Sundara Karma Write For Clash

Are clubs the new churches?

Sundara Karma are young – scarily young.

Still in their teens, the fresh-faced group have stormed across the summer, with new single 'Flame' set to be released on August 7th.

Given a full vinyl issue by Chess Club, it's an energetic, ambitious statement from a band who seem to blossom with each and every show.

Writing for Clash, singer Oscar Lulu wonders if clubs are actually the new churches?

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I personally think that for the first time in history, there seems to be a cultural validation of self-centredness. A widely accepted mentality of just thinking about 'me' all the time. Our economy seems to have at its heart and soul a twisted duty to keep us always dissatisfied, always wanting more – more goods, more services, more experiences etc. We are never satisfied with who we are or the life that we live and with this consumer capitalist culture hung around our necks, it is generally hard for most people to be happy.

For me, the whole attraction towards creating is that I can get absorbed in the activity and stop thinking about myself for a while. The moment when I become conscious of what it is I am doing the enjoyment goes and it is no longer like child's play. It becomes forced, less invigorating, and the end result is arguably worse. In those moments of mindful unselfconsciousness I get to experience what it is like truly to lose myself. It is by no means controversial to say that music and spirituality are closely linked. Just like spirituality, music offers us something that we can share, a vehicle in which we can all feel united, an opportunity to escape the trappings of oneself and a chance to escape the hamster wheel pursuit of material goods.

A couple hundred years ago, music used to associated with some sort of sacred context or to signify an important event. To me the parallels between what music offers us and what spirituality offers us are obvious. Now more than ever, due to the empty hole modern day society has carved out of us, we call upon our primal ways and seek music and art to elevate us into some sort of spiritual high, or at the very least to escape our oppressive reality.

Me and my generation go to clubs instead of churches. Festivals instead of pilgrimages. The very essence of a concert is ritualistic for both the performer and the attender, a moment in which one can be in the present.

I guess we are all just trying to escape mainstream selfishness, whether we do it consciously or unconsciously. Dancing myself into an ecstatic bliss certainly does the job for me.

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