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Sunday 23 March 2014

Jig of a very original life

'Challenge the status quo' - I sort of lost count of how many times I heard/read the line and I can't help but think about its empowering nature, and how unachievable it may occasionally seem to me, maybe others as well. 

One simple way I try to keep my spirit up is by searching for daily samples of provocation here and there. It's funny how hope is always at hand, no matter which direction you turn your gaze. I can say this is pretty much how I feel these days. 

Like having a horrible, sleepless night only to learn the next day that your favorite singer is going to play live again, after 35 years. I know I've no talent and blogging about someone with the caliber of Kate Bush is almost like a blasphemy, but I wouldn't forgive myself for not dropping a few words on the matter. I'm a fan. I still tremble with awe when I think of that moment when the news met my eyes. 

I'm not one of those fans who've known Kate forever. I was pretty grown when I decided to move beyond her classic 'Wuthering Heights' and explore her work more attentively. I still cannot fathom how I could have lived for so long without Kate Bush. Her music made such impact in my life that I seriously consider it in 'before' and 'after' Kate terms. 

Bush's songs helped me go through dark, difficult times of my journey. The difference between her songs and all other songs that mark such occasions is that I keep going back to Kate. Always. You know, sometimes you've had a bad experience and the songs you hear to try to cope with that bad event become so stigmatized that you just want to leave them altogether in the past. I could never affirm that about Kate, because there hasn't been an instance when I listened to her songs while I was down that I didn't feel like getting up and fighting back again. 

To make things clear, I have an example. I can say today that I had the most incredible years of my life when I was living in India. Those were, however, very difficult times. So mentally straining that when I look back, I understand how important it was to know and appreciate Kate's music in its entirety. I still remember spending hours listening to it. 

Today it sounds a bit awkward but I used to meditate listening to Aerial's A Sky of Honey. I would sit in half-lotus and in a matter of seconds, I would find myself in a magical place, so safe and so immersed within my soul that it felt like nothing could break me. I still feel that way when I listen to that album,  and I also get a sense of hope and well-being that makes me wonder if she's really real. I mean, of course she's real and about to tour again but it's as if she is channeling something extremely powerful, positive and not exactly from this world. Or maybe she is in such connection to the Universe that all good things get effortlessly manifested through her very existence. 

I think it's brilliant that she is back after so many years. She herself is an example of utter defiance of the status quo, I guess. When she had the opportunity to be cliché and mainstream, she just shrugged and decided to be herself. I think in the end that's what her songs teach me, over and again: in a crazy world the wiser thing to do is to be true to yourself and do what you really want to do. It's always easier said than done, I know. Not everyone has the privilege of being passionate about something. But I think everyone, including the less privileged me, has the power to remain genuine and attain some level of magnificence in life that only self-knowledge and gratitude can bring about. So I'm grateful to Bush for all that she is, for all that she represents to me. 

I would like to go to her show. Right now things seem pretty uncertain, and I can form no conjecture of my next steps, even for the near future. But I do know that I'll spend some hours next week trying to get tickets online. For if someone is capable of bringing out the best in you, even in strange/dark songs such as 'Waking the Witch', then I think she's definitely worthy of all efforts. I may get frustrated if I don't get tickets and I may get even more frustrated if I don't gather the money to fly to London, but I do know one thing:  I really wish her all the best with the shows. She deserves nothing less than full sessions. 




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