The Philosopher's Attic

One of my big loves and heartaches at the same time is any kind of irish or celtic music. Heartaches because one of my unaccomplished dreams was to learn the Irish Harp and play the flute or Ullean Pipes in a pub somewhere in the backland of Donegal. Sounds like your average point on a list of things you’d like to do before you die. A bucket list of sorts. The longing in my case however takes on dimensions that can border on the tag of ‘unrequited love’.

Apart from one of my favourite Podcasts, the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast I satisfy my longing and dreams with quite a few folk and irish artists. Of course there are the well known ones such as Enya, Clannad, Loreena McKennitt or even Moya Brennan and Aiofé that quite often make it into the bill board charts – particularly around Christmas – there are some that offer a heartfelt new interpretation of the Irish theme to the lover of such music.

One name that is not so widely known is Kate Rusby. Even if The Guardian and other English Newspapers declared her the most well known folk singers of our times, outside of the UK barely anybody has ever heard of her.
And even if such well known names as John McCusker (who later became her husband) show the level of her work and brilliance in her tone and writing, outside of the folk scene, not one song of her was ever featured anywhere else but on the CD of the Sharpe Series.

Originally from South Yorkshire, born into a family of musicians as is the case with most folk singers or musicians, Rusby is a very discrete artist, again not unlike a lot of artists from this genre. But as Helen Brown wrote in the Daily Telegraph about Awkward Annie (her last album of 2007): Listening to Kate Rusby’s lovely new album, it occurred to me that she’s England’s answer to Dolly Parton. Not in terms of the wigs and the sequins, but in her quaveringly sincere ability to tell a simple, downhome story in a song and make your heart ache for it. No scandals, but so much talent.

The only song to ever make it into the official Chartsin 2006 was ‘All Over Again’ which featured Rusby beside Ronan Keating. A song he redid and resang with other female singers such as Foortje. (Read her biography on her official site from the first link on how much she liked that cooperation.)

After six studio albums and countless folk festivals, Rusby has never lost that spherical shine in her voice which comes naturally and without any superficiality through the headphones. Her music is something to be put on in the early hours of a Sunday morning when the fog hasn’t lifted and exposed the land below. When the idea of a fairy dancing around your garden, gracing it to flower, is not yet burnt away by the midday sun.

Edit: Again it’s impossible to get my RSS to show all the Youtube videos I embedded. So please, head over to the post site to get all the goodness.

yseult Personal, Soulfood folk, music, song

Why do we even have friends? Why do we link ourselves with others when there’s only heartache, abandonment, betrayal and pain to be had from it…?

The question is as old as society itself and probably even as old as language itself. Consequently philosophers, thinkers and good people have produced a varied catalogue of ideas on the subject that range as far as just stating that man is not made to live alone to a completely utilitarian approach: because it serves us.

But even if the simplistic theory that we can have ethical considerations and moral decisions towards our peers and fellow human beings only because we recognise ourselves in them falls short on several accounts, the intellectual approach that we care because we can or must, doesn’t help much more to understand what it is that makes us connect to this person, but not that one.

Quite generally speaking we are brought up with the idea that caring for others is an ideal to aspire to. That stepping out and away from the weight of your own needs and make someone else’s fears imperative for yourself, brings you something more, offers you some kind of insight into your own soul and one step closer to a ‘good life’.
There is no religion and no social system or idea that does not operate on this basic idea either by reinforcing it or by negating it.

But is the abstract idea of some heavenly reward in an afterlife or aspiring to the ideal of a good life or being a good person, really enough to account for the fact that we do against all odds, against adversity, despite rejection, hurt, desolation and frustration reach out, touch others, take up their burdens, listen to their fears, soothe their minds again and again?

Because secretly we hope that the people we care for will do the same for us, for even if I am someone who’s not used to facing the problem of not caring enough, but rather too much even for strangers that cross my path… even I am sort of speechless when in one of my weaker moments I am ignored by my friends.
That fundamental element of ’shared love and shared burden’ doesn’t make us manipulative or even interested in the way we deal out our affections and our readiness to help, but rather it points to the next even more fundamental characteristics of our human condition: we need care.

