Call Me The Seeker

This post was written by Peter Gilmour, and posted on October 3, 2007  | Filed Under culture, music and religion | Double-click any word for more info | View other posts by Peter Gilmour | | For info on this author, visit http://homepages.luc.edu/~pgilmou/

Because of his surname, I recently noticed a book titled, Call Me The Seeker edited by Michael J. Gilmour. He is no known relation to me. It was, however, the subtitle, “Listening to Religion in Popular Music” that caught my attention. The book is a series of sixteen articles divided into three parts: (1) Religious Sources behind Popular Music; (2) Religious Themes in Popular Music; and (3) Religion and Popular Music’s Audiences. In his introduction, Michael Gilmour writes, “…we share the conviction that spirituality is widely represented in popular music. Songwriters engage religions and their texts and explore grand theological questions, sometimes deliberately, sometimes not.” Well said, Mr. Gilmour. But it strikes me that the word “popular” could be substituted with the word, “classical;” the word, “Songwriters” could be substituted with the word, “composers,” and the sentence would be equally true. Michael Gilmour, in addition to editing this book, wrote one of the essays titled, “The Prophet Jeremiah, Aung San Suu Kyi, and U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind: On Listening to Bono’s Jeremiad .” The reference to Aung San Suu Kyi, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient and a leading figure in the current fight for democracy in Myanmar (the former Burma), is particularly poignant today given the recent crackdown in that country. In some circles, the prophet Jeremiah today might be the lesser known of these two! Michael Gilmour argues “…that the relationship of these two clues – the biblical prophet Jeremiah, and this modern-day political “prophet” and social activist – is significant for understanding All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

Music, whether popular or classical, is essentially a spiritual activity and expression. Some songwriters and composers do a better job expressing and communicating their spiritualities than others. Some audiences do a better job hearing and receiving artists’ spiritualities than others. Clearly, Michael J. Gilmour and his colleagues have heard and relate to the spiritual expressions of popular music.

I call them the seekers!

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