Music is the air we breathe. It is God's generous gift to us all.
Some higher intelligence animals like dogs, monkeys and dolphins will dance to music when it is played around them, or at least they can be in the mood in accordance with the song they hear. According to some research, even plants in the experiments seemed to sense the music being played to them and behaved accordingly to the moods of different songs.
“This song makes me miss those times that never happened in my life.” That is a comment found down below an uploaded, well known 90s song on youtube.
Before he died, my brother told us to play this song as his funeral, and at his funeral, we did as we were told. This kind of comment was another, all too common one, striking one on YouTube.
“I have never grown older, or grown out of, the age in which this kind of music was all around us. I never wanted to.” This is an another, to which maybe we all can relate to.
Personally speaking, I have never grown out of 80s. I am ever there, ever since I was 13. Prince, Madonna, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Yes, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, Guns and Roses, etc. It all started with cassette tapes, then CDs. And now smartphones. They are always with me. Although some of them had passed away (Prince, George Michael, Freddie Mercury) and ceased to exist in human forms, they are still in my world, alive, well, fresh, angelic, or God-like as ever. I still hear their voices and see their very living souls in their songs almost daily.
(One strange aspect of music for me is that, whenever I hear the same song, I would remember all that was happening when I first heard the song. Yes, I will be missing the event and the people involved in it. Maybe a picnic or a gathering, or a highway drive … it could be anything. And sometimes, before the similar event was happening, or before I met up with the same old people, or the similar type persons, the relevant old songs, all on their own, would be playing in my head. A ‘DJ’ in my head and heart. That is how music works for me.
And these days, on YouTube, we can listen to all the varieties of music, even the Greek music of 2000 years ago, replayed by modern musicians using the ancient instruments remade in these days for that purpose. One other strange thing about music is that even without any lyrics, it can move you the way the music was composed or played. Yes, music speaks without a word. It is also a universal language. Even though sometimes we won't know the lyrics of the songs sung in foreign languages, we could actually know what they were all about and we could feel the emotions. When we had a chance and asked those who knew the language and the lyrics, truly, most of the time, they would be about what we felt and what we thought they must be.
Maybe, music is one of the ways how God reveals his one very secret to his elements-‘us’. Yes, creativity is what it is all about when it comes to advancements in aspects of life. And for that, it takes a lot of imagination, experiment, tolerance, patience, sacrifices, collective efforts, and acceptance of all the people.That is fundamental for all good creations.
Sometimes, I am inclined to think that the varieties, the class and the popularity of the music of a country or a society, may be directly correlated to the intelligence and creativity of that country or society. And again, 'creativity' is the strongest indicator for the level of a society among the other ones.
Today's music industry and the status of the U.S, England, Germany, and South Korea are supporting my thinking.
Phoe Wa
Very nice article.