The Judge
RAVES!
Date: 29/12/08
Music Hath Charms...
I've remarked before that music may be the nearest we will ever get to a working time machine, in that certain pieces and songs can transport one back to the time of first hearing it, or to a time of great personal significance.
It has other effects too.
I'm in the process of writing another piece for Transdiffusion, and I needed to check out a piece of music which was relevant to the events I'm trying to describe in the article. The music in question is the Baîlèro or Shepherd's Song from Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne.
I needed to hear the song again to see if it was as I remembered it, so I went to YouTube to see if anyone had uploaded it there in some form or other.
I found more than one, but settled on one which set photographs (presumably of the Auvergne) to a recording by the Finnish singer Karita Mattila. I clicked the 'Play' button and settled back...
...and found that within a minute or so, I was sobbing like an eejit. So much so that by the time the thing finished I had to go and lie down on the sofa, so overwhelmed had I been.
OK, drink had been taken. But I hardly think that one can of Guinness Original would cause that sort of reaction. Music, of all human art, speaks to us in the most direct fashion - it's almost visceral, primal even.
But I know all I'm doing by saying that is trying to intellectualise myself out of my embarrassment, and it won't do. See and hear for yourself:
Update: Unfortunately, the person who posted the original clip has had his/her account terminated, and I can't find another one of Mattila singing it...
Update Update: Found one!
