music

i was on the bus today, on my way home from a meeting in a nearby city, and was, as usual, extremely tired, sweaty, and generally beat down from the heat. so i decided to put on my headphones and peace out for a bit. i chose the pogues and was immediately transported because it turns out that irish music is completely, utterly incompatible with the jordan. it was great because usually when i listen to music in the car it makes the outside world seem closer somehow; somehow it connects me with the scenery streaming past, who knows why. either that or i end up feeling that i am in a roadtrip movie and the music is just the soundtrack. maybe that's just me. anyway, that was not the case this time. with this particular music i felt completely insulated from the rest of the world because the music just couldn't exist out there. there was no way to imagine it blaring from one of the paneless, square, concrete windows i passed and no one could have it on their phones that they use as mini boomboxes. they just couldn't; the desert outside my window and this music just can't coexist.

i was trying to think of why. at their most basic, irish and arab music are very similar; they use many of the same instruments, and have a similar beat to them. but the way that they are played and sung absolutely couldn't be more different. the feelings behind it, the structure, the...i don't know, the -ness of them are completely at odds. i decided that the major difference was....alcohol. irish songs are designed to get better the more you drink: the music gets more fluid, the words slur together, but it sounds better because that's the way it was probably recorded and intended to be sung. you just want to sing it at parties. even sad songs make you feel better when you sing them. of course singing irish songs also calls to mind green fields as far as you can see and, just as i am usually unable to picture my backyard covered in snow when it is summer, it is impossible to conjure up that image in the face of boundless desert.

so basically i put on some reel when i am bogged down and take a mental vacation. its nice and green and breezy there. even the unreasonable amount of rain is welcome.