Astral Traveling #8 – The Creator Has A Master Plan, w/ Maxime L.

Closing down my first year on Cashmere Radio with an episode very dear to my heart, dedicated solely to covers and versions of my favorite piece of music ever : The Creator Has A Master Plan by Pharoah Sanders. The unwavering sense of hope and resilience amongst chaos and adversity in this 30 minute piece shook me to my core when I first heard it and still does so today. It is that feeling that inspired me to start Astral Traveling at its inception as a Listening Session series. Rooted in Black experience, the universality and healing power conveyed through Sanders’ music makes it widely relatable and deeply relevant at the end of such an eventful year.

The focus on covers of the same track not only underlines the influence Pharoah Sanders has on multiple generations of musicians until today (almost half of the tracks of the show were recorded in the last two years), but also marks the width of expression the interprets found in that piece – from the soothing harp and bass sounds of The Gondwana Orchestra to the roaring saxophone of Palm Unit or Sarathy Korwar’s pulsing, celebratory rhythm section. 

For a more insightful read on the genius of the now 80-year old saxophonist, this short article for Frieze by poet and performer Harmony Holiday is this month’s recommended lecture.