How can we ever be sure that we're not part of a despotic society? If we're in a position of comfort, what could be easier than to assume that we deserve it or have earned it. How can we be sure that our comfort isn't on the back of exploitation and cruelty. Dominant ideologies seem to have a tendency to defend hierarchies and privileges and rare are those who willingly give them up. How could we possibly hope to get outside the propaganda of the culture we happen to be born into?

And at the same time, how can we judge whether a person does or doesn't deserve the comforts they enjoy, how could we hope to have enough information.

Do we see kindness, love or intelligence in our society or our interactions with other countries?

And how do we improve our situation? How do we get outside of our default perspectives? Travel, listen, empathise, learn etc?

Perhaps all sincere efforts are valuable whether secular, religious or spiritual. But I think the Dharma has an advantage over most attempts. Ideologies and religious doctrine tend to have defined contours, parameters or prescriptions. Inevitably these boundaries suit some but exclude others.

Whereas the Dharma is a constant re-evaluating, a living, a literal revolution, it eats itself, it burns what needs to burn and births new mandates for each fresh moment. It requires a constant determination to tune into what's needed at a given time and offers myriad paths for myriad temperaments and constitutions.

It's not my place to say or teach what Sanatan Dharma is but I say this to set the context of my music and expression.

Plato classically critiqued democracies and described how they inevitably decay into tyranny. Democracies tend to put desires above anything else, it's almost inherent in the act of voting. Our society is part of a wider society that's so determined to maintain our privileges and indulgences that it will turn a blind eye to genocides, cruel worker exploitation, profiteering from basic necessities such as housing and it will assassinate leaders and bomb countries that get in the way of our insatiable appetites.

The danger here is that I might start to sound austere or Calvinistic. There are Dharmic paths which involve intoxicants and much more besides. There is a sense in which all joys and pleasures are a touch with the divine. But it's important to understand what purpose pleasures serve. Are they serving to make your body/mind weak and cloudy so that you can be easily manipulated or are they serving to raise your consciousness so that you can become a vehicle for sharing greater joy and truth with the world.

My music is therefore filled with this perspective and understanding. It is rich and complex and not easy to receive without a strong and well looked after digestion. In Ayurveda, it is understood that a satisfying meal requires 6 tastes; Sweetness, Sourness, Bitterness, Astringence, Saltiness and Pungence. When a meal lacks all the tastes, one is likely to be left feeling unsatisfied and look for excess nourishment most likely of poorer quality.

Similarly, my music is filled with the necessary doses of sourness, bitterness and pungency/heat for the times we are in. It is not designed to soothe you, distract you or make you feel good about your choices. It is filled with uncomfortable truths and challenges as well as a reflection of the sweetness of life.

Generally when people have a choice between something easy and something challenging, they will choose the path of least resistance. It would be tempting to think that we can read the right books and have the right opinions but when it comes to culture, we can digest junk food and it won't be a problem. I would suggest that if you have any concerns about where we are as humans or as a planet, it might be time to re-evaluate that assumption.

It's also easy to assume that as long as I have the sensible opinions and that sensible people agree with them, I must be doing ok. But it shouldn't take a very deep dig into history to see where societies have taken dangerous turns because of groupthink and an unwillingness or inability to challenge momentum.

In the Sanatan Tradition there's a mysterious myth about the Devas (gods) and Asuras (demons) churning 'the ocean of milk' to produce Amrita, the elixir of immortality. Recently it's increasingly occurred to me that we ignore the forces that myths point to at our peril. The success of hollowing-out reductionism in the material domain carries with it a relational failure in the human/spiritual domain. You might not want to have any relationship with aggression and violence but you can be damn sure that Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu or Elon Musk (with his trillion dollar empire and robot army) will be happy to have such a relationship.

In the vacuum of mythology and Dharma, we've made ourselves susceptible to the manipulation of Disney/Pixar/corporate morality; humans aren't cuddly teddy bears. How can broader forces be utilised and integrated? To cut down that which is damaging, the sword of discernment, the penetration of truth, standing up for justice, standing up for yourself, sacrifice for improvements, the cutting of the ego to make possible a relationship of service and for a limited few perhaps, sacrifice for the ultimate realisation, Amrita and service.

In this performance, you can expect a selection of jazz songs and free improvisations.

£8 in advance
£10 on the door

Doors 16.30, starts 17.00

Entry requirements: 18+, any under 18s accompanied by 21+ adult 1:1 ratio — Read more — Read less