"Use no way as a way, No limitation as a limitation."
- Bruce Lee
NONOM - the literal translation is 'no-nonsense music' - was conceived by a group of South West based music enthusiasts in the winter of 2004/2005. Unlike many other promoters, there are neither a series of rules nor classification of techniques which constitutes a distinct NONOM method of engagement. NONOM is unbound; NONOM is freedom. It possesses everything, yet in itself is possessed by nothing. Those who understand NONOM are primarily interested in its powers of liberation when music is used as a mirror for self-examination.
NONOM is not a new style of music. Its members did not invent a new art composite style, nor did they modify a style to set it apart from any existing method. The concept was to free the followers from clinging to any style, pattern, or mold.
The total picture we wanted to present to listeners was that above everything else, the listener must find their own way to truth. And never hesitated to say, 'Your truth is not my truth; my truth is not yours'.
NONOM do not leave a blueprint, but rather a series of guidelines to lead one to proficiency. Training with equipment, there was a systematic approach in which one could develop speed, distance, power, time, coordination, endurance and footwork.
But NONOM is not an end in itself for us - Nor is it a mere by-product of our musical studies; it was a means to self discovery. NONOM is a prescription for personal growth; it is an investigation of freedom - freedom not only to act naturally and effectively in performance, but in life. In life, we absorb what is useful and reject what is useless, and add to experience what is specifically our own.
No art is superior to any other. That is the object lesson of NONOM, to be unbound, to be free: use no style as style, to use no way as the way, to have no limitation as the only limitation. Neither be for or against a particular style. In other words, NONOM 'just is'.
