Today's DailyOM Offerings...
January 11, 2012
Serenata
Armik
2009
Armik is an Iranian-born musician of Armenian descent who lives in Los Angeles and plays a form of music rooted in traditional flamenco from the southern Spanish region of Andalusia-and unlikely as it seems, that's his backstory. This Nuevo Flamenco guitarist trained and worked as a jazz guitarist from an early age, but transitioned exclusively to flamenco music after witnessing guitar superstar Paco de Lucia perform in Spain in the 1970s. Since launching a solo career in the mid-'90s, Armik has issued a steady stream of recordings of his unique take on traditional flamenco. He played or programmed every note and drum track on Serenata, an album that displays all the passion and virtuosity the genre is known for, channeled through a breezy New Age backing. Let Armik send you aloft on a hot Spanish wind.
The opening title track immediately sets the mood that follows throughout Serenata. A rustle of hard-strummed acoustic chords, at once thrusting and mysterious; cleanly articulated melodies; piquant ornaments that dazzle like small flashes of sunlight, reflected off the guitar's pristine surface. There's no doubting Armik's mastery of the guitar-the fret fireworks on faster-paced cuts like "Cafe Siena" are just astounding, while his playing is often kissed at the edges by jazz harmonies-but Armik's songwriting shines just as brightly as his chops on Serenata. Hooks jump out of "San Juan" to gird his guitar pyrotechnics, while almost every guitar line in "Moon Over Malaga" turns into a melody romantic enough to seduce a lover.
Drum machines and programmed bass set the pace, synthesized horns spice up the proceedings, and layers of syncopated rhythm guitar keep the song moving ever forward. A light dab of reverb shrouds Armik's music in a veil of mystery, and while these background instruments help give the album its variety of paces and moods, Armik is at his best on the aptly titled unaccompanied guitar piece "Speechless." Here, Armik's virtuosity plays both singer and dancer, cradling the song's highly stylized melodies in dramatic guitar flourishes. It's the most intense and traditional track on Serenata, and a perfect way to cap off Armik's bravura performance.
January 11, 2012
Embracing Cultural Diversity
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may feel sophisticated today and thus compelled to demonstrate your broad and expansive worldview by being as sensitive as possible to individuals from other cultures. Whereas once you might have assessed situations in which you found yourself using your limited worldview, you may now endeavor to consistently consider the unique ways in which individuals of other backgrounds, cultures, and systems of belief perceive the world before coming to a conclusion. Traveling to distant lands, studying the day-to-day lives of foreign peoples, or temporarily adopting the habits of another culture may aid you in understanding the differences between cultures and help you interact with a wider variety of people with the utmost understanding and warmth today.
Learning about the nuances of other cultures can help you become more sensitive to the needs of the diverse individuals you encounter on a daily basis. It's easy to assume that people in your professional and personal spheres share your background and beliefs. Yet the differences between people often run much deeper than what is visible on an individual's façade. As you open your mind to the diverse ideologies that have been adopted by people in different regions of the world, you'll gradually accept and embrace the fact that there are always multiple methods of satisfying the same spiritual need and numerous ways of approaching an interpersonal encounter. As you learn about the differences and similarities between various cultures today, you will become more aware of the cultural richness within your personal and professional spheres.
January 11, 2012
The Ultimate Authority
Using Our Own Minds
Input from experts is valuable but our own sense of the truth is ultimately the most important.
To a certain degree, we rely on other people’s accounts of reality to inform us of the nature of the universe. For example, we can’t all be molecular physicists, but we can benefit from taking their findings to heart. In the same way, we often look to teachers, various leaders, and gurus to tell us about the path to enlightenment and the nature of the realm of spirit. While this input from experts is undeniably valuable, our own sense of the truth is ultimately the most important piece in processing the information we take in from external sources. In the end, we are the authorities in our own lives, and we have the final say on whether something generally held as true is true for us.
We need only take a brief look at history to remember that the religious, scientific, and political establishments that ruled the day were all wrong about something at some point in time. This is the beauty of learning, experiencing, and evolving. While we sometimes wish we could just let someone else decide for us what is real and true, this is clearly not a viable option. The good news in all this is that we can confidently devote ourselves to making up our own minds about reality, taking everything that is handed to us as truth with a grain of salt.
This does not mean that we discount the information we receive from outside sources. It simply means that we are vigilant enough to question it before we decide whether or not we agree with it. All the information we receive is useful in the process of helping us make up our own minds. As we allow ourselves to sit with the things we learn, measuring them alongside our own inner sense of the truth and our own experiences, we find that making up our minds is a joyful process of integration that grows us into stronger, smarter, more engaged human beings.
