Five artists inspired by 'The Tibetan Book of the Dead
Tom Taylor FAR OUT magazine TUE 18TH OCT 2022 19.00 BST
Patty Waters
It is often the case in cultural history that a lesser-known name helped to launch an entire movement by inspiring the right people at the right time with something fresh that they could feed on and make their own. Jazz singer Patty Waters is one of those people. She directly transposed The Tibetan Book of the Dead notion of letting things flow by opening up a swirling sound and filling it with a maelstrom of wandering emotions.
This unfixed style directly influenced the likes of Yoko Ono and Diamanda Galas. In the domino effect of influence, these names would impact The Beatles, George Harrison’s solo work and so on. In a fateful way, this cycle is the tenet of the book itself. As it states in print: “Our past thinking has determined our present status, and our present thinking will determine our future status; for man us what man thinks.”