Hippie Music - Join the Tribe

- by LB

The best hippie music has the potential to heal if you allow yourself to be immersed in it. When you close your eyes, the extended jams can take you on a trip, an inner journey into your higher consciousness that relaxes and frees your entire being. You connect with the oneness of the Universal Love that we all share and by that connection you join the hippie "tribe" that is ever on a seeking path. The music makes you feel like doing a dance that has you twirling and hopping - this is your hippie dance!

Hippie music is more than just psychedelic drug-inspired rock, although that is certainly one early facet. Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead are some of the most famous early examples of this kind of music that not only simulated psychedelics, it was often created while on psychedelics, and was also listened to by people high on psychedelics. However the beauty of this music is that it is enough all by itself, without any drugs, to transport you to "separate reality." Try sitting in a completely dark room with Santana's Moonflower or Caravansari playing while you visualize yourself with wings, flying across the universe, darting through trees and over oceans and mountains - it can truly be an astral experience and definitely brings healing vibes. Even in a crowded room with a live band jamming a song that has you dancing up a storm, you can experience the healing that the pure joy of music brings.

Hippie values of non-conformity, natural living, and freedom, peace, and justice have inundated mainstream culture all over the world. Most anyone can "bring out the hippie" in themselves in certain contexts, even if they wouldn't necessarily call themselves "a hippie." This would not have been a true statement in the 50s, which suggests that the hippie movement has indeed influenced society. The movement peaked in the late 60s and then sort of faded out in the later 70s and 80s, but it never died. Now there seems to be a new hippie culture bubbling up, a resurfacing of old hippies and a popping up of young "neo hippies." There are still many bastions of hippie culture around the country where young and old hippies gather and revel.

Hippie music festivals and art fairs are the best place to get a dose of the healing, happy hippie vibe, especially if you camp out for a weekend at such an event. One of the best is the Oregon Country Fair in Veneta, OR that happens every July. You can volunteer to do a job for the fair and then camp there which is an incredible experience. It's like living in a completely different society where the drummers keep the drum circle going almost non-stop, creating a tribal pulse that can be heard from your tent and keeps your blood pumping to the Oneness that everyone else is feeling. Walk the magical path of the "8" in the middle of the night and you will see sights and hear music in all corners of the fair. There is nothing like grooving to the music in a beautiful open-air festival setting. (Can you tell I've camped there before!)

The hippie music genre includes the legends like Jimi, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Joni Mitchell, and CSNY, as well as later bands who are keeping the flame alive. Phish has famously carried the torch after the Grateful Dead disbanded, also The Other Ones, RatDog, Zero, and more recently, Cast of Clowns, Moonalice, and ...uh, Jupiter Hollow of course! The great thing about this genre of music is the wide variety of styles that are part of its influences. More than just "acid rock" you may hear bluegrass, jazz, latin, folk, world beat, and east Indian influences. There are so many examples that defy any label - for instance, Jethro Tull is very hard rock but then they also have many soft "minstrely" songs. And Led Zeppelin is hard rock, blues, rock n roll, as well as soft, beautiful, and orchestrated. This style of music stays true to the hippie philosophy of non-conformity and freedom and it is really refreshing to see it come back to the forefront again.