SOUNDTRACK OF MY LIFE

MUSIC I LIVE BY... 
November 8, 2011  
 

My life's soundtrack defines and soothes...

FIRST: PAPER TRADERS' art blog challenges... the first task was to create a luggage tag, boarding pass or shipping label for a shipboard voyage. Su Lin Chang, a young, inexperienced, naive and traditional Chinese  woman from Shanghai was embarking on a long voyage to New York to join her sister. Emigrating was a big decision, but she was looking forward to making the United States her new home. She knew it wouldn't be easy leaving all her family members and her ancestral home, but this was an opportunity of a lifetime. It was a long, difficult trip...she had to take two different ships to make it all the way to New York! Here is one of Su Lin's  BOARDING PASSES...

and here is her luggage tag...she only had one bag with all her worldly belongings!

At the other side of the world, in our neck of the woods, Paper Traders' art blog requested artists to create something Native American...I was all over THAT request! Here's my gentle native Faithkeeper...

NOW, my life's soundtrack. The music that speaks to me with the loudest voice has to do with feelings and ideals. John Lennon's IMAGINE beautifully expresses my hopes and dreams for a peaceful world...

"...Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world..."

Michael Jackson's WE ARE THE WORLD struck a powerful chord in my heart... 

Our daughter is the subject of my next piece. It expresses my hopes and wishes for her...even now that she's a wife and mother of two. Lee Ann Womack's I HOPE YOU DANCE...

THE CIRCLE OF LIFE from the hit Broadway musical and award winning movie The Lion King is very powerful for me, combining music and words that I love as well as my love for all things African...

"From the day we arrive on the planet

And blinking, step into the sun

There's more to see than can ever be seen

More to do than can ever be done...

***

It's the Circle of Life

And it moves us all

Through despair and hope

Through faith and love

Till we find our place

On the path unwinding

In the Circle

The Circle of Life"

The Broadway show, Rent  (as well as the movie) introduced the marvelous and tender song, SEASONS OF LOVE. This speaks to me more as I age...

"525,600 minutes

How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets,

In midnights, in cups of coffee

In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife

In 525,600

How do you measure a year in the life?"

I'll bet that Carole King's song, TAPESTRY, is part of the soundtrack in the lives of many people...it's certainly one of my all-time favorites...

"My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue,

An everlasting vision of the ever changing view

A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold...

A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold"

Audrey is a Clan Mother...one of the leaders of the Onondaga Nation (one of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy.)  She's also one of my longtime friends and someone who has had a tremendous influence on who I am! Among the most important lessons I've learned throughout my 25 year friendship with her is the value of giving thanks daily for the many blessings in life. Further, I now believe, as do all indigenous people, that we are ALL brothers...all connected in this thing called LIFE, no matter where we are. I'm fortunate to call Audrey my friend. There's a song in the Broadway show, Wicked, called FOR GOOD, that expresses my feelings of friendship and gratefulness...

"I've heard it said

That people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn

And we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return.

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today

Because I knew you..." 

 I love rainy days! Eddie Rabbit wrote a song entitled I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT... it's perfect!

"Well, I love a rainy night

I love a rainy night

I love to hear the thunder

Watch the lightning 

When it lights up the sky

You know it makes me feel good..."

 Dire Straits' BROTHERS IN ARMS is another one of those songs that screams what I believe...what about you?

Finally, there's a new song by Josh Groban called HIGHER WINDOW that plays a chord in my heart...

"...because there's a light from a higher window

Shining down on us tonight

And the music floats on the breeze

From an easier time..."

This has certainly been a glimpse into who I am...I hope you enjoy the art and can identify as I have with some of the music.

Thanks for stopping by...

'Til the next time,

xox,

abbyj