Memories in the music
Greetings,
A lot of my memories reside in the songs I was listening to in the moments. Sometimes the stories in the songs correlated with the experiences, sometimes they didn’t. Regardless, there is something about being taken back in time when you hear a certain chord, or melody, or lyric.
At the same time, I have always been fascinated by writing on music and about musicians. I have spent years trying to be better at writing about music but still feel as if I have a long way to go.
1
In my book Listen To Your Footsteps, I write about how I tried to get my father into my music, generally unsuccessfully, until he heard D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar. It became one of his favourite CDs to play so much so that I eventually bought him a copy. In The Raw, in its own way, explains why, particularly when considering D’Angelo’s influences.
2
Over the years, I have blogged, erratically, about music, under the headings Digital Crates and Life Soundtrack, sharing artists and music that have touched me a different ways. I keep procrastinating on picking that up again but, in the mean time, here is something I wrote: Digital Crates: FKA twigs.
3
I’m a fan of Sisonke Msimang’s writing and thinking. Her book The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela is brilliant. I enjoyed this conversation with her: Sentiment with Intention written by Zanta Nkumane.
4
A random tweet that had me going down a Tik Tok rabbit hole.
5
The media platforms available to us are countless. The media landscape is in constant flux. Every time one feels they have a handle on things, they change. Early last year, I was on Power FM talking my theories around media at the heart of which is the creation of an ecosystem, whether you are a business or, increasingly, an individual. This newsletter is one of the things that I am experimenting with. My Listen To Your Footsteps podcast is another. I constantly have to remind myself that it is important to start and keep going, learning along the way. I procrastinated for years because I wanted it to be perfect, even before I started. One of my more recent episodes is with Zubz, rapper, musician and information systems specialist.
6
My Statistics lecturer in university was an uninspiring German man with a hard-to-understand accent - even for me, who had recently spent a year in Germany after high school. I barely made it through the course, which I was doing just for the credits.
7
A short eighties inspired playlist I am continuously updating. These songs are tied to my becoming a teenager and everything that goes with that.
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Easy, Kojo