And now for some music

“French might be the language of love, but German is the language of anger”—Oliver Riedel

Time for a music video.

Today Melancholicus is angry, hence the music will be in German.

Introducing Rammstein:

Jose Gonzalez: Heartbeats

It’s been a while since Melancholicus posted a music video on Infelix Ego, and while ferreting around on YouTube the other day, he came across this gem, namely a video of that Sony Bravia commercial that features thousands of bouncy balls of every shade and colour spilling in slow motion down the streets of San Francisco to the accompaniment of Jose Gonzalez’ song Heartbeats.

This commercial was aired regularly in Ireland around 2005 and 2006, when Melancholicus was in his first year of absence from the seminary, attempting to adjust once again to the lay state and quite at a loss for what to do with himself. Each time he saw it, he was transfixed, unable to speak or to act, and moved by a surge of strong emotion even to the point of tears. In fact, even thinking about it now is enough to cause a lump to rise in his throat. How very odd.

Melancholicus wonders what sort of dark necromancy is going on in his subconscious that he should be so moved by a commercial for a high-definition flat-screen TV. He has not had this peculiar response to other ads for the same product, so there must be something about the combination of the soundtrack and the slow-motion sight of the coloured balls spilling down the street that reaches into the depths of his soul. The song is heart-stirringly beautiful, but played on its own it does not have the same effect. Nor do the bouncy balls, in the absence of the song. But together they draw forth teary springs in an experience of almost religious intensity.

Psychology is a fascinating thing. Enjoy.



Best watched on a Sony Bravia, naturally.

Anathema: Shroud of Frost

Undying odyssey... a myriad of times

The soul has seen
Through eyes of heaven
The imperium of earth
There’s nothing left to perceive

Help me to escape from this existence
I yearn for an answer... can you help me?
I’m drowning in a sea of abused visions
and shattered dreams
In somnolent illusion... I’m paralysed

Infinity distraction...
A pious human disorder
Blind to passage of souls
Conclusion from one remembrance

Help me to escape from this existence
I yearn for an answer... can you help me?
I’m drowning in a sea of abused visions
and shattered dreams
In somnolent illusion... I’m paralysed... why

Transfixed... I gaze through my window at the world lying under a shroud of frost. In a forlorn stupor I feel the burning of staring eyes, yet no-one’s here. Detached from reality, in the knowing of dreams, we know the entity of ensuing agony waits to clasp us in its cold breast, in an empty room. We awake, and it’s true.

I dreamt of the sun’s demise, awoke to a bleak morning. In the emptiness I beheld fate for the dead light is a foretelling of what will be... I saw a soul drift from life, through death, and arrive at Elysian fields in welcoming song. Yet I stand in a dusk-filled room despondently watching the passing of a kindred spirit... there is no song... just a delusion of silence.

— from The Silent Enigma.

AFI: Spoken Word

This ‘song’, actually more of a poem spoken by the voice of the three ages of man, is a ‘hidden’ track after Now the World on the Sing the Sorrow album (AFI at their very best, at least in my humble opinion).



Deep, man.

Next up: This Time Imperfect, whenever I get around to it.

Festival of ethnic music in Dublin

... at least this is how the Irish Independent put it last Saturday.

Melancholicus took these two pictures from the same edition of that newspaper. He was delighted that the event pictured here was featured in the paper, and especially with the photos, since this performance was a question of “I wish I had a digital camera ... why don’t I have a digital camera?”

Melancholicus would have liked to have photographed the performance himself, since he had a bird’s eye view of it from the window of his office. It took place last Friday at lunchtime, in the courtyard in the middle of the Newman building. While at his day’s work, Melancholicus was given a musical treat.

The first photo shows Aruhan and Alatengwula, members of the Mongolian Long Song Troupe. The second shows Liu Fang of Yunan province, China, playing a four-string lute. They were performing as part of the 12th International CHIME conference hosted by the UCD School of Music at Belfield.

The performance lasted for nearly an hour; in both visual and musical quality, it was one of the finest that Melancholicus had ever seen. The performers were dressed in traditional costume, played traditional instruments and sang traditional songs from whatever part of the world they hailed from. Particularly impressive was one of the Mongolian performers who, in addition to playing a stringed instrument (of which Melancholicus sadly does not know the name), alternated between singing and humi.

There is no Wikipedia article on humi, although there ought to be one. It is a peculiarly Mongolian breathing technique — breathing in such a way as to produce musical notes. It is exquisitely beautiful. The first time Melancholicus encountered humi, he wept for the beauty of it; for, if he may stoop to the use of a contemporary cliché, it is an intensely spiritual sound, immediately evocative (to these ears at least) of the face of God, and of His presence in eternity.

*UPDATE: details and more images from the performance on the UCD website here.

Palestrina: Adoramus Te

This performance, from a group of lads at a Mennonite (!) college in the United States, is absolutely charming:



What is most amazing is that they don’t have either a conductor or sheet music, yet their delivery is flawless. It brings a tear to the eye.

AFI: Now The World

Superb amateur video of Now the World, from the Sing the Sorrow album.