5. Hello - Al Gafur (The Forgiving) Adele (UK)
Happy New Year to you all!
Im so grateful to be writing this blog as it helps me to notice the music in my life. When I imagined life without music, it was unbearable. However I never thought it would lead to such a desire for truth and passion. I thought I would have music all around me like when I was younger. Id follow the charts and knew which song was going to be number 1 before it was. In reality I've noticed that I don't listen to much music compared to before. After watching a video by Producer Rohail Hyatt who was the pioneer behind Coke Studios in Pakistan I have understood what is going on with me. Ive accidentally tuned myself into a different space - I say accidentally because I don't think I would have intended this for myself. I love music but in seeking the truth about music Ive developed a deeper connection. I want music to impact me in new ways so that I can feel myself in ways that I didn't expect to. Adele did this to me recently when I had the radio on whilst driving. It was her track Hello. Isn't there always a song on the radio that is about you in some way. In this song I would be the person that Adele would be singing to. I feel the shivers and the haunting in the vocals and music but I wonder how I would respond to this.
According to my source the 34th Name of Allah is The Forgiving. “Al-Ghafur is the essence of forgiveness, because it reveals the depth of the divine heart. Al Ghafur means to forgive all the way into the deepest possible place, all the way to the ground floor. It is the divine forgiveness that penetrates into the most repressed secrets in our hearts. Its presence allows us to accept that there is forgiveness even for the worst crime we have ever committed in our life or the worst crime ever done to us.” So have I forgiven or not? Listening to Hello for the second and third time the song exposes a wound I once had. But I no longer feel any pain from this. But I do feel the pain of the singer who has not moved on. I imagine what I would do about this. Id like to make a song responding to Adele. For me the conversation needs to be in a different place, on a different plane. Perhaps this will broaden the horizon through which events are seen and help heal the pain I feel for the singer. Whats your experience of forgiveness? Is there a song that reminds you of a wound? Or a song that heals you? I leave you with the idea below as inspiration:
What is forgiveness?
Sufi replied: It's the fragrance that flowers give when they are crushed.