Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Memories in Music

I'm waiting for dinner to cook (a coconut milk curry) and I'm messing around with a website I had forgotten about called Pandora. The website creators have taken millions of songs and catalogued them according to musical criteria (minor or major key, types of beats, musical texture etc.). So you can make a "radio station" that you like and they will play songs of the same musical type. It's pretty fascinating because their library is so large and they come up with lots of unknown good stuff.

Anyway I was listening to some suggested songs when Manu Chao came on. Some songs hit you like an icicle through your body and stop you because they evoke such a strong sense of memory. This song had this effect. I haven't listened to Manu Chao in years since my CDs have been packed away so long. But once, back in California, I used to listen to it. I think this particular album we copied from Marco's two cousins when they visited - a good time in my memories.

Anyway this song came on and it had such a strong wave of memory the second I heard it. It was the song that goes like this:

Que voy a hacer , Je ne sais pas
Que voy a hacer Je ne sais plus
Que voy a hacer Je suis perdu
Que horas son, mi corazon

Ohh I remember this song. I remember it now but I had forgotten it. It feels so much like the era of California, the dusty feel of Mexico nearby, Spanish-French-English, these languages all melting together. I vividly remember driving along the coast to take photos up north of San Diego. I was listening to this with the windows open, rocky coast, blue sea. It must have been september, not so long before we left for Singapore. I could feel the sun, taste the air. It was such a strong tangible feeling. It's a strong sensation of memory.

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