My Monday Rant: The Palette of My Musical Palate

Monday, 21st October 2024

Hello Monday, my old friend...?I have come to talk with you again, because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping. And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence.

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That's a rendition of Paul Simon's "The Sound of Silence". Well, in the song, he's talking to darkness, not Monday... obviously! The opening line has been dubbed (by most people, since I can't quote any direct reference to that) as the most catching introduction to a song, and I personally always add, "right next to the live performance of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, at Live Aid, 1985 by Queen." I confess, I always knew about Queen but I never really listened to their music until I watched the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody; I think it perfectly captures the dynamics of the band, Queen, and the energy that Freddie Mercury brought into the band and in music generally.

Talking of artists whose music I was a bit late to; none other than Bob Marley. I mean, really listening to Bob Marley, not just Three Little Birds. Even in the early stages of just One Love, it was really difficult to believe that Bob Marley died before I was born, his music felt and still feels so relevant and refreshing! And as another of my favourite Reggae Artists, Joseph Hill, once chanted... "Here I chant for you, the Psalm of Bob Marley... and for everyone to sing." AND just like that, that got me in the mood for more Bob Marley this morning... "No Woman, No Cry", "Stir It Up", "Trenchtown Rock", "Waiting in Vain"... as, I chant on that one drop beat. ?? Don't forget, "Natural Mystic", "I shot the Sheriff" and the famous "One Love", "Three Little Birds". Reggae Music is my go to anytime I wanna listen to something and I don't know what actually - you can never go wrong with Reggae. Gregory Issacs, UB40, Culture, Chronix, Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller, Burning Spear... these are some of my favourite artists, take a pick, anytime, any day!

Actually, it is through Reggae Music that I learnt to appreciate instruments more; I learnt to seperate each sound and follow just that at once and I gotta tell you, it is so fulfilling. And that brought me to Graceland, Paul Simon's album that was released in 1986. Through that album I got to know the bass guitarist, Bakithi Kumalo. If you don't know him, just listen to "Diamonds On The Soles of Her Shoes" and the tittle song, "Graceland". Try to ignore everything and just listen to the Bass Guitar... if that doesn't make the hairs on your skin stand, I don't know what will. ??. I'm a Mosotho guy, I like the accordion and needless to say, "Gumboots" and "The Boy In The Bubble" just hit differently on that front. I think the accordion was played by Ntate Forekhe in the original songs (not 100% certain) but the later performances, it was Tony Cedras and he was doing one hell of a job on that! Take time to watch the Graceland Concert from Hyde Park, on YouTube.

My daily dosage of music is hardly ever one genre. In fact, it is not uncommon that on my playlist you could find a combination of everything from Opera, Kwaito, Famo, RnB, Hip Hop, Dancehall, Reggae, House... and everything else in between. In music, unlike in movies where I would talk about "one of my favourite movies of all time", I do have a favourite song... of all time, Phodile by Guffy! It's just the vibes with it, and of cause, the beats. That is a Kwaito song, so I guess clearly on that genre I have a pick, but I haven't been so lucky with other genres - my picks my change with the weather. Who is keeping the score anyway?

As Bob Marley says, one good thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain... so, hit me with music now!

Até proxima semana!