It's not the waking, it's the rising!

Great discovery, thanks to my friend Cavery who sees me at the entrance of Cubbon park at 7 AM on a Sunday morning, removes her headphones, and says, "Hey, I thought of you when I heard this....you are into music, aren't you?" :)

Well, I am into Beauty, in all its forms.... Listen to this!

"It's not the waking, it's the rising
It's not the song, it is the singing..."

"Andrew Hozier-Byrne is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Ireland. His debut single from 2013, “Take Me to Church,” was a massive, multi-platinum hit. In September 2018, Hozier released the song “Nina Cried Power,” which features the legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples. In this episode, Hozier breaks down how he made the song, and Mavis Staples tells the story of how she got involved.

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/song-exploder/id788236947?i=1000427329678&mt=2 "

Nina Cried Power (Song): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBKPI5t9xI8

Lyrics: https://genius.com/Hozier-nina-cried-power-lyrics

Niroshta Raagam

Niroshta - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niroshta

"Niroshta literally means without the lips.If the lips do not meet / touch, then the notes Ma and Pa cannot be uttered.This scale does not use either note and hence the name. It is a very pleasing rāgam."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8OhvsNXSIA

Hello Darkness My Friend....

The Sound of Silence by Disturbed


http://www.mindblowingvideos.com/watch-this-hauntingly-beautiful-cover-of-simon-garfunkels-the-sound-of-silence-by-disturbed.html?h=1

Spiegel im Spiegel

Best stress-buster ever, this piece. On repeat.

Spiegel im Spiegel
Nicola Beneditti

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV4LlCtvgwE

On the Nature of Daylight

Max Richter: On the Nature of Daylight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVN1B-tUpgs

Ariadne

Myth and Creativity: Ariadne’s Thread and a Path Through the Labyrinth
Allison Stieger

"The process of living creatively brings new things into the world and to humankind, but there is a monster guarding the gift, because the maze "takes one to the center of one's self, to some hidden, inner shrine, occupied by the most mysterious portion of the human personality".

http://www.creativitypost.com/arts/myth_and_creativity_ariadnes_thread_and_a_path_through_the_labyrinth

Ariadne
A performance with compositions of Clio Karabelias and a butoh:contemporary dance by Marianna Tsagaraki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW8ZN1X4S9M&feature=youtu.be

The Mercy Seat

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I'm yearning
To be done with all this weighing of the truth.

The Mercy Seat, Johnny Cash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGGSTiDOjKU

Thanks, K.

So let us not talk falsely now

"No reason to get excited", the thief he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late".

  Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower by Emergence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyT3HGB2d8c&list=UUUzqkZ3vsu2DBNw0jSaxepA&index=1

Emergence

Brilliant fusion by the Auroville-based band Emergence, the Carnatic Classical blending in seamlessly!  The video is superb, this one has to be seen, as well as listened to.

Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower' by Emergence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyT3HGB2d8c&list=UUUzqkZ3vsu2DBNw0jSaxepA&index=1

Emergence is a four member band from Auroville, Pondicherry, made up of Krishna Mckenzie (lead singer and guitarist), Mishko M’ba (bassist), Suresh Bascara (drums), and Karthick Srinivasan (violinist and vocalist). They’ve released two albums under record label Blue Frog.

Emergence Music: http://www.myspace.com/emergencemusic, https://www.youtube.com/user/emergencemusic?feature=watch

Music underlies language acquisition

“Spoken language is a special type of music,” said Anthony Brandt, co-author of a theory paper published online this month in the journal Frontiers in Cognitive Auditory Neuroscience. “Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence, and music is often treated as being dependent on or derived from language. But from a developmental perspective, we argue that music comes first and language arises from music.”

Theory: Music underlies language acquisition

http://news.rice.edu/2012/09/18/theory-music-underlies-language-acquisition/

I know, I know, I know that this is changing me

The latest OCD song, on repeat, like some 1500 times. I think I should watch this on really bad days.
And to think the video has a squirrel in it - you know?

R.E.M. - ÜBerlin (Official)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZITh-XIikgI

I know, I know, I know that this is changing
We walk the streets to feel the ground
I'm chasing through Berlin

I am flying on a star into a meteor tonight
I am flying on a star, a star, a star
I will make it through the day
And then the day becomes the night
I will make it through the night

Music and Mental Illness

Conductor with bipolar disorder, on music and mental illness

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20732070

"...Now he hopes to use his talent to help others. He conducts the ME2 orchestra in Vermont where amateur musicians coping with mental illness come together to create music without worrying about the stigma."

