Pharoah Sanders – Healing Song
The first half of 2016 has been a really tough year on many fronts, but especially in terms of loss and grief. The events in Orlando a few days ago have many of us in the US depressed, angry, scared, confused and defiant all at the same time. As horrific as tragedies like this can be (and there will likely be many more tragedies, of smaller and greater scope, throughout the world and throughout our lives), the outpouring of compassion in their wake is often comforting. I often find hat music provides solace in these times and there are few songs that I turn to more than this song from Pharoah Sanders. From his live album recorded in 1971 at the venerable East in Brooklyn, New York City, “Healing Song,” is Sanders at his finest. While Sanders has often made great use of vocalists, the world-less chanting and voices here (credited to Harold Vic and Carlos Garnett, but I suspect there are others involved as well), right from the start give this song an almost otherworldly sound entirely all it’s own. I hope that sharing it will help to heal you and yours in trying times as it has continuously done for me.