Chords for Luaka Bop Presents: Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda

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_ _ _ My grandmother, [Ab] Alice Coltrane, [Gb] [Cm] Tiriya Sangi Thunanda, was a [Abm] legendary [Gb] pianist, composer,
[Abm] spiritual [D] leader, and the wife of [Ab] John Coltrane, [Gb] the most venerated and [B] influential tenor [Bb] saxophonist
in [Gb] the history of jazz.
[E] _ _
_ In the [D] summer of 1963, _ John and Alice fell [Em] in love.
_ They were destined to be on the same sort of musical and spiritual quest and could share
this path [A] together.
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Four [Em] years after they met, John died of liver cancer.
_ [Am] John's death left [D] Alice a widow with four children.
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_ Bereft of her soulmate, [N] I recall my mother describing her suffering sleepless nights
and severe weight loss.
At her worst, she weighed only 95 pounds. _
[Eb] She experienced hallucinations in which trees spoke, various beings existed on astral planes,
and the sounds [Ebm] of a planetary ether _ spun through her brain, _ [Abm] knocking her unconscious. _ _ _
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_ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ [Ebm] The critical event of this period was not that Alice fell into the nadir of her existence,
but rather that she experienced tapas, a vital period of [Abm] trial. _ _
These tapas, a Sanskrit term used to describe her suffering, helped to prepare Alice for
the spiritual ally [Bb] she found in [Ebm] Swami Satchidananda, an Indian guru with whom Alice made her first
trip to India.
I know there are many people who don't believe in God.
_ _ [Abm] _
To them I say, God is not a human being or a particular entity sitting somewhere in some
[Gb] corner and pulling wires.
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It's the cosmic consciousness.
_ It is the joy and peace and happiness [Abm] in you. _ _ _
_ _ On her second trip to India, _ Alice had a revelation.
_ She was instructed to [Db] abandon her secular [Ebm] life and become a spiritual leader in the Hindu tradition.
_ She moved west, eventually opening the Shanti Anantam Ashram in Agora [Abm] Hills, California. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Music was the foundation [B] of Alice's spiritual [Db] practice.
In the beginning, [Ebm] her music seemed intended to further the musical and spiritual direction
of her late husband.
_ _ [Ab] But after the [Ebm] loss of my Uncle John Jr.,
at the age of 17, my [Abm] grandmother began exploring
the use of her voice in her recordings.
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From the mid-1980s to the mid _ [Cm]-1990s, Alice Fultrain self [Eb]-released four brilliant cassette [Gm] albums.
These cassettes contained a music she invented, [Cm] inspired by the gospel music of the Detroit
churches [Gm] she grew up in, mixed together with the Indian devotional [Cm] music of her religious practice.
[Eb] _ _ _ [A] [Bb] Originally only made available through [Cm] her ashram, they are her most [Bb] obscure body of
work [Cm] and possibly the greatest [Eb] reflection of her soul.
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[C] Like many wives of great men, it is inevitable that the [Cm] legacy of Alice Fultrain would long
[Eb] be overshadowed by her husband.
But [C] the more one examines the genuinely phenomenal life, music, and spirit of Alice, the more
[Eb] destined it is that she will also [Bb] someday receive her proper due. _ _ _
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Ten years after [Cm] her passing, in what would have been her 80th year, my [Bb] grandmother, Alice
Fultrain, Tiriya Sangi Tenanda, [Cm] will be celebrated all around the world.
I hope you can [Bb] join us on this journey. _
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