Interview:

Music is the only art truly connected to the human spirit. Eduard Hanslick’s idea that music comes directly from the human spirit, since it has no prototypes in nature, is absolutely true. I believe the spiritual significance of music lies in the fact that the human spirit is its ultimate source, even if music theory also helps composers in certain respects. It is music alone that has the capacity to touch us the way it does. We know the effect it has on us just too well to require any substantiation. What is hard is to explain this effect. We can explain what happens in the mind by observing outward reactions of people versus specific stimuli, but surely we cannot do the same with the human spirit. What happens to the spirit that has been exposed to desirable music is only truly known to a music listener. Reactions to music are things we reflect on at a very personal level whether consciously or subconsciously. Music heals us, brings peace to our inner selves, and resolves discords emanating from the hostile environment in which the human spirit lives. Attempts to verbalize this experience end up with too much reduction of the complete experience, and only a part of the complete experience is ultimately expressed whenever that happens. I believe the incredible spiritual significance of music lies beyond that which can be verbally described with any degree of satisfaction.

“Music is the only art truly connected to the human spirit.”
– Dr. Muriithi Kigunda, author of “Music And Health In Kenya: Sound, Spirituality, And Altered Consciousness Juxtaposed With Emotions