live and work with.

IAAL :: How will this fuel someone’s art or music?
FreQ Nasty :: Charlie Parker the late great Jazz sax player said “Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art…”

The implication here is that you don’t have wisdom, and you don’t live that wisdom, then your art will be limited and suffer for it. By definition truly great art channels wisdom from somewhere or something greater than the artist, and bad art recycles and imitates the same repetitive suffering that many people experience in their daily lives – like an audio version of what its like to work a shit office job compressed into 5 minutes of music. It could be a very accurate description of sorts, but it’s kinda like rubber necking a car accident. No real use to anyone. Insights come with understanding music to some extent, but as Charlie says, the wisdom comes first, and from it comes great art.

Jimi Hendrix said “Technically, I am not a guitar player, all I play is truth and emotion.” Great artists like Jimi Hendrix knew how to get themselves out of the way, to just be in the moment, unafraid and channel a greater truth. But unless you are as radical as Jimi, a black man in a bright red soldiers uniform in the 60′s, playing industrial space blues in a white dominated genre to a bunch of cultural revolutionaries, then you might need some help in getting your ego out of the way to wail like he did. Jimi understood it was not about him and that’s what made him an all time great.

IAAL :: What is the connection between Yoga, Buddhism, and Art?
FreQ Nasty :: Yoga and the advanced teachings of Buddhism have the same roots in India. When India was invaded by outside forces Yoga went underground and Buddhism went to Tibet and further into Asia. Yoga in India preserved more of the physical postures and the advanced teachings of Buddhism kept the Yoga philosophy alive. They are of the same lineage and tradition but have been largely separated since then. Now in the West we have the opportunity to bring them back together as a whole practice for the first time in 1000 years.

I can talk a little about music here. From a Yoga perspective ‘Your’ great music (whatever that may be) has the same effect on the energies of the body that doing the Yoga asana or physical postures do. Its no mistake that there is a musical component to every authentic spiritual tradition, from the Mystic Muslim Sufi dancers playing crazy proto jungle on the arabic drums, to the tripped out LSD like Ragas of South Asia that sneaked into the Goa trance and chill out scenes, uplifitng Gospel vocals that made it almost untouched into House music in classics such as “Ride on time”. All of them have the same effect on us as a night in front of an awesome soundsystem with a great DJ or band.

When we lose our ego driven sense of self and just relax into a larger and more connected mindset by losing our selves in the music a certain magic happens. Ask any club kid on the dancefloor at 3am…. they aint thinkning about what they are wearing at that point, or who fancies them or when the rent is due. They’re in the zone BECAUSE they are not thinking about themselves. So the point is that this egolessness is hard to replicate off the dancefloor but luckily for us Yoga and Buddhism have been studying these states with great precision for 5000 years. So we are offering some of the back ground wisdom that allows us to extend that sense of groundedness and chill and connectedness that is so hard to maintain in the hyperspeed lifestyle of LA.

For more information go to :: The Art Sutra
Facebook Event Page for The Art Sutra
Facebook Event Page for the Dub Kirtan All Stars