Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Sunday, November 22, 2015
melodies and memories
I do not credit myself with a musical ear. of course I have my days and my moods. and on a cold windy evening like today after teaching a vaguely interested mba class some Economics for 4 hours and earning a headache in return, and after that taking a walk in the sun and chilly wind near the river to soak in all that beauty and the yellowing leaves and adding cold achy ears to that headache, I prefer curling up in my warm apartment to a short nap and to wake up to something like this.
this btw is my new favorite band.
every time I visit a new country, I come away with some music. this above was the result of a visit to Lisbon, Portugal. although to be fair, the music that comes out of a visit isn't really something I heard there. when I went to Jerusalem two years ago (or was it three years ago), one evening loitering around the lanes of the old city with some other summer school students, we got lucky and came upon a concert inside a church. it was a local band, and I stood mesmerized. because there is something about an old church courtyard and the sound of the guitar and the humming and singing of lilting middle eastern melodies. to be precise it was a rock concert but being Israel, the singing was soft such that one closed one's eyes and swayed to it only to open it and feel like one had crashed into a secret gathering in that enchanted old courtyard. there was a small group of people other than us, who seemed to be friends and family of the band - a mix of young and old.
I spent days after coming back trying to find the band on youtube or elsewhere, but failed. I did however receive a hazy phone video from a friend who had recorded it and felt about it in the same way as I did. and then my failed searches led me to some other artists from Israel, two of whom became my new favorites then and stay(ed) with me for a long time after, even now.
some days before my trip to Lisbon I was leafing through my pocket lonely planet guide for the city and familiarizing myself with the names and locations of places I wanted to see so as to optimize my very short stay there. and I then happened to also watch Bourdain's Lisbon episode, in which he meets up with the above band and realized they would be playing in Lisbon one of the nights I'd be there. alas, we wouldn't really be able to go for their concert as that was the same night as the dinner by the conference I was attending. but I got hooked to their music, again unexpectedly. because before and while in Lisbon, music-wise all I wanted to hear was some Fado. and all I managed of that was 5-10 minutes of standing in the doors of a couple Fado bars and quietly sneaking into the sad soulful singing and the hushed audience. it was beautiful. and yet that's not what I've taken with me of Lisbon music, but this above. probably because Fado live in a dark room such that the pain in the song escapes into the night outside is something that cannot really be captured on videos on youtube but this can.
this btw is my new favorite band.
every time I visit a new country, I come away with some music. this above was the result of a visit to Lisbon, Portugal. although to be fair, the music that comes out of a visit isn't really something I heard there. when I went to Jerusalem two years ago (or was it three years ago), one evening loitering around the lanes of the old city with some other summer school students, we got lucky and came upon a concert inside a church. it was a local band, and I stood mesmerized. because there is something about an old church courtyard and the sound of the guitar and the humming and singing of lilting middle eastern melodies. to be precise it was a rock concert but being Israel, the singing was soft such that one closed one's eyes and swayed to it only to open it and feel like one had crashed into a secret gathering in that enchanted old courtyard. there was a small group of people other than us, who seemed to be friends and family of the band - a mix of young and old.
I spent days after coming back trying to find the band on youtube or elsewhere, but failed. I did however receive a hazy phone video from a friend who had recorded it and felt about it in the same way as I did. and then my failed searches led me to some other artists from Israel, two of whom became my new favorites then and stay(ed) with me for a long time after, even now.
some days before my trip to Lisbon I was leafing through my pocket lonely planet guide for the city and familiarizing myself with the names and locations of places I wanted to see so as to optimize my very short stay there. and I then happened to also watch Bourdain's Lisbon episode, in which he meets up with the above band and realized they would be playing in Lisbon one of the nights I'd be there. alas, we wouldn't really be able to go for their concert as that was the same night as the dinner by the conference I was attending. but I got hooked to their music, again unexpectedly. because before and while in Lisbon, music-wise all I wanted to hear was some Fado. and all I managed of that was 5-10 minutes of standing in the doors of a couple Fado bars and quietly sneaking into the sad soulful singing and the hushed audience. it was beautiful. and yet that's not what I've taken with me of Lisbon music, but this above. probably because Fado live in a dark room such that the pain in the song escapes into the night outside is something that cannot really be captured on videos on youtube but this can.
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