Humanity is at a point of choosing pathways of how we live; both collectively and individually. The collective is made up of individuals so it is important as individuals we exercise our conscious humanity at this critical time for ourselves and our planet. Humanity can choose to be like a juggernaut lorry forever turning the unconscious wheels of greed, egoism and base level thinking or we can choose to step into our full human-ness and create a path inspired by considered thinking, kindness, appreciation and compassion.
We make the choice and perhaps there will be a widening gap between those who choose one way or another. My hope is, that there will be a growing body of humans who choose human-ness and make life, job and behavioural choices that slowly create a radically different human story. A human story that shows us at our best where we step into our most evolved selves. This can be explored in a myriad of ways every day: through beliefs, philosophy, the arts, work choices, systems we put in place, through every day behaviours and how we deal with difficulty. Our world, our societies and ourselves would simply live happier, more balanced and environmentally friendly lives as a result.
I have recently written two new songs with the qualities of being better humans in mind. The first was written shortly before I set off for my Kulning adventure to Sweden. As a buddhist I have spent many years meditating and contemplating the different facets of love. To love is an awesome thing and quite frankly I think it is one of the best things about being human and it is a quality of emotion we all experience to some degree. It is of course , generally, mixed with attachment or desire and sometimes the pain of losing love is so unbearable that we would rather have an arm or a leg chopped off! But, to love is to live and to love well raises us up to be our better selves. To love truly means we erode the attachment – which is the selfish egoic part of love – and we celebrate and feel the full, whole and higher kind of love. This love is selfless, kind, full of compassion and wanting only the happiness of the other . Self no longer plays a part. It is a beautiful wondrous mind state that is full of peace, joy, bliss and touching tenderness. So, here is my song about the depth and ultimate quality of love.
The Journey of Love
A golden fanfare in the heart
Or a quiet hum of care
To Love is not a wanting
But the quiet solicitude of care
But the quiet solicitude of care.
Chorus
Hold my heart, Oh so gently
Like a flower in your hand
Let it not be torn or broken
But held with respect and care.
To love is to see the beauty
Of each other’s iridescent souls
A wish just to cherish
With the Solicitude of care.
Chorus
Hold my heart, oh so gently
Like a flower in your hand
Let it not be torn or broken
But held with respect and care.
Loving is not a yearning
But a giving through and through
The creation of a living harmony
Allowing the Being of who we are.
So let us hold our hands
In loving, in quiet solicitude of care
A flower of eternal beauty
That can be shared everywhere.
It is in F major and it has a lilting folky melody, more of an English folky melody than a Scottish one. I envisage it with guitar, fiddle and a touch here and there of a Yorkshire brass band in a gentle kind of way. I grew up in Yorkshire and somehow that old fashioned sound can have a nostalgic lilting pastoral feel that can give a timeless quality to a piece of music. The melody is very gentle and slightly nostalgic in feel. I think, because there is a kind of wistfulness to this piece……a wistfulness that might encourage our journey to this beautiful feeling mind of the quiet solicitude of care.
The second song I have recently written is inspired by my Kulning adventures. Kulning uses the Valmodus scale and the Swedish culture has many lullabies . Kulning /calling is also an outside art form that unconsciously uses nature that is around the singer. So, I decided to write a lullaby that celebrated nature and was also a calling song. It is a different kind of calling song. It is a call to our collective souls. It is a call to feel our soul’s rest in the beauty of our natural world. Lyrically I was kind of inspired by the spirit of Japanese Haiku poems which celebrate the transient beauty of nature. So, here is my Valmodus lullaby which combines all these different elements. In between each verse and the chorus there is a small Kulning bridge to honour the kulning tradition and to give it a place as a returning leitmotif in this soul calling song.
Lullaby for our Souls
A petal in the wind
Sunlight through morning dew
Eyes that meet in soul connection
The kiss of summer breeze.
(Kulning leitmotif)
Chorus
Oo la lu la lu la lay
Lula lula lula lay
Sweetly sings my souls lullaby
Soul knowing, soul seeing
Circle that holds all things
Life in a lullaby
Lu la lu la lay
V2
Fire spark of life eternal
Fern freshly unfurled
hands that touch in union
Soft clouds on summer’s blue
(Kulning leitmotif and repeated chorus)
V3
The gift of love’s sweet touch
The blackbird’s evening call
The sigh of gentle tenderness
The soul life of it all
The soul life of it all
(Kulning leitmotif and chorus)
The Lula lay bits are all with harmony and gently ornamented and the last verse takes off and plays with the melody in a different way. It is fun to write a piece in a different scale and weave in cross cultural elements and musical ideas. This song is basically a poetic list of all the things that give us delight and ease and repose! I would like to record it with myself harmonising with myself and to have sound design as the main accompaniment with the added touch of a Swedish cowhorn. This is one of the oldest instruments in the western world and when it is played well it can be haunting and otherworldly. Played badly and it it sounds like a child learning a brass instrument!
I am busy putting them into my singing body- which always takes me awhile in the busyness of life! But, the school holidays are coming and I hope to get one of them at least in some kind of demo form before I go off visiting family and harvesting my abundant garden!
I wish you all lives held in the sweet solicitude of care….
Abi's World of Music 