“Music is the language of my dialogue with whatever is to me sacred. In this context however, sacred does not refer to that which is delineated by organized religion or even specific spiritual traditions. Rather it is the primordial and essential realization of unity which resonates at the deepest level of the being of each and every one of us and which emanates into the world as light.”

Ross Daly: The Music Paths of Labyrinth

Many years before what we call “World Music” appeared on the scene, certain individuals had already understood the enormous value and vast variety of the world’s various musical traditions and had dedicated their lives to their study. One such person is Ross Daly. Although of Irish descent, Ross Daly does not really fit into any particular ethnic stereotype given that his life has been spend in many different parts of the world and his home for the last 50 years is the island of Crete in Greece. Ross Daly, at a very early age, discovered that music was, in his own words, “the language of my dialogue with that which I perceive to be sacred”. This dialogue eventually led him to the great modal traditions of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent where he finally found the musical archetypes that he had been searching for all his life. In these traditions he encountered music which was not merely a vehicle of self­expression, but which was able to take one beyond what one normally perceived to be the boundaries of one’s self into other transpersonal realms of experience. This discovery changed everything in Ross Daly’s life and he subsequently gave up all other activities and dedicated his life to the study of the innermost secrets of these musical traditions as well as to the art of composition. He subsequently travelled extensively, studying under many of the world’s greatest masters of modal traditions.                  

(Ross Daly / Photo by Stefania Ouranou)

Since 1975 he has been based on the island of Crete where he is universally recognized as one of the foremost experts on the island’s rich musical tradition. He is also especially well known and respected for his ability to bring artists of different and seemingly unrelated traditions together in collaborations of unique quality and depth. In 1982 he established the Labyrinth Musical Workshop which is today situated in the village of Houdetsi 20 kms south of the capital city of Herakleion. After many years of intensive training in a variety of musical traditions, Ross Daly turned his attention largely to composition drawing heavily on all of the knowledge which he acquired during his long apprenticeships. Today he has released more than thirty eight albums of his own compositions as well as of his own arrangements of traditional melodies that he collected during his travels. The island of Crete in Greece still provides a base for his personal and musical research as he continues travelling around the world performing his music. He organized and artistically supervised 15 concerts with the participation of 300 musicians from all over the world. Amongst others there were musicians of international fame as : Jordi Savall, Eduardo Niebla, Huun Huur Tu, Habil Aliev, Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan, Mohammad Rahim Khushnawaz, Trio Chemirani, Adel Salameh and many others. Today, Ross Daly continues travelling and performing in Greece and abroad whilst simultaneously directing the Musical Workshop “Labyrinth”.

Interview by Michael Limnios

How has the music influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken? What moment changed your life the most? 

Music is the language of my dialogue with whatever is to me sacred. In this context however, sacred does not refer to that which is delineated by organized religion or even specific spiritual traditions. Rather it is the primordial and essential realization of unity which resonates at the deepest level of the being of each and every one of us and which emanates into the world as light. A light which affords truth and meaning to that which it illuminates. Music therefore is and always was that which affords meaning to whatever I experience and will therefore always be at the very center of my life.

How did the idea of Labyrinth come about, and what characterize your music philosophy and mission? 

The Musical Workshop Labyrinth was created in 1982. It is based on an extremely simple and very low-tech idea which is simply the sharing of musical knowledge, experience, inspiration and, above all, our love of music with our fellow musicians and students. In this process all of us who are involved are both teachers and students and our roles continuously oscillate back and forth between the two. The seminars and masterclasses that we organize at Labyrinth are therefore quite simply extended sharing sessions in which a designated teacher shares his/her knowledge with the other participants. The work of Labyrinth focuses primarily on the musical traditions deriving from the broader world of Modal Music (with a special emphasis on Eastern modality). This genre of music can be found in the vast geographical regions which extend from Northwest Africa right up until the Western provinces of China. All of these traditions have been involved in an intricate and multifaceted interaction for upwards of 4000 years, during which time influences passed from the one culture to another and back again, a process which ultimately enriches them all. At Labyrinth it is these vibrant living traditions with very ancient roots, but also with endless possible extensions into our time and the future which are our focal point of interest.

”I have always held the conviction that music, on an experiential level, can actually give to us anything which we might ask of it depending of course on how we approach it. There are many people who ask no more of music than to offer them entertainment, relief from the trials and tediousness of their every day reality.” (Ross Daly / Photo by Angelina Demosthenes)

Why do you think that the Roots/Traditional/Folk music continues to generate such a devoted following around the world?

