Listen - 阿基耐 / Ajinai

 
 阿基耐 /  Ajinai  - Fine Horse

According to the Chinese zodiac, I was born in the year of the Horse.  Ajinai's music is said to embody the spirit of the horse.  Maybe that's why it moves me, makes me want to move. I love their sound.  It lifted my spirit immediately when I heard them this morning for the first time.  I think their music has great potential to heal body and mind.   It made me want to dance.  That's saying quite a lot as I haven't felt like dancing in a long time.   

For almost a month, I've been dealing with lower back and groin pain that sometimes spreads into my legs.  In fact, I was going to make a trip to the university hospital this morning, but the idea of dragging my body up to the train station and then walking through the city was not the least bit appealing so I decided to wait a little longer and continue using the principle of Mary Baker Eddy's Divine Science, along with meditation and other alternative methods of healing.

Ugh & yuck.  My sweet daughter just handed me a glass of vinegar water to drink.  Not just any vinegar, but Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar with the "Mother".   It's supposed to have wondrous  properties for healing all kinds of troublesome conditions.  In order to give a more accurate description of this product I went to the Bragg Web Site .  Believe me, this is not an infomercial, I am not trying to push vinegar on anyone.  This is just one more link in a story that keeps getting more and more amazing to me as I write it, or it writes itself.  Connections and symbolism are coming in leaps and bounds.

When on the Bragg site, I noticed on the right sidebar of the page (which I linked above), this:

Patricia invites you on a walk through the roses

 So what, you might say.  I will tell you "so what".  A week ago I stopped over to my sister-in-law's house, at her request, to pick up some old family photos.  Her name is Patricia.  It was the anniversary of her mother's death.  Her mother's name was Rose.  Patricia adored her mother who died in her arms four years ago.  As I was leaving, almost out the door with my pictures, she said "Wait, I almost forgot.  I have something for you."  It was a key chain; a gold cross with a picture of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux in the center, and it was attached to a prayer card printed with a novena to the saint.  According to religious tradition, when you ask for the help of  Saint Thérèse,  you will receive a rose as a sign that  your prayer has been or will be, answered.

St. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love; ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more. Amen

 Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin, was a French Carmelite nun. She is also known as "The Little Flower of Jesus"

Back to my story.  That night my pain kicked into high gear.  I couldn't get to sleep, in addition to the unrelenting pain was the fear of what awful disease or condition might be causing it.  I know that fear intensifies pain, and, according to Divine Science, is the basis of all disease.  I'm not sure if I'm ready to believe that all disease is caused by fear, but I'm also not ready to rule it out ... but, that's for another blog, (I bet you just can't wait).  Let me get back on course here.   In a last ditch effort I grabbed the key chain and said the novena.  "Please, take away this pain and any condition responsible for it."   I went to sleep finally, hoping I would get a rose from Thérèse.  The days went by with no rose.  Until today when I was invited to walk through the Roses by a woman named Patricia who's business is healing.  So what if they are virtual roses, a rose is a rose is a rose.


So.  That's my story.  It took me a long time and many interruptions to write it.  Right now, as I sit here at my desk, I'm aware that the pain is still with me.  But, I have greater hope that it will be gone tomorrow.  It's a wonder, isn't it, that today I have so many words when only yesterday I had none, only an old photograph of a sweet and beautiful grandson who at the age of twenty-one was taken suddenly from us by a fatal car crash.   The medical examiner assured us that he died immediately upon impact and that he felt no pain. 

AJ

1986 - 2007

 亲属的精神  : kindred spirit  

Another curious connection has just occurred to me.  Yesterday I posted a picture of my grandson, Aaron John, lovingly known as AJ.   The first two letters of the band that makes the wonderful healing music that found me today is also AJ.   Just a coincidence?  Maybe.  But then I remembered,  after my prayer to Saint Thérèse that night, I threw in a few more prayers to my other favorite saints for good measure, ending with one to AJ.  Not really a prayer, more of a comforting ritual I do from time to time; picturing him in my mind, in the many stages of his life,  telling him I miss him, asking him to put in a good word for us and to please watch over my daughter, his mother. 

"Ajinai Band inherited Mongolian spirits from the nature to inspire fresh musical creation, to feel happy. They are like Mongolian horses in the ancient war. They will always sing of horses, love, life and growth in nature on their way of music."

Morin Khuur (horse head fiddle), Amne Khuur (mouth harp), Tobshur (two-string Banjo), Hoomei, Tsuur (flute), vocals: Hujiltu
Long Song, vocalization: Azi
Bass, Electronic affects: Ye Peng Gang (Da Peng)
Drum, percussion: Zhang Yang

yugongyishan

 Rock in China

"Think Mongolian music, and lively throat-warblers Hanggai will most likely spring to mind. But Beijing’s Mongolian contingent is far, far bigger than just one band, even if Shanghai doesn’t get to see too much of it on a regular basis. Ajinai, who play at Yuyintang this month, are just as worthy of attention and play a more experimental sound than their more famous cohorts.

Consisting of multi-instrumentalist and throat-singer Hugjiltu (formerly of – you guessed it – Hanggai), bassist and electronic whizz Ye Penggang, backing vocalist Azi and percussion expert Zhang Yang, this charmingly diverse group have an eclectic selection of songs.

They are all highly skilled and experienced musicians too, with Ye Penggang also a part of Xiao He’s brilliant folk collective Glorious Pharmacy. Their debut album, released last year, brought their ability and experimentalism to the fore with an even split of tracks between their own compositions and experimental covers of ancient Mongolian folk songs.

Yet while their most interesting moments often come with their reinterpretation of Mongolian classics, it’s done in a respectful way and their heritage is at the core of Ajinai's philosophy. Even their name – which means ‘fine horse’ – has a connection to Mongolian history, as Hugjiltu explains: ‘Mongolian horses are known for their stamina and ability to keep cool in chaotic battles, especially when they ran alongside our heroic king Genghis Khan. All these characteristics are what we want for our band, not only in music but also in life.’ "

Wang Ge Time-out Shanghai

"It has been said that Mongolian folk has the ability to transport you to places you’ve never been before."  A Great Review of Ajinai