On listening to a song for the first time..

or the many times after..

Hello again. I was hoping I can publish consistently twice a month, but not succeeding at this for June. Anyhow, music!

I follow this very intriguing instagram account that is musically influenced (I’m not paid to promote them), but the whole idea behind them is to go and find obscure tunes and songs and under-appreciated music in general. What drew me to them was a project of “A song from every country” that they are working on.

Anyhow, I participated in a project that they’re working on, and the question they asked got me thinking in so many tangents. So, here’s the question:

“we want to hear what song you wish you could hear again for the first time. In 100 words (in-keeping with the brand), we want to hear which song that is and why.”

---

A song.

The moment I read that question, there was only one song in my mind. That song is “Soukora” by the legends Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder. I can go on forever on how Ry Cooder and AFT influenced the way I view and consume music. Ry Cooder has an astonishing film¹ about how he went in search for Buena Vista Social Club, and that alone is a topic of discussion.

I don’t remember the first time I heard this song though, But I remember some distinct moments when I was listening to this song. As I was trying to formulate my thoughts in “100 words”, I was struggling, because this song meant and means so much to me. I can’t really describe it. I was trying, and this came out:

“I remember one of the first times I’ve heard this song as I was driving with a close friend who I love towards the setting sun..

This song has followed on to be the song I want to listen to when I want to feel calm and happy.. It renews itself to me with every listen, in its rhythms, melodies, and vocals.. There’s tenderness to its lyrics about the night & the lover, and the heartfelt sweetness in the melodies made me explore Ali Farka Toure in depth, and I grew to appreciate him & this song even more..”

---

That friend I was talking about is a friend I grew to love and appreciate as a brother, during my time in Dubai. I must’ve just explored this song recently at that time, and just wanted to share it with everyone.. I remember distinctly the setting sun, and the reaction from my friend who was brimming with joy as he was listening to the song, and how we all just sat and listened for 6 minutes looking towards the sun as I was driving. We were going to a night kayaking in a mangrove reserve. I don’t have any photos from that drive, or that kayak, but I remember it being associated with this song..

This also led me to exploring a lot of the Malian music and its various traditions, the history of the West African music, the music of the kora, the griot and the Mandinka empire, highlife of Ghana in the 70s, the cuban influences in the 50s, the roots of the blues, and so many aspects of not only the social aspects of music, but also political and historical aspects too. I like to call myself a ‘lowkey ethnomusicologist’ sometimes.

I love you, and I love the night.

I also wanted to understand what Ali Farka Toure was singing about in this song, and I found this rough translation:

“My love it is night now, Wait for me my love. I love you. And I love the night. I like it when it is peaceful at night, Wait for me my love, it is night now. Just wait for me my darling”

And this captivated me. It comes to me as well, as the night and the lover are prominent themes in Arabic poetry. The poets always expressed their sorrows to the night (similar to the sea), and always compared their lover to the full moon. The hopeful nature and sound of the song, and the optimistic love of its lyrics, are not common in the love songs we heard and we still hear. There is something beyond reach in words to how the song makes me feel.

In an order to recall these feelings, this song became the song I listen to before I interview for new positions or jobs (I’m interviewing now, wish me luck!), and I used it as a form of an ice breaker even: “Just one sec lemme mute the music I’m listening to”.

And the more I read about Ali Farka Toure, his music, his life, and his proverbs that he used in almost all of his interviews, the more I became fascinated by how similar his life sounds like the life of my parents in their early lives, as people who lived in the desert, in a hard life, struggling for resources.. Maybe this is another reason why I love this song, the fascination with the artist. I remember meeting a prominent artist from Mali and talking with him about Ali Farka Toure, he said: “Artists love to idolize themselves, more than the people who love them and their music”. And maybe that’s true, but I am ok with it I guess. I always mention him as one of the people I would love to meet whenever someone asks this question. I can go on forever!

Then there’s the part of Ry Cooder, who I didn’t know before this album, and I discovered a lot of his music after. Then, followed by Buena Vista Social Club. The layers this song provided me with kept me busy in many rabbit holes..

But, Why?

Then I wondered, why do we want to re-hear the song for the first time again? And there is a scientific explanation. A fascinating one indeed.

Experts say that songs with a recognizable structure but innovative flourishes will deliver the most euphoria during a first listen.

But I am not interested in that. As I read that article, it seems to me that what makes the song special and want to listen to it for the first time, is actually the many more times we listen to it after. The recognition of patterns, and the ability to understand it even more, or attempt to do so. So, this makes us want to “listen to a song for the first time” more, if we listen to it more. What can you say other than: humans!

---

What does Music mean?

And by this, I feel like music as a vehicle for historical preservation is and was one of the main reasons I felt fascinated by the West African tradition of music in general, and the music of Ali Farka Toure and his compatriots from the Griots², and historical narration. In this phase of exploration, I came to know about Sundiata³, the legendary warrior through music. A legendary fighter from the 12th century. In the West, and generally in the ‘Developed’⁴ world. “The West” generally used it as a source of entertainment, not a historical instrument, and this attempt to preserve oral traditions by some of the most talented and untrained musicians adds to the mystique.

During this time of exploration of this music, I remember traveling for work to North Western Uganda, and listening to Rhumba music by the River Nile for the first time as we were stopping for lunch on the bank.

I remember fondly the time this prominent PhD economics leader in Uganda when he ‘broke it down’ dancing in some of the most authentic moments in front of some of the staff, and it was a moment that I will never forget, forged in my memory. He was talking to us about the music and what it meant to him, and the origins of Rhumba, and how it connects this area of Uganda to The Congo.

Al Imam Al-Ghazali famously said: “He whom the Spring does not move with its blossoms, nor the Oud with its strings, is of corrupt nature; for him there is no cure.”

In attempting to do this, I’m no

Ted Gioia

. Nor am I Oliver Sacks and his Musicology book. I am definitely drawn to the human aspect of music, the social and the way music is used as a mirror for history and historical preservation. I think the next step is to read books about these aspects. Most of West African music books are written in French, which poses a challenge.

The question goes to the reader now:

What song will that be? What do you want to hear again for the first time?

---

Other things:

There’s this small documentary that explores Ali and gives a great introduction to the man, and his influence on the world of West African Music. There are many more, but I think this helps draw you closer to my fascination.

In writing this I stopped so many times to watch videos I’ve been watching again on the music and the person Ali Farka Toure is, like this & this.

Ry Cooder, touted as one the artists who changed music, has gone to produce the famous Buena Vista, and all that came from it.

A recent photo:

Greenwood Cemetery flowers. How do people take walks in cemeteries?

Currently reading:

1. Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. The first book. The Arabic translation is 2 books of +500 pages each. Once I’m done, I think I will be done with Dostoevsky’s major works. Read Brothers Karamzov, and Crime and Punishment, last year.

2. The Anarchy, by William Dalrymple. I wanted to grab a ‘light read’ from the bookstore, I ended up with this. I guess anything is lighter than Russian literature at this point.

Till next one..

1. Here’s a link to a short intro about the film.

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griot

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundiata_Keita

4. I would love if we called it ‘the fortunate’ world. The developed world carried out some of the most barbaric acts. Let’s not talk about ‘first world’.