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Holobionts: a new Paradigm to Understand the Role of Humankind in the Ecosystem

You are a holobiont, I am a holobiont, we are all holobionts. "Holobiont" means, literally, "whole living creature." It ...

Monday, February 14, 2022

Holobiont Music

 



A clip that I just discovered, cited by Merlin Sheldrake in his book "Entangled Life" -- Sheldrake is an expert in fungi and he wrote a truly amazing book about the intricacies of fungal life - I am still reading it and I am more amazed after every page. The author uses the term "holobiont" only occasionally, but it is clear that it is a concept that merges very well with his description of how "mycobionts" merge with "photobionts" to form the fundamental unit of life on Earth: plants and fungi.

This song by Baka women is titled "Song for Gathering Mushrooms" -- it is a completely different idea from what we call "music" -- I'd say that our music is an organism where all players act according to an overall plan under a central control. The Baka music is something where everyone sings something different: there is no "rhythm," no synchrony, nothing like that. The result is a "sound holobiont" an entity that somehow mingles the various sounds in an organic and fascinating entity. It takes some time to get used to that, though!

1 comment:

  1. After an intense air bombarding raid, B-52s, Phantoms, Harriers, Cruises and all others unloading their death on the city, and you appear still in one piece after it - one hears a unique sort of silence - as if Life is gathering itself again from the grave - and keeps going...

    A unique sense of sound that remains vivid in your memory, never goes away...

    There is 'rhythm' in everything, but we don't see it all.

    I think Elgar's Cello Concerto is an example on when humans feel helpless but inundated with extreme emotions after a traumatic experience such as war - where in its very loud chaotic screams and ground shocking noise - they start seeing rhythm.

    I loved this post. Thank You.

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