Sound is sacred. In all religious and spiritual traditions sound, word and music are instrumental in creating and sustaining the universe, nature and humankind. Healing sounds are part of a "sacred therapy" still practiced among holy men and women, shamans and healers and the indigenous peoples of the earth. The common belief that vibration permeates all things, seen and unseen, forms the foundation of an ancient science and practice of healing with music.

Throughout the ages, by trial and error, selected sounds and rhythms developed into tools and remedies for diagnosing and curing illness. Sophisticated breathing patterns evolved together with prayerful chants and sacred healing songs. The songs cure, petition benevolent deities, invite spirit possession, and induce states of ecstasy. This ancient sound therapy is still practiced today. It holds fast to spiritual roots, echoing a legacy that possesses a profound knowledge of how sound and music assist in healing the human psyche and spirit.

It has been a long journey to the sonic actualization of prayer and medicinal songs. Every generation within each culture contributed to the evolution of these sound methods and compositions. The indigenous music healers are "living treasures," links to the past, and masterful psychologists and physicians. Like their ancestors they use sound as a primary gateway to inner consciousness, freedom from pain and transcendence. Their sacred musical prescriptions intercept the course of illness and remind those people sick in body and mind how to function in balance once again.

As a practitioner and educator in the field of music in health care, I became aware of the potential of traditional healing music as an area of research while traveling, living and studying musiccentered healing practices in ,Southeast Asia, India, Nepal, Japan and North and Central America. For two decades, I have witnessed and participated in the "creative" and "soulful" exchange between doctor and patient, shaman and spirit, healer and disease, through music. This passionate display of care for another human being, often without payment, has left an indelible impression on my mind and heart.

The practice of music in healing among indigenous peoples has been revealed through scholarly studies in ethnomusicology, medical anthropology, mythology, history and religion. The importance of music, as a part of traditional medical technology, is undeniable. Its very existence confirms and inspires contemporary theories and practices in sound and music-centered therapies today. This history motivates research and provides a foundation for the development of new paradigms in the emerging field of music in healing in contemporary health care.

These sound and music repertoires are fast disappearing. After centuries of basic research vast storehouses of indigenous knowledge are vanishing, due largely in part to Western modernization. The process of culture-change is accelerating at unprecedented rates throughout the world. The opportunity to document, study, and gain insight first hand, from living traditions, is momentous. Proof of this can be seen and felt by botanists, herbalists, ethnopharmacologists, practitioners in traditional and alternative medicine, nutritionists and by different ailing populations who benefit from complimentary and organic-related treatment. Samples of medicinal plants for either replication in the pharmaceutical lab or for natural reproduction are disappearing along with the rain forests, and other natural vegetation locales. This same dilemma is true for traditional healing systems that employ music. Change is inevitable, and knowing this we are prompted to learn more about the endangered elements in society and nature.

Indigenous sound healers reserve their healingmusic repertoires for sickness, pain, spiritual and physical death and to mediate between god and nature - never for entertainment. If the Huichol mara akame shaman) petitions a deity without reason the god becomes angry and could distrust future requests for aid. The Kuna nele (seer) in the San Blas islands will not charge the nuchus (medicine dolls) without the need for their kurgin (power) in diagnosing illness. The Hindu village ojha (healer) does not invoke Sitla (the goddess of disease and small pox) without a purpose; Sitla brings disease as easily as she takes it away.

Healing-music repertoires are rare and sacred possessions. They are not easily shared with outsiders. Even traveling to remote parts of India, Tibet, Nepal or Northern Mexico does not guarantee the traveler an opportunity to witness or participate in a healing session. As a result, there are few authentic field recordings available. This is one reason scholarly research has not focused on it in the past. Only recently, prompted by ecological concerns, new interests in Western sound healing and the fact that indigenous wisdom is disappearing, are steps being taken to uncover and preserve ancient traditions.

It is with great skepticism, hope and ultimately trust in the Divine that the indigenous healers represented in this book, share their knowledge, lives and healing music with you. It is my hope that this tremendous act of trust on their behalf helps to quicken the process of preservation and increases public awareness and respect for the indigenous peoples of the earth.

In the following chapters you will meet an ojha, maestro, nele, manbo, phawo, jhankri, ayahuascero, kangsinmu, shamans and other musical doctors. After reading their stories, the accompanying CD will provide a listening experience of the actual healing music. Each recording has its own unique quality and purpose. It is important to keep in mind that this music was not created to entertain but to stimulate an effect in their patients. Most recordings were made in the last six years with the exception of the Huichol mara'akame that was recorded in the Sierra Madre mountains in 1940.

This project bridges the gap, links the past with the present, serves to some extent as documentation and clarification of indigenous methods, healers, sacred healing musical instruments and actual sounds as well as stimulates a broader vision of the power of sound in healing. It also serves to increase the awareness of the general public and health care professionals alike of the value and rarity of indigenous sound healing. The masters of sound healing can tell us how music affects our minds, emotions and most of all (something missing in Western medicine our souls. When we touch the sacred in us and reestablish a relationship with it, healing can occur. Sacred healing music repertoires can access this relationship.

Pat Moffitt Cook