At first, there was a Woman

It is Women’s March and I hear that there’s nothing wrong with flaunting a little self-love. To be honest, this playlist isn’t really about being a woman but more so about having a voice.

My favourite track? The number 1: Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidananda

Alice Coltrane had a happy life in the mid-1960s, starting a family with John Coltrane and toured the world with his band as the pianist. In the summer of 1967, however, everything changed for her when John died suddenly of liver cancer.

Unable to sleep and having visions, she was newly widowed at the age of 29, with four children to care for. Seeing how depressed she was, an old friend, sensing her distress, brought her to his teacher, Swami Satchidananda, who had comforted hundreds of thousands of music lovers at Woodstock with his opening address.

She entered the basement studio of her Long Island home with new clarity — and a harp that John had commissioned for her before his death — the knot at the core of Alice Coltrane’s soul begins to unravel through her hap’s crystalline vibrations, creating the stunning and dramatic “Journey in Satchidananda”.

Anyone listening to this selection should try to envision himself floating on an ocean of Satchinandaji’s love.

Alice Coltrane