The role of music in communicating with the gods in other cultures

Introduction

Music is a very fair way of communication as anyone can appreciate it since it comes in many forms. In the early centuries, music was known to be the only way through which gods could be communicated to in the varied cultures that existed. This paper delves in the manner in which music is used in communicating to gods in different cultures. The focus is on two cultures, which are the Ashanti and Egyptian cultures.

Ashanti Culture

The Ashanti community, based in Ghana, mainly plays music in healing ceremonies. They believe that music plays a significant role in communicating to their gods, who send healing to the sick. Their gods are presumed to love music so much that they become benevolent whenever humans ask for divine help through music. In this culture, the gods have a media through which they communicate to the humans. Therefore, playing music stimulates this media thus keeping the gods in a state of ecstasy until their mission of healing is fulfilled. Abosom is a god who only loves music with which he can identify. The moment he identifies with music; he becomes excited and enticed thus answers to the humans’ needs.

Egyptian Culture

In the ancient Egypt, music had several elements of communication. The gods were mainly communicated to through music within religion by the humans. However, the gods also communicated to humans via music; thus, it was a two-way traffic. The communication from gods to humans was far much less than the communication from humans to gods. “Hathor and Bes” are the gods who were mostly associated with music. Osiris, on the other hand, used music to civilize the Egyptians. There existed a sistrum, which was a musical instrument that was used to play music among the Egyptians. When the sistrum was played, it produced a sound through rattling, and this could invoke the gods. It was mainly played when humans wanted to communicate to Hother. The music often placated her and through this, humans could get her attention. Later, she would invoke her kind manifestations to the humans.

Conclusion

It is quite evident that music plays a critical role in communicating to gods. Humans from various cultures can communicate to their gods through music. Humans mostly use music to communicate their religious devotions to their gods as depicted in both Egyptian and Ashanti cultures. Through music, the gods answer human prayers.