Experience a moment in music that is not only groovy and informative to African culture, but spiritually potent as well. The mellow and hypnotic vibrations of "Made Through Ritual" equate to a listening experience that is healing and invigorating for the human spirit. As vets of African Funk , Plunky & Oneness of Juju enrich their songs with spiritual energy. This project shows the band's maturity as songwriters while offering the outstanding fusion they are known for. Enjoy as they demonstrate the African sacred science of music through 9 songs blessed by The Motherland.

In this summer 2025 interview, Professor James Small explains that music, rhythm, and vibration are integral to African sacred science and spirituality, serving as powerful tools for communication, connection, and spiritual experience. 

Here's how Prof. James Small explains the African ritual of music and its effects on the listener and practitioners:

• Tool of Sacred Science: Music is not merely culture but a tool of African sacred science, forming a fundamental part of the cultural system that should inform and instruct individuals throughout their lives.

• Communication and Connection: Music is regarded as one of the greatest communication instruments humans have ever designed. It allows one's rhythm and vibration to operate at a frequency that can find unity with another's rhythm and vibration, fostering connection and attraction.

• Infusion of Spiritual Power: African Americans infused their spiritual power and essence into everything, including music and religion like Christianity. This "blackified" or "jazzed up" approach meant taking what was received and transforming it with African essence, making it uniquely theirs.

• "African Conversation": Jazz is cited as a prime example, described as an "African conversation" held between different musicians, where each instrument, and even the vocalist, converses with each other and the audience. This collective experience is often referred to as "soul".

• Stimulating Vibration and Communion: Practices like "shouting" in the black church, though called by a Christian term, were fundamentally African dance steps. These rhythms stimulated and caused vibrations in the body, leading to a higher communion with divinity. This allowed African people to hide and manifest their African essence and spirit within the sanctuary of the church.

• Manifestation and Intent: Music, along with thought and word, carries intent. Reverend Ike's teachings on calling things into being are linked to simple African practices (like voodoo and Yoruba practices) that utilize vibration, voice, and intent to manifest desires.

• Accessing Ancestral Knowledge and Language: The right rhythm, song, vibration, and even temperature can bring ancient attitudes and languages (speaking in tongues) into being. These are said to be embedded in the cellular memory and genetics from ancestors, allowing a person to speak a language they've never consciously heard.

• Intergenerational Transmission: During Christian church initiation rituals, such as the "morning bench," families sang their own rhythms and songs over their children. This practice served as an intergenerational transmission of vibrations and rhythm patterns, creating an environment where individuals could experience a "possession" or "catching the Holy Ghost," which Small identifies as an African practice.

• Healing and Optimization: Music and specific herbs can influence one's vibration and rhythm to operate at an optimal level, preventing others from tampering with one's energy and causing harm.