There are many potential reasons for this. I think that one very important reason is that people inevitably gyrate towards music which is created by people who themselves closely resemble their listeners. I think that many people today have become rather fed up with pop stars and their extravagant, flamboyant, and often painfully shallow lifestyles. In most instances they have become caricatures and not real people at all. These people seem to expect to be revered like gods or pharaohs and not related to like fellow human beings. Regional musical traditions are created by people who originate from within the very societies which they address. People can relate on a much deeper level to such music. It is a music which takes into account our vulnerability and sensitivity rather than preying on our weakness.

Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What was the best advice anyone ever gave you? 

There have been so many meetings which have been of great importance to me over the years. So many that I would be hard-pressed to enumerate them all in this brief interview. Most of them have been with fellow musicians, many of whom have been my mentors and therefore certainly my biggest influences. Others have been with people in other fields which are also of great interest to me. Perhaps the best advice ever given to me was simply to trust my destiny, fate, kismet, karma or whatever one wishes to call it. From my current position at the age of 72 and looking back, I can definitely discern a distinct pattern of events of which I certainly wasn’t aware at the time that each choice of direction was made. This to me is a clear indication that other forces beyond the self of which I am normally immediately aware were involved in the formation of this trajectory. Different people have different names for these “other forces”. I personally prefer to leave them unnamed as I prefer to openly not know what I don’t know rather than to attempt to control, and therefore limit, that which is beyond my understanding.

”The most important lesson that I have learned is that each moment of our lives is itself an important lesson and that we need to see it as such if our lives are to be in any way meaningful.” (Ross Daly in 1982 he established the Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Crete / Photo by Alexis Glavas)

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

There is a tendency amongst many musicians (as well as other artists) of a certain age and above to wax nostalgic about an older “golden age” whilst simultaneously disparaging today’s output. Personally, I find such an approach to be rather futile and actually quite silly. In every age a relatively small number of works of art of great value are created as well as a usually significantly larger number of works of varying degrees of lesser value. This seems to be the natural order of things at any given time, although, on occasion there do seem to be certain eras in history during which brief explosions of quite unusual creativity seem to occur, frequently succeeded by  fallow periods immediately thereafter. This seems to be the natural order of things. Personally I feel myself to have been fortunate to have witnessed such bursts of creativity on a variety of occasions and in various locations. The ensuing fallow periods don’t bother me as I know that they will eventually give way to a new flurry of creativity.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

I have always held the conviction that music, on an experiential level, can actually give to us anything which we might ask of it depending of course on how we approach it. There are many people who ask no more of music than to offer them entertainment, relief from the trials and tediousness of their every day reality. This is something which, as we all know, music can easily do to great effect and which many people even seem to consider to be the full extent of its capabilities. However, music works on many levels and in a myriad of dimensions. It can even take us beyond the very boundaries of our selves into realms far removed from any other order of experience of which we might be aware. This is a very real possibility, not just for a “select few”, but for everyone who is indeed open to perceiving music as a sacred art capable of opening pathways leading us to the center of being itself. In this center there is a stillness and silence which reveals to us another dimension of music and it is from here that a “journey” of an entirely different nature can begin. During the course of such a journey we are afforded the opportunity to accustom ourselves to seeing what we perceive to be reality and our place in it in an entirely new manner. My colleagues and I have all experienced this journey, each in his/her own way. It’s a simple process really, one of simply letting go, not one of struggle or of striving after something. Having encountered the silence and stillness of the center, we surrender to its embrace and accept it as our guide in a realm where sound itself is but the outer layer of an experience of a far deeper nature.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

The most important lesson that I have learned is that each moment of our lives is itself an important lesson and that we need to see it as such if our lives are to be in any way meaningful.

”Regional musical traditions are created by people who originate from within the very societies which they address. People can relate on a much deeper level to such music. It is a music which takes into account our vulnerability and sensitivity rather than preying on our weakness.”

(Ross Daly / Photo by Terry Rooney)

What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

My answer to this question may sound somewhat humorous, but I can assure you that, for me, it is really the best and most serious answer that I can come up with. The way to ensure the relevance of any of our activities to the present time is simply to be alive in the present time, in the moment. When I say “alive”, of course I don’t mean simply being biologically alive. There are many dimensions to being “alive” in the fullest sense. When a person is fully alive, that person is by definition unique, inspired and of course relevant.

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