The Greek Harp

Clio Karabelias on the Greek Harp, two beautiful pieces with Marie Saintonge on the flute:

Humanity, Clio's composition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7iub3_m3pT4

A Cuban melody: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jei0Pq7SwVQ

You can hear more of her music here: http://www.myspace.com/clioharp

Site: http://www.layatara.com

Sweeping up Fallen Leaves

“….Most music tries to control its circumstances, just as most of us do. But there’s another way to live. Accept indeterminacy as a principle, and you see your life in a new light, as a series of seemingly unrelated jewel-like stories within a dazzling setting of change and transformation. Recognize that you don’t know where you stand, and you will begin to watch where you put your feet. That’s when a path appears.

“After a long and arduous journey a young Japanese man arrived deep in a forest where the teacher of his choice was living in a small house he had made. When the student arrived, the teacher was sweeping up fallen leaves. Greeting his master, the young man received no greeting in return. And to all his questions, there were no replies. Realizing there was nothing he could do to get the teacher’s attention, the student went to another part of the same forest and built himself a house. Years later, when he was sweeping up fallen leaves, he was enlightened. He then dropped everything, ran through the forest to his teacher, and said, “Thank you.”

Page 20, 'D.T.Suzuki', Section 1: 'Mountains are Mountains' from ‘Where the Heart Beats - John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists’, by Kay Larson, 2012.

Immaculate, bereft, deserving to be found

To go with it, John Cage's "In a Landscape", Piano Solo.

Sleep Cycle
Dean Young

We cannot push ourselves away
from this quiet, even in our sprees
of inattention, the departing passengers 
stubbing out their smokes, arrivees in tears, 
lots of cellophane, the rumpus over parking.

Wind scrapes leaves across the road, 
first flashes of snow, it is dark then
it’s really dark. Forgive me for not
writing for so long, I’ve been
right beside you, one of the vaguer
divinities blocking your way with its need 
to confess all its botched attempts at love, 
what started the whole mess.

I love this place, 
its absurd use of balustrade, the chairs 
that dig into the spine, motorcyclists 
propping their drunk girlfriends in the sun, 
men playing timed chess with themselves, 
the guarantees and warnings that entice us 
to the brink of what they warn about.

But we can do no more than pass through 
these rooms and their sudden chills 
where once a plea was entered almost 
unintentionally that seemed at last 
to reveal ourselves to ourselves,
immaculate, bereft, deserving to be found.

Cinder and Smoke

Iron & Wine: Cinder and Smoke

Cinder and smoke
You’ll ask me to pray for rain
With ash in your mouth
You’ll ask it to burn again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=oSarZ7g1F-g

Barcarolle

Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca sing "Barcarolle":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u0M4CMq7uI&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Barcarolle
Offenbach

Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour
Souris à nos ivresses
Nuit plus douce que le jour
Ô,belle nuit d’amour!
Le temps fuit et sans retour
Emporte nos tendresses
Loin de cet heureux séjour
Le temps fuit sans retour
Zéphyrs embrasés
Versez-nous vos caresses
Zéphyrs embrasés
Donnez-nous vos baisers!
Vos baisers! Vos baisers! Ah!
Belle nuit, ô, nuit d’amour
Souris à nos ivresses
Nuit plus douce que le jour,
Ô, belle nuit d’amour!
Ah! souris à nos ivresses!
Nuit d’amour, ô, nuit d’amour!
Ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah! ah!

When it's over, so they say...

Someone told me long ago
There's a calm before the storm,
I know; it's been comin' for some time.

When it's over, so they say,
It'll rain a sunny day,
I know; shinin' down like water...

Song: Have you ever seen the rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Rolling in the Deep

What an unexpected, intense, beautiful way to reach “We could’ve have it all”. :)

O Re Piya/Rolling in the Deep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipNB-ijxHiI

Drumming Happiness

Such joy it was, watching this Punjabi bhangra drummer at 7.30 in the morning - his sheer enjoyment, his involvement, while the dancers danced to his beats.

"One cannot be unhappy and drum at the same time."

'The Red Tao, A Native American Path of Learning'