“Despite being an amateur (or perhaps because of it), whenever I listen to music, I do so without preconceptions, simply opening my ears to the more wonderful passages and physically taking them in. When those wonderful passages are there, I feel joy, and when some parts are not so wonderful, I listen with a touch of regret. Beyond that, I might pause to think about what makes a certain passage wonderful or not so wonderful, but other musical elements are not that important to me. Basically, I believe that music exists to make people happy. In order to do so, those who make music use a wide range of techniques and methods which, in all their complexity, fascinate me in the simplest possible way.”

― Haruki Murakami, Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa

If you are a lover of music and moreover a lover of Murakami, I highly recommend you read his book “Absolutely on Music”. The book is a compilation of Murakami’s interviews with the celebrated conductor Seiji Ozawa. It provides illuminating insights on Ozawa’s interpretation of music and the art of conducting through Murakami’s surreal writing.

This playlist is a collection of music without words. It always amazes me how instrumental music can connect with people from different cultures, religions, genders, social backgrounds and age groups.

Personally, I love to listen to any genre of music without words as I can use my imagination to the greatest extent. I can immediately transport myself to the densest jungle or the calmest ocean. I can place myself in a movie with a bittersweet ending. I feel suspense. At times I feel healed. I experience deep emotions – longing, envy, joy and love when I listen to music.

To me, wordless music is like a piece of art. An artist can paint the sky in varying shades of blue to depict the time of day, but it is up to the observer to decide whether he or she is observing a sunrise or a sunset. Wordless music is much the same as we can interpret it in whatever way we choose. While some musical notes agree with each other, others disagree and it is this very dissonance that enables two people to feel completely different when hearing the same piece of music.

Whether you like psychedelic trance, classical music, jazz or just ethereal sounds, the appeal of wordless music is much the same. It allows us to embrace sounds without any preconceived notions. The sounds of nature are wordless which indicates wordless music predates human existence on this planet. While I love lyrics, I must admit that a wordless chorus speaks to me in ways words cannot.

I hope you enjoy this cross-genre jam of wordless music. You can find the Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube playlists below.

1. Boy 1904 – Jonsi & Alex
2. I Never Dream – A. A. L.
3. De-Punked – Gorillaz vs. Space Monkeyz
4. God Bless the Child – Sonny Rollins
5. Untitled (Track 3) – Sigur Ros
6. DNA – Akira Kosemura
7. Meeting – Rakesh Chaurasia & Talvin Singh
8. Lady and Man – Khruangbin
9. Night Over Manaus – Boozoo Bajou
10. The Return of Uncle Benon – Shakarchi & Straneus
11. Etude No. 3 – Nico Muhly (performed by Nadia Sirota)
12. Euphoria, Lobster & Champagne – Malakoff Kowalski
13. Soft Music Under Stars – Fila Brazillia
14. Become Ocean – John Luther Adams (performed by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra)

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube

Jonsi is Jón Þór Birgisson, the lead singer of Sigur Ros who along with his partner Alex Somers produces ambient music and visual art under the moniker of Jonsi & Alex. Boy 1904 features the voice of Alessandro Moreschi, the only castrato to have ever made a solo recording. The recording was made in 1904 (hence the title) and while it sounds absolutely beautiful, it carries a dark history of centuries worth of cruelty to young boys. But without words, you would never know this.

I Never Dream is off of A. A. L.’s (Against All Logic) latest album released in February of this year. This was a surprise release by none other than Chilean-American producer Nicolas Jaar under the pseudonym AAL! I love the funky feel of this track. The beats are so complex, crisp and unpredictable – typical of Jaar.

Laika Come Home is one of my favourite albums of all time. It is a remix of the self-titled debut album by the Gorillaz. Spacemonkeyz have completely transformed the album into a dub stepping masterpiece with sonically brilliant production. In order to not miss the relentlessly deep bassline, De-Punked must be listened on top notch headphones or a HiFi.

Sonny Rollins’s cover of Billie Holiday’s God Bless the Child is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. There is nothing I can write that fully explains how I feel about this song. I know that if I have a child someday, this will be the first song I will play to her.

Track 3 in Sigur Ros’s Untitled album is one of the most euphonious melodies I have in my music collection. Seeing them perform this live standing in the last row of The Beacon Theatre in New York circa 2007 was a transformative experience. This music makes me feel like something good is just around the corner. It reminds me to hold on and stay strong.

DNA is on this playlist for a reason. If you listen to it closely it is almost as if Akira Kosemura composed it as a sequel to Track 3 by Sigur Ros. DNA makes me feel like I am in a movie where something very significant has just happened and I am running away as fast as I can. I reach a mountain top and I scream at the top of my lugs, but cannot be heard by anybody.

Rakesh Chaurasia is the nephew of renowned Indian flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. In the song Meeting Chaurasia is playing the bansuri and is accompanied by Talvin Singh on tabla. This is a lovely tune to wake up to in the morning.

Khruangbin hail from Houston, Texas and have the most unique sound! I was lucky to catch them last week on their Indian tour where they played an absolutely mesmerising set. In Lady and Man Mark Speer’s Fender Strat stirs us with hypnotic melodies backed by Laura Lee’s super funky bass. Drummer Donald DJ Johnson has a lazy drum beat that perfectly augments Speer’s psychedelic guitar riffs. I must say at their Bombay gig, bassist Laura Lee stole the show. While the guys couldn’t get enough of her sassiness, every lady in the house was imitating her feline dance moves. Khruangbin are truly a class act.

Boozoo Bajou are a German duo that I heard for the first time a few days ago but they have been around for ages. While the song’s title Night Over Manaus points towards a Brazilian influence, it in fact takes me to the deep south of Louisiana. The cajun beat coupled with the tribal howls is spooky, strange and enigmatic. It would fit perfectly in an episode of True Detective or True Blood.

The Return of Uncle Benon is just a plain old fun song. It is off Shakarchi & Straneus hilariously titled debut album “Steal Chickens from Men and the Future from God.” Now I know this has lyrics but I have no idea whether they have any meaning and I am just fine with that. This song makes me smile every time I listen to it. I guess that is the whole point right?

Nadia Sirota’s album Baroque is a fantastic collection of compositions. My favourite piece off this album is Etude no. 3. An Etude is a short musical composition for a single instrument and it is composed specifically to demonstrate the skill of the player. This étude is in the style of an off-beat sforzandos (sudden, forceful attacks) and Sirota captures this perfectly. The short bursts of sound bring about a feeling of being trapped and trying desperately to break free. The composition ends so suddenly leaving the listener in complete suspense. Did we/they make it out?

Malakoff Kowalski was born to Iranian parents but has lived his entire life in the US. I absolutely love this particular song because of its subtleties. If you listen closely I am almost certain you can hear a snare drum in the background. Euphoria, Lobster & Champagne is a delightfully familiar melody that is soothing and calm.

Soft Music Under Stars has been on my playlist for decades now and it never gets old. The song takes its time to reach a crescendo but when it does, it comes together beautifully. I am a sucker for sitar and beats and I wish more artists experimented with this sound.

Become Ocean is the Pulitzer Prize winning composition by American composer John Luther Adams. It is one of the most intriguing pieces of music I have ever heard as without even knowing the title, I felt the absolute terrifying strength of the ocean. Luther describes it best when he says: “As I composed Become Ocean, I had in my mind and my heart this image of the melting of polar ice and the rising of the seas. All life on this Earth emerged from the ocean. If we don’t wake up and pay attention here pretty soon, we human animals may find ourselves once again becoming ocean sooner than we imagine.”

Playlists: Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube