ElectroCelt
// Geoff Keogh, multi-instrumentalistELECTROCELT is an electronic-guitar project from Dublin, Ireland. The debut album “Digital Fields” (2008) was independently released and is available from Amazon.com and ElectroCelt.co.uk. ElectroCelt’s music combines acoustic-guitar together with ambient-electronica to create atmospheric textures with analogue-electronic rhythms and sequences. Geoff Keogh’s musical influences include Ron Boots, Jerome Froese, Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, Johannes Schmoelling, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream. ElectroCelt has also featured on the TDFZ Radio Show, and the Cyber Warehouse launched by Sound Futures Direct, a new online music retailing service for independent bands and artists.
Photo: Geoff Keogh
Interview:
It’s strange how this question comes up as I often describe a connection between music and spirituality. I sometimes cannot understand how I compose music and where it comes from. Most often my best time is after sleep or a dream; this gives way to the possibility that it comes from the freedom of our own spirit, and its experience after the connection we would have gone through in this state.
On a religious point, music is the fabric of a musical adoration for our belief in God and the afterlife. As early as I became a Catholic, I always remembered going to church in Ireland, and the most important part was the choir and musical prayer taken place, it more or less brought the whole meaning together. Going to a church service with no music involvement often lead to people leaving early. Popular rock groups or youthful music became a drawing point for a younger generation of attendants.
My honest belief in music and spirituality is that the two are fully connected, and it brings our own level of human and the world beyond, the Spirit world, to a point of meaningful co-existence. I certainly believe that music is a gift from God Himself, and the good feeling of music is a very spiritual experience. It’s inspiring for the composer, and whether or not they are aware of the spiritual influence present in composing pieces of great feeling and understanding, conveying feelings of love, sorrow, joy, and happiness by sound that connects with most people.
The Energy of Music used with spirituality crosses many barriers and goes where words alone cannot, but the words in song and prayer are carried easier, and last longer in our minds when used together. I once remember a friend of mine explaining an experience where she had gone from her body to cross over to the other side but was held back when she heard angels sings the words of a hymn. She tells me that it was not her time until she knew the words of this hymn she could join in the process of cross over. Every tradition and culture has different ideas about spirituality, and for them to express this through music is an easy way for us to follow what the message is. Inspiring as it may be, my composing is guided through thoughts from my beliefs in God and guidance.
“My honest belief in music and spirituality is that the two are fully connected, and it brings our own level of human and the world beyond, the Spirit world, to a point of meaningful co-existence.”
– Geoff Keogh, multi-instrumentalist in ElectroCelt
