Music (Food for the Soul)

I just realized today how absurdly different my taste in music is today from what it was maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I am either very pliable with regard to music, or (and I think this is the right answer) every genre has value to it. And yes, that probably includes heavy metal (well …).

Just a few years ago, I would have disagreed with that statement. I was raised to what are called hiplife and highlife (distinctive Ghanaian forms) and church music. I could not understand any other music then. Take rock, for instance. How could you move to this stuff? I would have described it as the ‘funny music that white people dance to’. Actually, I think I would have said ‘attempt to dance to’. I didn’t quite get hiphop and rap either. Why was talking over beats considered music? Electronic and house weren’t much different. Strangely, though, I had a slight affinity for country and folk. At least, with those, I could hear distinct words so that I could memorize them. That brings us to a crucial point – for me, lyrics mean everything. I can’t really bring myself to like a song if I do not like the lyrical content (or cannot hear it). It is also usually crucial that I should be able to set the lyrics in some comprehensible framework that is relevant to my life, or at least (if they do not make sense initially) understand the thought process of the artist. Due to these reasons, I stuck to my good old Ghanaian music.

Fast forward to today, I listen to a breath of genres that would have scandalized 14-year old Kwesi. Everything from rock, hiphop, folk, country, rap, electronic to (soft) metal, and most things in-between.

The art of introspection requires that I ask how this happened. It’s actually easy to chart. Had I stayed in Ghana, my taste in music would have stayed roughly the same, and (I must add) this would not have necessarily been a bad thing. However, with my travel to Hong Kong and New Jersey, I started to ‘let my hair down’. It started with Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’. It was the first rap song I could understand and memorize. I was blown away by the lyrical genius on there. It was definitely the song that brought me into the hiphop and rap world – it’s still the only rap song for which I know every single line. Rock (and by extension, metal) would come in when I started to listen to Switchfoot in my sophomore year at Princeton. At first, I could only stomach their ‘softer’ rock songs (‘This is home’, ‘Learning to breathe’ etc) but then I was slowly lured into the ‘harder’ rock material. All of a sudden I could understand the words being screamed (for rock and metal) or spoken (for rap and hiphop). These were my inductions into these genres.

Electronic music would play harder to get. I resisted firmly until I spent the summer of 2010 in Europe. There’s something about the European lifestyle that makes you come to like electronic and house. Maybe it’s the socialism, the beer, or the funny languages (I jest). Whatever it was, I was hooked and so now (for better or worse) I know who David Guetta and Tiesto are. Fourteen year old Kwesi weeps silently.

Soul and R&B would be easy to stomach once these more ‘provocative’ genres could be swallowed. Global music  (Chinese, French, German, South African etc) came with making friends from all corners of the world and being exposed to the delights of other cultures.

The one genre that still does not sit comfortably with me is pop music, but I think that goes for a lot of people. The dumbed-down lyrics, overproduced beats and excessive self-promotion make me want to retch (for sure, they exist in other genres but in the pop world, they are the rule, not the exception). Of course, there are a few redeeming songs but trying to find them is like searching  for a needle in a truckload of hay.

All of that said, I would like to share a list of my favorite artists. I like these bands (and singer-songwriters) precisely because for them, the lyrics are of primary importance. They can hold a tune and shred a guitar if they have to, but the lyrics always take the foreground. And they sing rich, meaningful songs that I can relate to, that tell me of the human condition, that tell me of life’s beauty and pain, or that tell stories to delight the human heart and heal its wounds. I primarily go for songs about the divine and love, but any thoughtful creative songs get me. So here’s a list, with at least one great song for each artist.

1. U2 – ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1XXs7e7ac)
2. Switchfoot – ‘Mess of me’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et1vriu29Qk)
3. Jars of Clay – ‘Drummer boy’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb0hAPimGrU)
4. Gungor – ‘Beautiful Things’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyPBtExE4W0)
5. David Crowder* band – “SMS (Shine your light)’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8cAU475dQo)
6. Mumford and Sons – ‘Winter Winds’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KCg_QEHtkY)
7. Muse – ‘Resistance’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPE9uSFFxrI)
8. Audrey Assad – ‘The House You’re Building’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMt78WWLDcY)
9. Lecrae – ‘Background’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHnZRZiCYHE)
10. Sho Baraka – ‘Oh Well’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXROSYtod8w)
11. The Civil Wars – ‘Poison and Wine’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-6EwdDiopQ)
12. Train – ‘If it’s love’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxWK3qACDGk&feature=artistob&playnext=1&list=TLCcELFVEOINU)
13. Damien Rice – ‘The Blower’s Daughter’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YXVMCHG-Nk)
14. The Joy Eternal – ‘The Best is Yet to Come’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXrcrHfjZC0)
15. Downhere – ‘My last amen’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqNcSCdfZbw)
16. Steven Curtis Chapman – ‘Heaven is the face’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9JTwJ_1lzE)

Music has a way of reaching right into the heart and stirring the deepest emotions. My theory is that they especially stir the emotions toward happiness when the heart agrees with the head and the ear. I have found this to be the case for myself, as a dedicated audiophile, musician (bass, acoustic guitar, drums, piano) and singer-in-the-shower. If you ever see me banging my head with my earphones on, I’m most probably listening to one of these guys. Cheers!

