A musician is not the one who plays an instrument.
A musician is the one who through an instrument touches the soul and heart of people.
I saw this phrase a few years ago in a poster, though it was in Spanish: Músico no es aquel que toca un instrumento. Músico es aquel que a través de un instrumento toca el alma y el corazón de la gente.
I liked it immediately, as it is a very interesting and powerful message for us, musicians. Makes us think about how do we play and what impact do we have on others. Do we even have some impact on our listeners? If not, then what we do is just make noise. It can be pleasant noise, but still, touching the hearts and souls of our audience would be the only way to go.
Some ten days ago, I had a small recording session of a song that the local choir director needed for the rehearsals. He guides his choir very well and pays attention to expression and the message that the singers should transmit. A lot of details he works on with them... diction, breathing, phrasing, dynamics, expression and most of all, the story behind the music they are performing. This is actually the first step from where he starts. He tries to picture them the scenes and ambience, the feelings... all in an attempt to transform that group of singing people into a tool that transmits a deeper message and touches the hearts of the audience. Yes, he does it, and those were his words when we met to record the song. He asked me to play with the soul and touch the soul.
Well, I think I just could not have a better song to choose to play for this entry. The topic that @digitalopus has set for week 102 matches both that inscription I have seen and the way the director asked me to play the piece Alfonsina y el mar. I mentioned that composition in this post. The story behind it? The death of a poet, Alfonsina Storni. She threw herself into the sea in 1938 and went away with the waves forever. The Argentine composer and pianist Ariel Ramírez composed the music in 1969, upon the lyrics of Félix Luna. Mercedes Sosa was the first to perform it and the song was published in her album Mujeres Argentinas (Argentine women).
I don't usually share the lyrics of the songs lately, but this time, I think it is worth sharing at least the first verse, it IS touching somehow the souls. The rest of the lyrics can be seen here although it is in Spanish.
I hope this song could reach you and your imagination, and the story behind it touched your souls.
P.S. There is one thing that touched especially my heart today. A collaboration made with @jaydr, finally arrived at the scene of Hive Open Mic. I was very happy to see the published post, there were some inconveniences with the upload and I know how much work he has done to edit, compress, record and all. It was indeed touching to see the beautiful result of all that work.
Feel free to check out his post and listen to our collaboration I am really proud of :)
▶️ 3Speak