We need people taking care of us and our emotions, people noticing us, recognising us for what we are and who we strive to be, listen to what we have to say or teach or even cry about and what makes us passionate. We don’t need it just to feel better or inflate our egos, what I am referring to is much more basic, much more unreflected. It’s not so much different than the impulsive touch towards a pet or a baby and the basic level of need either the animal or the baby feel for that touch and proximity.

Thomas Merton wasn’t the first to use the phrase ‘no man is an island’, but he certainly took the concept to a completely different level. His reaching out seemed to know no boundaries and looking closely at his biography might even suggest that it bore dangerous self-annihilating traits. And yet, his generosity of heart has become an ideal… because, no man is an island.

But what does that mean? Truly? That ultimately we’re flawed and can’t ever be enough on our own, for our own? I shouldn’t think so. I find it much more inspiring to think that our actions, however small they may be cause a light to shine (or ripples across existence, if you prefer that image) that – not unlike a seed – will grow over time, be reinforced by connecting to others and caring for them and it will eventually affect people outside of our immediate range of action… if we cannot believe that our actions influence others around us and our surrounding society, what else keeps us from not shutting down and surfing the ego trip to self destruction?

In times where dehumanisation is something that is so quickly achieved, where the mass of people in our immediate focus has grown exponentially through internet and modern media, where friends can be nothing much more than a few points on a computer screen and a name (maybe just an avatar), the danger of limiting people, shutting them out, casting them off or simply not taking care of them is even bigger than before. Not only does the internet make it much easier to connect with each other, it also makes it much easier for us to lose focus on the most important thing in life: nothing remains. We can’t take anything with us. When we die, all that remains will be the people we’ve loved and the ones that have loved us and the icon of a memory of that love.

So, we better start minding our friends, caring for their hearts, accepting their limits and loving them for what they are. Not because they deserve it or because we might need them one day, but because there is no greater and more effortless gift than love.

Be generous with yourself and someone you haven’t dared to reach out to today. It’ll make their day a brighter one and your heart shine harder.

yseult Issues, The Odd Philosophical Question ethics, Philosophy, vices, virtues

Music is one of the most visceral and dividing standards of any culture that there is. Ever since the production spans of albums and concert tours have lessened, the explosion of styles and their according subcultures has become a phenomenon like no other in the history of mankind.
According to what you like to listen to, there’s a whole lifestyle that goes with it today. And while that in itself is an interesting observations, it’s not the aim of this post or the new series I am starting today.
Among this major industry and between bill board charts and sales, there are artists that get lost, but not unheard.

Some of these artists deserve a bit more exposure and I thought that by sharing a few of the hidden gems I have waiting in my iTunes library with readers and friends, everyone could be served.

So, sit back and let yourself be inspired by artists and songs that you barely hear on any radio station or in any chart listing.

Madrugada

A group I discovered through my husband who in turn discovered them when he visited friends and working collegues in Norway. The band name is in fact misleading rather pointing to a Spanish dawn rather than Norwegian solid guitar rock with a voice to melt stones and rival with the best from Bryan Ferry to Nick Cave. After four studio albums and waiting for the big break in the US or across mainstream Europe, the band’s guitarist died under unknown circumstances in his flat… they finished their last record titled Madrugada nevertheless and all fans agree: it’s probably their best. Unfortunately it seems like it will also be their last. The group has split up and no notice of a reunion has been announced.
The first video was the first song I got to hear from them and I’ve been under their charm instantly. Melancholic, haunting and with texts as bold and poignant as they get.
In between Albums, they recorded a song for Ane Brun’s Duet album, another fine artist that will be featured here very soon.

Ane Brun and Madrugada

And finally, last year, after the sudden death of their guitarist, the group finished the album with the remaining artists and it is my favourite of them so far.
Listen to this to know what I mean:

Sivert Høyem’s voice holds so many colours, so many shades of emotions and the sound has a feel of something you’ve known for a long time… like your favourite sweater or cardigan, that wraps itself around your soul and heart and leaves no place for superficiality.

• Madrugada on Wikipedia
• Official Homepage
• Madrugada Lyrics

EDIT: RSS Subscribers, please read the original post on the blog to see and listen the embedded videos that apparently aren’t parsing properly here. Sorry for the inconvenience.

yseult Personal, Soulfood art, music