“Koyaanisqatsi” – Philip Glass (Koyaanisqatsi motion picture soundtrack)
I wasn’t even 10 years old yet when I saw this film in the theater with my family. I don’t think any of us knew what was coming. If you never saw it, Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out Of Balance was a scriptless film scored by Philip Glass. The title term is a Hopi word for life out of balance, or life in turmoil. The film documents the devastating effect mankind has had on the earth, and the title track sounds like the end credits on humanity’s time on earth. The song features voices so deep they seem to emanate from the earth itself, only singing that one word over and over again. It was very powerful as a child, to learn how we were damaging the planet, and to experience the sensation of hopelessness and heartbreak. (Side note: 20 years later I would attend my first opera – the complete Ring cycle by Wagner, and would have a similar experience at the end of Götterdämmerung: complete devastation, driven entirely by sound.) Since Koyaanisqatsi is regarded as a visual tone poem, it is taking it out of context to offer just one portion of the soundtrack. But I also don’t want to ruin your day.
Pro tip: turn the lights out and listen on headphones. But make sure there’s someone nearby to give you a hug when you’re done. You’re going to need it.
5songpjct: Philip Glass is a really great composer of emotion. I remember walking home after seeing Kundun and when I got half way there I crumpled on the sidewalk and ugly cried for a good five minutes before I could move again.
Holly: I also think that is because you are open to it and a sensitive person, I feel like the reverberations of those notes can hit you on a cellular level. I think that is why we feel so strongly about music. It is not just a question of taste or do you like the words to that song or do you like the singer and how they dress, but I think we feel music, it is vibration. It can be a happy vibration or a sad vibration. I think Glass can do those really big emotions. Although a lot of what he has done is pretty, I find I like more of his melancholy work.
DO YOU remember “Alive from Off Center”