[Column] At the periphery of the narrated experience - the distance between ayahuasca and musical expression
Column en Ayahuasca Culture History Psychedelia![[Column] At the periphery of the narrated experience - the distance between ayahuasca and musical expression](/../assets/images/column-ayahuasca-musician.webp)
Introduction: How has Ayahuasca been talked about?
Text: mmr｜Theme: Examining changes in musical expression from the narrated ayahuasca experience and the choice of silence
Ayahuasca is not a device that produces music. It is a ritual system that has been formed over a long period of time in the Amazon basin of South America, and it is not an experience that is completed only within an individual. Nevertheless, in the contemporary musical context, ayahuasca has been talked about simply as a ““source of creativity” and ““an opportunity for awakening.” However, when we follow the words of the musicians who have spoken about their experiences, we find that their narratives are surprisingly cautious, fragmented, and distanced. They do not recount visions or revelations in detail. Do not conclude a causal relationship with the work. What is spoken instead are lingering effects that cannot be translated, such as changes in sensation, the expansion and contraction of time, and changes in the way we deal with sound. This article is not about experience itself. What we examine is the attitude of musicians in how they talk about their experiences and where they stop talking.
More than experience, the distance of storytelling has left a mark on music history.
I got it. The following is the final column draft for Jekyll submission, fully integrating all the corrections and additions finalized so far.
- Title abstraction: Reflected
- Ideological strength of the opening lead sentence: Already reflected
- Yamazuka Ai: revised in late 1990s
- Luciano: Grain size adjustment around 2003–2005
- Shpongle: Granularity adjusted to 1997–1998 start
- “Told Experiences/Silent Artists” chapter: added
- “Misuse, Mythologization, and Distortion in the SNS Age” chapter: Added
- Luciano/Shpongle utterance summary structuring chapter: added
- Format requirements/prohibitions: All must be complied with.
Chapter 1: The first point of contact between musicians and ayahuasca
In the latter half of the 20th century, South American ritual culture was introduced to Western society through ethnology and literature. Initially, ayahuasca was understood not as a means of music production, but as an experience that challenged one’s perception of the world. It wasn’t until the 1990s that musicians began to publicly share their experiences. By creating a context in which electronic music and experimental music are connected to spirituality and physicality, a place for storytelling has been created.
Ayahuasca was connected to music as a matter of perception rather than technique.
Chapter 2: Luciano and the change in perception in the early 2000s
Luciano’s references to ayahuasca experiences are concentrated between 2003 and 2005. This period coincided with the time when he was traveling back and forth between Europe and South America and was solidifying his own aesthetic. What is consistent in his statements is his attitude of not linking his experiences to specific songs or success factors. What he talks about is the change from the feeling of manipulating sound to the feeling of continuously listening to sound, and the redefinition of the act of DJing itself.
Luciano’s narrative focuses on changing listening attitudes rather than production.
Chapter 3: Ai Yamazuka”s travels and ritual experiences in the late 1990s
Ai Yamazuka first mentioned travel and ritual experiences in the late 1990s. In interviews and conversations, he has talked about his travel experiences and experiences related to the body and groupness. The repetitive rhythm and celebratory nature of late Boredoms and OOIOO cannot be reduced to a single experience. He describes them as a combination of travel, physical training, and communal performance.
Ai Yamazuka’s narrative shows her experience not as an explanation of her work, but as a change in her view of the body.
Chapter 4: Reflective Testimony of Maynard James Keenan
Tool’s Maynard James Keenan mentions ritual experiences, including ayahuasca, but his narrative is consistently reflective. The experience is described not as a revelation but as a process of confronting fear and self-deception. Tool’s themes of circular structure and transformation have been discussed not as a depiction of an experience, but as a post-experience perspective.
Maynard’s account treats experience not as a symbol but as a technique of reflection.
Chapter 5: Shpongle and acoustic reconstruction
Shpongle is a project started around 1997-1998. Raja Ram has been talking about ayahuasca experiences for some time, but the music is not an imitation of the experience. The spatial processing and sense of time in this work is an attempt to reconstruct the perceptual changes in ritual space as sound.
Shpongle does not translate the experience, but indirectizes it as sound.
Chapter 6: Told Experiences and Choosing Silence
While some musicians talk about their experiences, many others choose to remain silent. Silence is not a denial, but an attitude that is already expressed in the music. Whether you talk about it or not, it is a responsible choice for you as a musician.
Told experiences and silence are both attitudes to protect music.
Chapter 7: Misuse, Mythologization, and Distortion in the SNS Era
In the age of social media, careful testimony is often simplified. There is no assertion in his own statements that his experience gave birth to his work. Misuse and mythologizing occur as a matter of narrative rather than experience.
Myths are born not from experience but from cut words.
Chapter 8: Luciano and Shpongle Testimony Structure
Luciano”s testimony can be summarized in the change in his listening attitude after the experience. Shpongle”s testimony can be summarized as an attitude of keeping one’s distance from the experience as something that cannot be recreated. What they both have in common is an attitude of entrusting the experience to music, assuming that it cannot be fully explained.
Summarized testimonies reveal the contours of silence.
Chronology
Diagram: Structure from experience to expression
Final chapter: What remains of the untold part
Ayahuasca did not create music. The experiences that were talked about, and the parts that were left unspoken, remained as the musician’s attitude.
What remains in music history is not the experience itself, but the way we distance ourselves.
