We continue our journey through South and Southeast Asia. In Rajasthan, a luminous Jain mantra opens the path; in West Bengal, we hear the mystical songs of Baul honey gatherers. From Burma comes court music on the curved saung harp. Laos, Isan, and the Lanna Kingdom of northern Thailand bring ritual dances and molam with the khene — a bamboo mouth organ whose sound recently went viral on TikTok. Cambodia offers the royal ballet, a centuries-old ritual stage art. We close with gamelans — percussion orchestras of Java and Bali that accompany ceremonies, theater, and everyday transcendence.

The music here is grounded, bodily, cyclical, and pulsating. If the previous chapter led into trance, this one works through presence — as if the ritual unfolds right now, with sound inseparable from body, movement, and life itself.

Innermost Radio Special: Lotus

Eugene Khrolenko