«Buddhism with Thousand Faces» by Peeter Vähi

Abstract

The article examines the music of a reputable Estonian composer, one way or another connected with Buddhism. Peeter Vähi is known in Russia primarily as a keyboard player and songwriter of the pop-rock band «Vitamin»; in the pre-COVID era his academic works were also performed — both in Moscow and in Russian regional centers. However, his Buddhist compositions are little-known here, even among professionals. Whereupon this is an interesting phenomenon: the works of a Western composer whose gaze is turned to the Buddhist East. The author of the article comes to the idea that this layer of Vähi's music follows the «Middle Way» of Buddha, and also comes to the conclusion that this music is applicative in a varying degree, but it's not second-rate or secondary. It is side by side with so-called «self-sustained» music, it has its own specifics and its own goals.

Keywords

Buddhist music, Buddhism, Middle Way, Sanskrit, mantra, raga, therapeutic music