standing meditation - a sāf now mix
April 14, 2021
One would hope that the spring of 2020 was a unique time. The deep isolation of a global lockdown in response to the pandemic. Then, in the US, the eruption of pain, frustration, anger, and protest in response to violence against Black people by the systems which are supposed to protect us all. We would hope that, a year later, we would have learned some things, improved some things.
But, while it seems that the pandemic is being brought under control, systemic violence against Black people continues its enraging, numbing, weary cycle. How are we able to mobilize nations and corporations to mitigate one tragedy, but absolutely fail to mitigate another?
We know and we don't know. We know and we remain perplexed. We know and we try not to know so we can live our lives.
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The SĀF NOW mix series is an experiment in using the DJ mix as a journal. The tracks are collected over days and weeks, each track meant to reflect the mood and story and thoughts and intentions of the moment when it is added. The tracks are then mixed by Arijit Das into an abstract narrative, something between a DJ mix and an audiobook.
SĀF NOW 0002: Standing Meditation was compiled in the spring of 2020. It captures the deepest isolation of the lockdown, then the eruption of events that lead to the Black Lives Matter protests. One year later, Arijit would love for this mix to be a time capsule, an artifact of history. He would love that, when we listen to this mix now, we listen to it to remember and reflect and give thanks that we are no longer there. But the tragedy of our time is that we are where we were. If we have made progress, it is so small as to be imperceptible. This mix, in particular the second half, is a journal of today as much as it was a journal of last spring. We seek faith, hope beyond all reason, that it will not be a journal of our future.
As artists, it can be hard to share our work when events of the world seem to need a more direct response. But we are reminding ourselves that people also need space and vehicles for reflection and catharsis. We planned to share this mix as a "look back" at the unique spring of 2020. Instead, we share it now as we did then, as a journal of the times and as a space for you, if you need - to be, to reflect, to release.