Lost In The Improv

Caught up in starry-eyed dreams and the blurred taste of hedonism, I, a woman who is not a true connoisseur of music, became more and more skeptical towards what went on behind the allure of glamour.

Every backstage pass hung around my neck like a badge and went further into the industry I kept waiting to be thrown out of. But with each such step I could not rinse this bitter taste that spread in the air – music as a soul awakening force has been secondary to the ethos of social rank, the flex of good fortune, the seduction of women, the fog of drugs, and the safety of alcohol.

They crowded what should have been creative sanctuaries, and surrounded me with a grotesque performance. Musicians once viewed as forerunners of people’s sentiments removed several levels higher from reality and turned into living dolls entertaining the audience by their lavish vices. The music, which had once helped in attaining another world, was now only used to provide accompaniment to the obscenities that the possesses of the music produced.

And yet, in the midst of all the clamouring cynicism, there still echoed a melody of optimism deep within me. For even in this disenchanted realm, I found those who continued to fight for the integrity of their work.

In their tunes, I saw hope fit for accompaniment. From the lyrics, I got reality. And so they stayed true to their art and for that, I found my salvation. For they made me realise that beneath the shine and brine is the meaning of music — the passion that can go beyond the external grandeur and vices of the world, the passion which is an extension of man’s essence.

Thus, when the curtain finally drops in this self-indulgent drama, I am forced to, once again, ask myself questions about the right balance artists have to uphold when in search of methods to give breath to their art. Yes, financial stability is necessary, and the desire for achievement is rather tempting. However, one should not get lost in the thought that true happiness does not stem from the money one accumulates or the fame one achieves but in the beauty of the genuine music created with integrity.

Therefore, let us be wise as we move further. Certainly, it is relevant to recall that being on the way to success means being in the midst of gold, but being with the music, means being sustained in life. And in improving the growth of purity of its purest art, we can establish the chord coming from the combination of financial stable and creative freedom as the highest of art where greed and all the hedonistic vices can never reach.

And it is supposed that it is not the acclamations of the spectators or amount of money possessed by us that builds up a musician, but the distinctness of voices and eagerness of notes. And in accepting this reality, we might just find the essence of music once again – that thing which has the makings of a healer, an initiator, and a sorter of all of us across the world.

Music is the language of the soul; it is that one language that is understood by people all over the world regardless of their dialects and cultures. It is not about getting rich and famous, but it is about honesty. Greed’s absence from this situation compels music to act as an outlet for pure feeling, a means of conveying real experience. Music, or any type of art, really. It can be compared to the revue where the speaker directly addresses the essence, leaving behind all the outer frivolous façade. At this point, when creativity is an unparalleled virtue, music has the ability to act as cure, as stimulant, and as a cohesive force which is beyond human comprehension. It is only there that the ‘unwhite’ of music exceptionalizes itself as a music free from desire and, therefore, as music’s true enchantment — as the unlimited and unlimiting space of beauty.

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