Unplayed Piano - Damien Rice

In 2005, Damien Rice, an Irish musician wrote the song “Unplayed Piano” in support of the campaign to free the exiled Burmese leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. It was her 60^th birthday and the 10^th year of her house arrest.

"Come and see me
Sing me to sleep
Come and free me
Hold me if I need to weep
Maybe it's not the season
Maybe it's not the year...."

Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1991 for her non-violent, pro-democracy struggles in Burma. She was placed under house arrest by the military dictatorship of the country without any charges or trial. Her crime: leading a people’s movement for democracy and human rights. Aung San Suu Kyi put the prize money in a trust to improve the health and education levels of the people of Burma.

"Maybe there's no good reason
Why I'm locked up inside
Just cause they wanna hide me
The moon goes bright
The darker they make my night"

She was put under house arrest first in 1989 but was given the offer for freedom if she left the country. She declined. The following year elections were held in Burma and her party won, but the military dictatorship nullified the process. The rest of the world protested but the military held their ground.

"Unplayed pianos
Are often by a window
In a room where nobody loved goes
She sits alone with her silent song
Somebody bring her home"

The period between 1995-2005 saw many ups and downs with her getting released, put on house arrest again and one time she was even imprisoned. She was detained each time for carrying out political activities for freedom which she was barred from. She never left the country for if she did, she would hot have been permitted to return. During this period her husband died in Britain, she could not meet him, he was not allowed entry into Burma and she decided not to leave her country.

"Unplayed piano
Still holds a tune
Lock on the lid
In a stale, stale room
Maybe it's not that easy
Or maybe it's not that hard
Maybe they could release me
Let the people decide
I've got nothing to hide
I've done nothing wrong
So why have I been here so long?"

I make this post today because since the past few days, hopes were building up in favor of her release as her confinement ordered had expired recently. International pressure, urging the military government to review it in her favour went into deaf ears - the dictatorship has extended her confinement term, which is what the news says.

"Unplayed piano
Still holds a tune
Years pass by
In the changing of the moon"

I don’t know what more I can add to this, I really don’t know what more to say. Except that my sleepy brain at nearly 2.30 am in the morning is thinking about how in one part of the world a nation of people continue to struggle for their human rights while here in my own - in one of the largest democracies, politicians prepare grounds to divide people on the basis of caste lines.

I want to thank my friend Amin for bringing to me this wonderful song – unplayed piano. The quoted portions are parts of the song. It has been sung by Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan.

LimeWire

Nope, this isn’t a spelling mistake. I indeed meant Limewire. This is what keeps me from making posts on my blog sooner... psssstttt (at different points of time I have different scapegoats:)

Well, Limewire is all about music. About music download to be precise. It is a wonderful music download software. What I like about Limewire and I want to share my feelings is that it works on the system of music exchange or sharing between the hundreds of users logged on to it at any given point of time. If I wish to share my MP3s, all I got to do is store them in a particular “shared” folder on the D drive. When I am logged in, my resources can be drawn by other users as I can draw from theirs.

It has a great search engine, so different kinds of music is searchable by the title song, singer, genre and the album. Videos can be searched by the same procedure. Download is pleasantly fast.

Hmmmm, viruses? Well, I have been using it for a while and my machine is quite healthy.

Limewire is a serious music download site. Here you go - limewire.com. The software needs to be downloaded from this link and installed first.

I still have'nt been able to figure out how to load MPs on my blog from my machine :( But yes I managed to spruce it up with some music from the net. Here’s Eric Clapton’s, “Tears in Heaven”....

Enjoy browsing as you listen to the music…. oops are your speakers on....

Just a random photo ---


Computer graphics or real?

Buskers and Busking

A friend recently told me that he is a part-time “busker”.

“Busker”, I said, “what is that?”

It is an interesting concept and I followed up with some research on the internet. The dictionary says it is a noun that describes “a person who entertains people for money in public places (as by singing or dancing)”. In another site it is mentioned that the origins of the word is from the Middle Spanish word, “buskar” meaning to “seek or to wander”. Knowing my friend, it is this latter description that fits perfectly!

So basically buskers are street side performers – they may be singing, dancing, acting, painting, sculpting, basically entertaining people passing by or a particular community of people for any particular reason like I have heard of people singing besides the camps of the people affected by the Tsunami to bring some measure of cheer into their lives. Singing and listening to good music has a therapeutic effect, we all know that.

But what surprised me was that busking in some societies is “illegal”. Many big cities in the world have banned it. Can such spontaneous expressions of creativity become a law and order problem, I wonder? No wonder we don’t see buskers around.

Coming to think about it now, here in North India at least we often encounter children and adult men in public transport systems who break into songs, often religious ones or who perform some small craft like jugglery and then pass around a vessel to collect money. They are often from lower economic backgrounds. I wonder if this can be called busking as well?

I also found out that busking is an “ancient” way of living. It has quite a history. Anybody interested in the history can check out here. The writer of this site says something that I thought I must quote, “So the next time you see street performers, carrying on the great and ancient occupation of busking, remember the history they carry, and the risk involved, and remember to toss a buck or two their way.”

Well, my friend and his troupe :) are great fans of Bob Dylan and Neil Young, the legendary singers and songwriters who have been buskers themselves. They sing and play the guitar on the streets of Kula Lumpur and entertain people with classic pieces like “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Forever Young”, “Helpless”, “Heart of Gold” etc. etc.

I have been trying to see if I could upload the mp3 of “Forever Young” and “Heart of Gold” here. The lyrics are beautiful. I came across something called the audioblogger that took me to some unknown territory but without really providing a solution. So I give up (for now). In any case if that does not work, I have come across this wonderful music download software and I will share about it soon.

Anyway the lyrics for now –

Forever Young
May god bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stayyyyy forever young
Forever young forever young
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth and see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young forever young
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation when the winds of change shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young forever young
May you stay forever young


Heart of Gold
I want to live,
I want to give
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold.
It’s these expressions I never give
That keep me searching for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.

I’ve been to hollywood
I’ve been to redwood
I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold
I’ve been in my mind, it’s such a fine line
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.

Keeps me searching for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.
Keep me searching for a heart of gold
You keep me searching for a heart of gold
And I’m getting old.
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold.