What a catalogue of selves, captured and soundtracked. Keep this with your other essential documents. As music seems to be the only thing that doesn’t disappear with dementias, should that ever befall you (perish the thought), you have your treatment for memory preservation at the ready.
Thanks Steve. Yes, that's true. I find that tracking these memories also generates more. I initially (naively!) though this was going to be a shorter post but I found certain memories (and songs) wanted to root out others and sit with them. And there would be a whole different set of memories and songs if I'd taken a slightly different route, which is something I plan to do on other occasions.
The Road Goes On Forever was the closing song at my wedding reception. We used the longer, faster version of it from REK's "Live at the Ryman" album. Honestly, wasn't quite sure my grandpa was going to survive but he was out the for all 10 minutes dancing it up with a bunch of us in our late 20's.
Thanks for this, I quite enjoyed it. On a somewhat related note, I spend the better part of a year (by choice -- long term university library loan) reading and absorbing "Fado and the Place of Longing." Your work gives me much to digest and appreciate. When I revisit Lisbon in my mind (particularly Alfama), many of your discursive topics about that city enter my mind and mingle with my own recollective experiences.
Thanks for commenting James and for taking the time to read my work here and in the book. A lot has changed in Lisbon since I researched it, though some things remain more or less the same, especially the relationship between the music and the spaces. Do you have any particular fado singers or songs you're fond of?
I'm a fado genre enthusiast, and I don't speak Portuguese. As such I am entranced by fado artists and their delivery, and not so much by individual songs. The fado artists I listen to most frequently would likely not surprise you, and include Misia, Katia Guerreiro, Carminho, Mariza, Cristina Branco, Ana Moura, Sara Correia, Maja Milinkovic, and Amalia Rodrigues. I'm also a sucker for the Portuguese mood music of Madredeus, and have an awful lot of their albums.
Nice. Some favourites there for me too definitely. I've not been keeping up with recent releases as well as I used to, whether from these artists or others. Your mention of Maja Milinković encouraged me to check out Fadolinka and Fadolinka 2.0, which I hadn't listened to, so thank you for that.
Well done, Richard. This is a fantastic piece of writing and music sharing. I suspect those who grew up with music as our life's soundtrack can pinpoint moments in time and the music that was playing. I know I can. For my children, and given they have so much external noise, it may be more difficult. But I hope not.
Thanks Dusty. I hope the younger generations can find similar memories. I realised doing this that many of mine were quite media-specific or format-specific and of course those things change, and you're right that was less noise then. But the attachment of sound to experiences is hopefully something that continues to help young people navigate their memories. I get that impression when I read YouTube comments by younger people and also when I hear my students, many of them thirty years my junior, narrate their recent pasts according to musical anchoring moments.
That is an excellent point about YouTube. Your post got me thinking about my choice of cover songs as a musician. Many of the songs I've played had touch points for me, albeit some not entirely specific. But my new album features nine that did have an impact on my life's timeline at one point or another. Cheers.
What a catalogue of selves, captured and soundtracked. Keep this with your other essential documents. As music seems to be the only thing that doesn’t disappear with dementias, should that ever befall you (perish the thought), you have your treatment for memory preservation at the ready.
Thanks Steve. Yes, that's true. I find that tracking these memories also generates more. I initially (naively!) though this was going to be a shorter post but I found certain memories (and songs) wanted to root out others and sit with them. And there would be a whole different set of memories and songs if I'd taken a slightly different route, which is something I plan to do on other occasions.
The Road Goes On Forever was the closing song at my wedding reception. We used the longer, faster version of it from REK's "Live at the Ryman" album. Honestly, wasn't quite sure my grandpa was going to survive but he was out the for all 10 minutes dancing it up with a bunch of us in our late 20's.
Nice choice!
Thanks for this, I quite enjoyed it. On a somewhat related note, I spend the better part of a year (by choice -- long term university library loan) reading and absorbing "Fado and the Place of Longing." Your work gives me much to digest and appreciate. When I revisit Lisbon in my mind (particularly Alfama), many of your discursive topics about that city enter my mind and mingle with my own recollective experiences.
Thanks for commenting James and for taking the time to read my work here and in the book. A lot has changed in Lisbon since I researched it, though some things remain more or less the same, especially the relationship between the music and the spaces. Do you have any particular fado singers or songs you're fond of?
I'm a fado genre enthusiast, and I don't speak Portuguese. As such I am entranced by fado artists and their delivery, and not so much by individual songs. The fado artists I listen to most frequently would likely not surprise you, and include Misia, Katia Guerreiro, Carminho, Mariza, Cristina Branco, Ana Moura, Sara Correia, Maja Milinkovic, and Amalia Rodrigues. I'm also a sucker for the Portuguese mood music of Madredeus, and have an awful lot of their albums.
Nice. Some favourites there for me too definitely. I've not been keeping up with recent releases as well as I used to, whether from these artists or others. Your mention of Maja Milinković encouraged me to check out Fadolinka and Fadolinka 2.0, which I hadn't listened to, so thank you for that.
Well done, Richard. This is a fantastic piece of writing and music sharing. I suspect those who grew up with music as our life's soundtrack can pinpoint moments in time and the music that was playing. I know I can. For my children, and given they have so much external noise, it may be more difficult. But I hope not.
Thanks Dusty. I hope the younger generations can find similar memories. I realised doing this that many of mine were quite media-specific or format-specific and of course those things change, and you're right that was less noise then. But the attachment of sound to experiences is hopefully something that continues to help young people navigate their memories. I get that impression when I read YouTube comments by younger people and also when I hear my students, many of them thirty years my junior, narrate their recent pasts according to musical anchoring moments.
That is an excellent point about YouTube. Your post got me thinking about my choice of cover songs as a musician. Many of the songs I've played had touch points for me, albeit some not entirely specific. But my new album features nine that did have an impact on my life's timeline at one point or another. Cheers.