Like the faint, exquisite music of a dream — Thomas Moore
There’s music in the sighing of a reed;
There’s music in the gushing of a rill;
There’s music in all things, if men had ears:
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres. ~Lord Byron
Every once in a while, I’ll turn on the radio when I’m driving and a piece of music I’ve never heard before, will enter my consciousness with the precision of a blade. The song might express some half-formed thought or emotion that eluded me until that moment of recognition.
And hidden inside the lyrics or arranged in the notes, there is an understanding that transcends words. I am bound to all mankind— others have felt this way. I’m not alone.
In this way music binds us and breaks down all divisions; time, space, language and culture. Whether the singer is Lady Ga Ga or Nina Simone, music is our shared emotional memory.
If you want a nice way to spend an afternoon, go over to Amoeba Music, the legendary Los Angeles/San Francisco Music Shop, and rifle through their elaborate library of FREE downloads. Hundreds of Strange, beautiful and unique songs by obscure bands and Independent labels are posted.
There are so many MP3s, it will take you weeks to cull through them, but the cuts are impeccably chosen; lush, weird and thought provoking. There are some familiar artists like Nirvana and Trent Reznor, or the funky and comical Flight of the Conchords. But most of the artists are burgeoning songwriters expressing their unique vision along with an array of vintage, world and moody ambient tracks.
If you want to further your musical education, check out radio3net and rifle through the ultimate record collection of 1001 classic albums. Listen to the musicians who caught the ear of the world, their albums streamed along with their original covers.
And just like Scheherazade, the hypnotic story teller in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, let music recover the missing pieces of your soul.
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley, Music at Night and Other Essays
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Incredible, I love this piece – The Voice Project I’ll keep coming back to.
Hearing you,
Colleen
Oh dear Amy I Love Nina Simone and Lady Ga Ga but really, I think you could have found songs more appropriate for this site. How this one – it makes me cry:
Dar Williams – The Christians and the Pagans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdV4NW7El5o
I love this song, thanks! I do think that Lady Ga Ga is exploring her shadow side with wit and panache though.