IF YOU HAVEN'T HEARD THE SONG OF THE WEEK, GO TOHTTP://WWW.MYSPACE.COM/ADVENTISHERE TO LISTEN TO IT.
I'm writing this from the back of Cafe Florian on 57th St. Sitting with my laptop (peace to 2nd thought, who came through with the goods). Got a lot of songs in my ITunes library. This makes it hard to decide on what I should listen to. The collection of songs overflows with creativity. So much creativity. This is really what the 3rd ADVENT song 'Sophia' is about.
We're gonna go with Simon and Garfunkel's 'Scaroborough Fair/Canticle for now. On to 'Sophia." It's a hard concept to describe (at least for me), so theologians reading feel free to add or correct me. In the book of Proverbs, what has been translated in some English versions as 'wisdom' comes from the Greek, 'Sophia'. The original Hebrew word is 'hokmah'. Sophia can be translated as 'God's creative agent in the world.'In the Gospel of John, the term 'logos' serves a similar function (thanks in part to Philo, a Jew who had become Hellenized, and spoke of wisdom as 'logos', or that through which all things come into being) with the author of this Gospel asserting that Jesus is synonymous with God's creative agent in the world (and the 'logos' was made flesh). Sophia can thought of as the life giving and life sustaining force of the universe; the ultimate guiding reality that humanity should strive to encounter and emulate. That's what this song is all about. Hendrix's 'The Wind Cries Mary' is blaring through my headphones right now btw.
I haven't told you anything about the song. Irresponsible me. I.B. and I are at a point in our artistic lives where our creations need to to be recognized by a wider audience. Not just on some fame shit. We believe that our music has a significant contribution to pay to the world, with all of its joys and ailments. We have a lot to learn from Sophia, this endless ultimate creativity that impregnates the universe. So, we're not gurus who have something that the rest of you don't. We're on a journey with our lives and our art to pursue as much as we can handle with our 'feeble ass minds' to quote Reverend X The Spirit of Truth. This song is simply our speaking openly about a journey that all of humanity is on, and we 'glue our hearts to the millions, to the children that walk /their own path to find out they really wasn't lost'. That is the background of the song.
The 'text' of the song reflects just what I've said, Let me point out some ways how. I should probably listen to Susan McKeown's version of 'Johnny Scott' while I type this part. Let's click that up. IB speaks about in the 1st verse about how his situation is '..portholes jammed,' and also references about how artists who take the road less travelled and create authentic art are overlooked. He also implies that those who chase after passing fads of music and urban culture (like many commercial musicians do) were on the path toward Sophia just by being alive but they have become sidetracked by what corrupt record labels and cultural norms have told them they should be. He says,' the gat that you raise is just a flag/you can wave it all you want, but what it mean if you don't last?' I B assures us that following the organic nature of the universe, the creative agency of Sophia, the energy of the universe, is to a large degree innate, and we can get there by not keeping up with the Jones', but following our heart. Many times, this is what leads us to that wisdom, that wisdom that is so powerful it changes in ways that allow it to give answers to whatever historical period its seekers find themselves in.
Let me take it home while playing GZA's 'Beneath The Surface.' My verse hosts me reviewing my career. You'll hear it. But simply, I planned to be a lot further than I am in my creations, like overseas, on tour, etc. But where am I? I'm '...in holes in walls where I hold the steel.' As I find Sophia, which is a never ending process, my passion to spend my life doing art for the audience of the world and contributing to a harmonious universe become one. This is a level when you can't tell where Sophia ends and where I begin.
Briefly: The DaVinci Code samples at the beginning of the track simply enforce that Sophia comes in a variety of forms from Christian to Atheist, Masonic to Pagan, etc. Sophia is NOT any of these forms, but transcends them. Also, Sophia is very closely related to divinity in the Christian tradition. Much of the tradition would say there is no difference. Sophia is a female personification, and coincides with how God is referred to as female throughout the record. Go Bahamadia. Listening to Respect The Architect.
PS. The waitress in this joint is beyond beautiful. Beyond goddess. So be it.
WE'LL SEE YOU AT DARKROOM FOR THE SHOW ON THE 23RD>>>>2210 W. CHICAGO...FIRST OFFICIAL UNVEILING OF THE ADVENT IDEA
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