What's the Antidote for Modern Life?

In our harried and hectic 21st century lives, New Age music just might be the right antidote for all the craziness that seems to surround us every day. New age music offers a magical blend of sounds that reach deep into the psyche and transport listeners to a blissful state of harmony and contentment. New Age music is also known by many other names including ambient, contemporary instrumental, experimental, spacerock, mood music and chillout. Not everyone agrees on exactly what New Age music encompasses. One group of fans claims that New Age is an offshoot of electronic music that includes melodic non-dance pieces. Artists in this tradition include Enya, Yanni and Vangelis, who are all hugely popular. Others consider New Age as an outgrowth of electronic music used primarily for relaxation in Eastern practices like yoga and meditation. There is an entire industry of recording companies that produce cassettes and CDs to teach and compliment these practices. Another point of view is that New Age is purely melodic with long, soothing tracks.

The history of New Age music is also open to interpretation. Some music historians say it can be traced back to a British musician named Brian Eno who coined the term “ambient music.” regarding his 1978 album, “Ambient 1: Music for Airports,”. In the sleeve notes, Eno explained that it was music “designed to induce calm and a place to think.” He explained that depending on the listener, it could be used as background music or be actively listened to. According to these historians, New Age music’s prime source is two 19th Century classical avant-garde composers--Claude Debussy and Erik Satie—who heralded a new openness in Western music to sounds that complimented the musical environment rather than intruding upon it.

In the mid 20th Century, historians say, the New Age genre was blown wide open by a composer named John Cage who experimented with a wide range of sounds from countries around the world. Cage even challenged the notion that music could not be a recording of silence. In the 1960s, the New Age floodgates opened when American composers with classical backgrounds started to explore the idea of repetition whether with orchestras, electric instruments or non-Western instrumental arrangements. The invention of the analog synthesizer led to the development of many other types of compositions by this school of composers who came to be known as minimalists. In the 1990s, some historians note that the term “New Age music,” for better or worse, was co-opted by self-help gurus who thought that it could lead to self-realization and new levels of consciousness. In the new millennium, historians say that New Age music belongs to a whole new group of listeners known as the ‘rave’ generation.

Whatever your perception of the origins or purposes of New Age music, it’s clear that there is a prominent place for it in today’s culture. Yes, we’re caught up in a harried existence, but we always find time to take a chill pill with this soothing genre of music.



Listen to free New Age Music MP3's at EZ-tracks.com

Where does your favorite top New Age songs rank? Visit EZ-tracks to check out top country music charts.

Want a soothing ringtone for you cell phone? Download New Age Ringtones for your mobile now.