Lipan Conjuring

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manyc
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫

Registered: 01/03/04
Posts: 571
Loc: Axis Mundi

Lipan Conjuring

#8335694 - 04/27/08 09:08 PM (18 years, 4 months ago)

In reference to the track off of Tool's 10000 Days.

I just want to share with you my love for this little 1:11 long track, which for some reason incites an incredible feeling within me since I first heard it when the CD came out. This feeling has lead me to try and understand the origins of this beautiful piece. I found this on Tool's website, it's pretty old. From 2006:

" LIPAN CONJURING ON DISCUSSION FORUMS

I was recently checking out some past discussion forums in which several Tool enthusiasts were attempting to unravel the mysteries of “Lipan Conjuring”, the first segue on “10,000 Days.” Although many found the song “spiritually uplifting” and were willing to leave it at that, some felt compelled to understand the significance of the piece in relation to the rest of the album (those who didn’t just think that it was Danny and a buddy of his tripping out in the desert), with others hoping to have Bill McConnell’s vocalizations translated in order to better understand the subject matter that the chant addresses. Predictably (remember these are hard-core Tool fans), at least one person went the pedagogical route, sending “Lipan” to an anthropologist who specializes in Apache cultures.

After analyzing the song, the anonymous professor said that she was “suspicious” (as to it being a true example of Apachean music, I assume), stating that “there are fewer than two dozen Lipan speakers left, [and] they do not record, or allow to have recorded, their speech, let alone [a] song that is considered to be more sacred than speech…” She also had a problem with the title itself, claiming that “as far as [she] knew, only witches conjure, and it is always an evil thing to do” and therefore no Lipans would ever use a word like “conjure.” To this I would just like to say that, when it comes to things of an esoteric nature, although I know anthropologists like to think that they have penetrated the inner circle of their particular ‘group’, even native American shamans and tribal elders can be, at times. grudging ‘alchemists.’ As for the word “conjure”, I could mention the confusing and seemingly contradictory differences between invoking and evoking a particular trans-mundane intelligence, but perhaps it’s best to keep in mind the Hermetic/Magickal axiom “As Above, So Below”, meaning, as occultist E.E. Rehmus states, that “self and other are one and to draw from the Self is ultimately to draw from the All.” Compare this to what Joel Prepejchal (who recorded “Lipan Conjuring” at Rock Bottom Studios in Makanda, Illinois) had to say about the song in a recent e-mail to me: “There is no denomination or specific entities that are described, this was a prayer meant to invoke the All, transcending religion or individual belief.”

Another anthropologist referred to by the professor said that the “excerpt was beautiful and very evocative (an interesting choice of words in light of what her colleague had to say about the word “conjure”), but was not what [she] would expect from Apachean music.” Besides problems with the musical intervals (repetition of the same phrases and syllables/vocables), according to the anthropologist there is “No harmony in Apachean music or songs.” Also, there was the rhythmic sound of the rattle that, to her, seemed to be produced by something with bells attached (like a tambourine) instead of “the deer hoof rattles that should be heard.” As for this latter inconsistency, Danny told me that he used a “native death rattle” for the song. (Hell, I could have let him use a sample of a deer hoof from my Kurzweil library had I known it was going to be such a major issue.)

With regards to the harmony, it would be my guess that Bill, Joel and Danny were just being innovative, with some of the harmonics or, at least, the sub-harmonics being an artifact of the other instruments and/or studio processing effects involved in the recording. Again, here’s what Joel had to say about “Lipan Conjuring” in an e-mail to me: “The rendition of Calling of the Sprits that you received for the album was only a small portion of a very sacred song that Grandfather* taught to Tom. The piece was used in pipe ceremonies and lodges to call upon the spirits/energies of creation, healing, enlightenment, insight, or whatever the focus might be.” Notice that Joel uses the word “rendition.” In this particular rendition of the song, I honestly don’t know what the focus of the “prayer” might have been, but in reading a bit about Grandfather and Tom (Brown Jr.), perhaps it is to help stave off “The Night of the Red Sky Prophecy” (i.e. ecological meltdown), which might explain the “death rattle” as well as the use of harmony.

* Grandfather refers to “Stalking Wolf”, a Lipan Apache Shaman/elder who taught certain philosophical beliefs and wilderness living skills of his people to Tom Brown Jr. (now, a well-known outdoorsman and wilderness guide).

Bill McConnell is the founder of Past Skills Wilderness School.

Joel Prepejchal can be contacted at www.rockbottomstudios.com

The Lipan Apache were a semi-nomadic tribe that inhabited Northwest and South Texas (Houston and Galveston) in the 18th and 19th centuries, with most now living on the Mescalero Apache reservation in south-central New Mexico. "

I can hum the entire chant, and I do so to my son and it puts him to sleep so well that I can't help but think this song has healing qualities.

One of these days I'll be in front of a campfire tripping on mushrooms, and I will chant this song and then dance around the fire under the moonlight while the coyotes howl in the distance. Mmmm yes. Soon.

Anyway... goodnight.

--------------------

Hemp could Save the World.

"There is no flag that is large enough, to hide the shame of a man in cuffs." -Serj Tankian

:mushroomgrow:

Know Thyself. :mushroomgrow:

"If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on."
-Terence Mckenna

Extras:

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