The end of the weekend, an end of the end I could say, I'm trying a pun that I don't know if it sounds good in English in the idea that everything has an end, even.... the end. Even vacation at the sea!
This is a hard time for me to start something, and I'm trying to start writing something. Not only that, it's hard to decide what to write about. It's hard to decide on a topic in a very good situation with several possibilities. I can write about a walk, a trip, a museum visit, or coffee in the morning. I can't choose, especially as it's late and I'd like to finish relatively quickly to watch the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics on TV.
In the end, I think I'll turn again, for I don't know how many times, to the suggestions found in Weekend-Engagement topics: WEEK 218
Good music/Bad music
Explain what each sounds like to you, how you define good and bad music, and give examples
Music is one of my greatest passions, along with movies and photography. If I think about it, I realize that music comes first because unlike film and photography, which I watch and do (photography) from time to time, music is almost always with me. I often hear music in my head even when I sleep...
I like to talk less about music, but to listen to it more.
However, I have to have an opinion. In my opinion, any opinion can only be subjective. No matter how knowledgeable and educated someone is when talking about music, they cannot shake off their subjectivism.
Of course, there are hierarchies and classical music is the highest. But there are so many kinds of music, and all are made with only seven notes, the same seven notes!
It's easy for me to choose and I like to think that most ordinary people think the same.
Good music is music I like and bad music is music I dislike!
A small foray into the music I like, with musical examples, helps to understand better my opinion. Just as a photograph is worth a thousand words, so a song is worth more than all the words in its lyrics.
I started listening to music when I was a small child and as I didn't have the strength and knowledge to listen to music, I had to listen to the music that my parents and grandparents liked, folk music.
Since I was a teenager I could choose what to listen to and it was soft music, I don't know if that's the correct term and then I guess I could say it was a kind of pop music.
Italian music first ...
Domenico Modugno - Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)
you can see and listen here
Then French music...
Jacques Brel - La chanson des vieux amants
you can see and listen here
And then came the blow that made me dizzy and brought my passion for... Pop-rock music.
The Beatles - Come Together
you can see and listen here
From here on, from 10 years to 70+, only good music. Impossible to exemplify, for lack of space and time. I hope you can imagine...
Examples of good music in my subjective choice.
I also have to say something about bad music.
Bad music is music that conveys negative feelings and moods. No matter how well it's done and how successful it is.
I have an example from Romanian music. This music is called "manele" and it is of oriental influence. It is favored by one ethnic group (gypsy) and a large part of the country's population and I have to say that it is the less educated part. I am not discriminating, it is a proven fact. This is the main music at parties and weddings. It is melodious music, it often sounds good but the lyrics are overwhelmingly of very poor quality. Simple, often obscene, and violent...
Dani Mocanu - Hai sa ne iubim ca nemții(Let's love like the Germans)
you can see and listen here
"Manele" is the opposite of rock and that's why rockers in Romania hate it.
There is a joke...
A rocker returns home after a concert and a lot of alcohol. He doesn't feel well, he's sorry, and then his mother tells him... Dear, can I make you listen to some manele to make you vomit?
I don't listen to manele because I rarely drink alcohol. There might be some manele worth listening to but I don't know them.
Anyone who listens to a lot of music is certainly curious to get to know as many genres as possible, from popular to classical. To understand and appreciate classical music takes a long and arduous adjustment. It is well worth it because what you get is delightful. I stop with this example, with the greatest tenor and the most famous aria from the opera Turandot!
Luciano Pavarotti sings "Nessun dorma" from Turandot (The Three Tenors in Concert 1994)
Nothing more can be said after Pavarotti. Life is beautiful and worth living even just listening to music.
The images illustrating the songs are captured from YouTube videos.