Music and art can be a window to the soul. Haven’t we all experienced some kind of identification with a performer of a song we love? In the 1960s, every teenage girl on the planet was in love with either John, Paul, George, or Ringo. The Beatles were pop icons to be sure, but if it weren’t for the power of the song, there wouldn’t be enough power in the media to have made the Beatles into pop icons to begin with. I love working with the great Yemenite singer, Shlomit Levi from Israel. When she sings, I can’t help but smile and feel adoration for her. Indeed, we receive messages and email all the time from fans exclaiming, “Shlomit, I love you!” Do these people even know her? How could they love her? What’s really going on here?

Music has a certain power of revealing something deep and often something beautiful to all of us. I remember recording a traditional Yemenite song with Shlomit, and as we were listening to the playback in the studio, I had my hands covering my face in deep concentration so I could meticulously evaluate the performance. I noticed my eyes were tearing up and I was practically sobbing. Now, I’m about as Yemenite as a bowl of Hungarian goulash, but somehow I became attached to this other culture as if it were part of my own past by simply hearing its music sung with the purity of Shlomit’s voice. It brought up emotions and created a bonding experience for me.

Music indeed can be a window to the soul and even beyond. Artists, musical or otherwise, when we truly connect and are completely in the moment, are channels. Artists are the prophets of modern times. The best we can do as artists is to do what we do with all honesty and be as transparent as possible so whatever lies beyond can shine through. As musicians, we practice our craft so we can easily step aside and allow this to happen. That’s the best we can do. It doesn’t matter how fast we can play or how high the notes are we can sing. At the end of the day, it’s all about us being good enough to just get out of the way. When listeners experience real music created with selfless intention, they are getting a glimpse of love from another world. No wonder they fall in love with the singers on stage!

In the Jewish Hasidic tradition, a wordless melody called a nigun in Yiddish and Hebrew, is considered holy because it connects the heart directly with Heaven and nothing else, not even words can get in the way. This melody, a nigun, is a direct link to God and the love beyond or as Coltrane put it, “A Love Supreme.” The next time you are charmed by a great song, a singer, or a beautiful guitar solo, you might really be falling for “A Love Supreme.”