“Deep is calling on deep,” refers to Psalm 42:7, which reads, “Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me”. The phrase symbolizes a person’s profound need for God, which calls out to the unfathomable fullness and mercy of God in return. The psalmist uses the metaphor of cascading waters and overwhelming waves to describe the profound distress and despair of his situation, while also asserting that these trials are perceived as originating from God’s hand.
The only way to penetrate the secrets of Iúri Oliveira’s musicianship is through the spiritual door. That portal has now been opened with Mr Oliveira’s Manifesto, an epic percussion poem that begins to show its majesty through the eyes of the Biblical psalm because Mr Oliveira has to be seen – as only the most prodigious musicians are – laced by the celestial glow, whose musicianship is seemingly made with Divine intervention.
The critic in me simply has to move out of the way and bow to the psycho-spiritual to defer to the prophetic words of the psalmist in question.
The “deep” within the psalmist represents his own deep spiritual need, distress, and sense of being overwhelmed by both human and Divine circumstances. God’s Fullness: The “deep” to which it calls is the deep of God’s infinite power, mercy, and sufficiency. Interconnection: It suggests a dynamic relationship where God’s very being responds to and is ready to meet human need.
Context of Psalm 42: Like the psalm’s author, a son of Korah, Mr Oliveira approaches his Manifesto in a state of despondency, longing for God’s presence. He feels as if waves of trouble come crashing over him, plunging him into a “bottomless ocean of sorrow and despair”. Despite his deep suffering, the psalmist also expresses an unwavering confidence and encouragement in the God who created him – and therefore his artistry and his ability to express it in a symphonic percussion tone poem – Manifesto.
Manifesto sings of Spiritual Thirst: The phrase can represent a deep, soul-level thirst for dwelling in the possibility of God’s presence. God’s presence in trials which, like those of Job, is interpreted and expressed as seeing God’s hand in difficult circumstances, understanding that these trials are meant to refine the person and ultimately lead them to God’s greater glory.
Mr Oliveira’s sublime handling of the human challenges through his inspired artistic responses involves Musical Prayer: The passage encourages a deep form of symphonic, percussive prayer, where Mr Oliveira’s urgent need for God merges with God’s readiness to pour out His merciful blessings and fullness into that emptiness.
The result is the magical tone poem which Mr Oliveira calls his Manifesto.