Serenata
Armik
2009
Armik is an Iranian-born musician of Armenian descent who lives in Los Angeles and plays a form of music rooted in traditional flamenco from the southern Spanish region of Andalusia-and unlikely as it seems, that's his backstory. This Nuevo Flamenco guitarist trained and worked as a jazz guitarist from an early age, but transitioned exclusively to flamenco music after witnessing guitar superstar Paco de Lucia perform in Spain in the 1970s. Since launching a solo career in the mid-'90s, Armik has issued a steady stream of recordings of his unique take on traditional flamenco. He played or programmed every note and drum track on Serenata, an album that displays all the passion and virtuosity the genre is known for, channeled through a breezy New Age backing. Let Armik send you aloft on a hot Spanish wind.
The opening title track immediately sets the mood that follows throughout Serenata. A rustle of hard-strummed acoustic chords, at once thrusting and mysterious; cleanly articulated melodies; piquant ornaments that dazzle like small flashes of sunlight, reflected off the guitar's pristine surface. There's no doubting Armik's mastery of the guitar-the fret fireworks on faster-paced cuts like "Cafe Siena" are just astounding, while his playing is often kissed at the edges by jazz harmonies-but Armik's songwriting shines just as brightly as his chops on Serenata. Hooks jump out of "San Juan" to gird his guitar pyrotechnics, while almost every guitar line in "Moon Over Malaga" turns into a melody romantic enough to seduce a lover.
Drum machines and programmed bass set the pace, synthesized horns spice up the proceedings, and layers of syncopated rhythm guitar keep the song moving ever forward. A light dab of reverb shrouds Armik's music in a veil of mystery, and while these background instruments help give the album its variety of paces and moods, Armik is at his best on the aptly titled unaccompanied guitar piece "Speechless." Here, Armik's virtuosity plays both singer and dancer, cradling the song's highly stylized melodies in dramatic guitar flourishes. It's the most intense and traditional track on Serenata, and a perfect way to cap off Armik's bravura performance.
January 11, 2012
Embracing Cultural Diversity
Sagittarius Daily Horoscope
You may feel sophisticated today and thus compelled to demonstrate your broad and expansive worldview by being as sensitive as possible to individuals from other cultures. Whereas once you might have assessed situations in which you found yourself using your limited worldview, you may now endeavor to consistently consider the unique ways in which individuals of other backgrounds, cultures, and systems of belief perceive the world before coming to a conclusion. Traveling to distant lands, studying the day-to-day lives of foreign peoples, or temporarily adopting the habits of another culture may aid you in understanding the differences between cultures and help you interact with a wider variety of people with the utmost understanding and warmth today.
Learning about the nuances of other cultures can help you become more sensitive to the needs of the diverse individuals you encounter on a daily basis. It's easy to assume that people in your professional and personal spheres share your background and beliefs. Yet the differences between people often run much deeper than what is visible on an individual's façade. As you open your mind to the diverse ideologies that have been adopted by people in different regions of the world, you'll gradually accept and embrace the fact that there are always multiple methods of satisfying the same spiritual need and numerous ways of approaching an interpersonal encounter. As you learn about the differences and similarities between various cultures today, you will become more aware of the cultural richness within your personal and professional spheres.
January 11, 2012
The Ultimate Authority
Using Our Own Minds
Input from experts is valuable but our own sense of the truth is ultimately the most important.
To a certain degree, we rely on other people’s accounts of reality to inform us of the nature of the universe. For example, we can’t all be molecular physicists, but we can benefit from taking their findings to heart. In the same way, we often look to teachers, various leaders, and gurus to tell us about the path to enlightenment and the nature of the realm of spirit. While this input from experts is undeniably valuable, our own sense of the truth is ultimately the most important piece in processing the information we take in from external sources. In the end, we are the authorities in our own lives, and we have the final say on whether something generally held as true is true for us.
We need only take a brief look at history to remember that the religious, scientific, and political establishments that ruled the day were all wrong about something at some point in time. This is the beauty of learning, experiencing, and evolving. While we sometimes wish we could just let someone else decide for us what is real and true, this is clearly not a viable option. The good news in all this is that we can confidently devote ourselves to making up our own minds about reality, taking everything that is handed to us as truth with a grain of salt.
This does not mean that we discount the information we receive from outside sources. It simply means that we are vigilant enough to question it before we decide whether or not we agree with it. All the information we receive is useful in the process of helping us make up our own minds. As we allow ourselves to sit with the things we learn, measuring them alongside our own inner sense of the truth and our own experiences, we find that making up our minds is a joyful process of integration that grows us into stronger, smarter, more engaged human beings.