Heaven (in my arms)

Heaven's not far when you lie in my arms. 
Peace blows above us with your bright eyes closed, 
your breath keeping rhythm with the heaving of your breast. 
Your lips, pursed, sweet as the break of day. 
Your heart beats soft and gentle. 
How can I hurt while I'm holding you?
Heaven is not that far.

Yahweh and Her (or Till I find You and you)

Poetry borne of procrastination:

My heart is pierced with doubts
Why can I not find You?
Your light is shaded by the clouds
Should it be so hard to find You?
I seek You with all my heart
I want to believe You’re out there
I want to believe You’re here in my heart,
please send me a sign, a hint, a whisper?
I’m restless until I find rest in You.

Why is it so hard to find you?
Surely, a rib He took from me to form you
And, oh, the pain!
They hurt – my sides, how they hurt!
But oh, the beauty He made for me!
your beauty exceeds the glory of all His creatures.
So why do you hide your face from me?
Why do I search and not find you?
I am loveless until I come to love you.

I long to find You and you
You would be my king,
and you would be my queen.
I would serve nought but You,
for you, dear, anything I’d do.
At night, we will look at His stars and smile,
In eternity, We will be united forever.
I long to be with You and you,
I am restless till I find You and you.

Strength for the Day (and bright hope for Tomorrow)

Another reminder that I need to read Bonhoeffer soon. And finish my thesis. Preferably in the reverse order.

“Work plunges men into the world of things.  The Christian steps out of the world of brotherly encounter into the world of impersonal things, the ‘it’; and this new encounter frees him for objectivity; for the ‘it’-world is only an instrument in the hand of God for the purification of Christians from all self-centeredness and self-seeking.  The work of the world can be done only where a person forgets himself, where he loses himself in a cause, in reality, the task, the ‘it.’  In work the Christian learns to allow himself to be limited by the task, and thus for him the work becomes a remedy against the indolence and sloth of the flesh.  The passions of the flesh die in the world of things.  But this can happen only where the Cristian breaks through the ‘it’ to the ‘Thou,’ which is God, who bids him work and makes that work a means of liberation from himself.”

“The work does not cease to be work; on the contrary, the hardness and rigor of labor is really sought only by the one who knows what it does for hm.  The continuing struggle with the ‘it’ remains.  But at the same time the break-through is made; the unity of prayer and work, the unity of the day is discovered; for to find, back of the ‘it’ of the day’s work, the ‘Thou,’ which is God, is what Paul calls ‘praying without ceasing’ (1 Thess. 5:17).  Thus the prayer of the Christian reaches beyond its set time and extends into the heart of his work.  It includes the whole day, and in doing so, it does not hinder the work; it promotes it, affirms it, and lends it meaning and joy.  Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer; not in the unreal sense of a constant turning away from the task that must be done, but in a real breaking through the hard ‘it’ to the gracious Thou.  ‘Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus’ (Col. 3:17).

“Then from this achieved unity of the day the whole day acquires an order and a discipline.  These must be sought and found in the morning prayer and in work they will be maintained.  The prayer of the morning will determine the day.  Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weakness and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer.  The organization and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer.  The temptations which the working day brings with it will be overcome by this break-through to God.  Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God.  ‘Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men’ (Col. 3:23).  Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done with the knowledge of God and His command.  Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed God to give us the strength we need for our daily work.”

Bonhoeffer, Life Together

Kafka on Life

Just become quiet, still, and solitary, and the world will offer itself to you to be unmasked; it has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.

from ‘The Metamorphosis’, Franz Kafka

The Tower of Babel

In the past few weeks, a few experiences have convinced me that when it comes to languages, more is better. I’ll share two:

a. Some time ago, I walked into a restaurant to order food. I was eager to practice my German, and so, with uncharacteristic boldness, I attempted to make the entire order in German. Epic failure. So the waiter switched to English. But his English was worse than my German (which probably takes a lot) so that did not work either. I was thinking it would be best if I just went to bed hungry (most shops close by 8pm. This was one of the few that closed later. At 11pm). But then he spoke in French. Salvation. And then we laughed at our foibles, in French. And I got my food. In French.

b. I needed money badly – I was out of cash, and I did not want to use my credit card. I do not trust Bank of America enough to use my card outside the US. So I walked into a bank close to the University and said I could not speak German. I wanted to exchange a few dollars for euros. Was that possible? No problem. That can be done. Said with the straightest of faces and no smiles by the teller (female). The rest of the transaction went the same way. I thought she was pissed at me, or the world, or life. Something. But then, after everything, I said ‘Danke’. Thank you. Brilliant smile flashes across her face. Replies in German, obviously elated that I was speaking in German. Golden moment.

So here’s my list of languages I would like to be super-fluent in (One can always wish, no?) / think it’s important to know (for varying reasons): English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Japanese, Korean, and Twi (most widely-spoken in Ghana)

Journey to the East: Berlin

Last weekend, two friends (from Princeton) and I went to Berlin. Quite a fantastic journey of epic proportions and ridiculous happenings. I would write up a blog entry for the trip, but I think it’s better if I outsource to a much better writer than I (Yes, that’s right – I just invented blog outsourcing). Thanks, Lillian!