Music for Life

What would happen to humanity if music never existed?

I took a moment and went on a google hunt to really understand the meaning of music. I live in Dubai and everything in this city is a luxury....nothing is free. And i mean nothing is free, especially music. Sure i can blast my iPod in the car or dance in my living room to the sound of my TV while i entertain my curious neighbors but if i wanted live music, i had to pay for it and pay a lot!

See music makes your soul dance, it makes your unconscious free...free to be inspired. The rhythm inspires your soul, the melody makes you smile, the sound makes you dance. It brings out the muse hidden deep inside you. As cliche as this sounds, music is life.

I miss the Montreal days, when and if i felt lonely or uninspired, i can at any time, walk down my favorite St-Laurent street, find a coffee shop or bar and sit down and watch local talent (generally a student with a guitar) belt out some random lyrics about loss love. I can do it all alone while sipping my soda water or my 2$ coffee. When i get bored or my ears have had enough, i can walk away. Literally walk away. 

I cant seem to do that in Dubai....i would need to drive to a coffee shop (most are in oversized malls), struggle for parking, pay 20aed for watered down coffee and if i’m lucky the only music i’ll hear is the one coming out of the shop’s sound system or the overly-enthusiastic-karaoke-junky-staff that greet me with: “What can i get you maaaammmm!!!”

You have to live in Dubai to understand the latter....

I cant seem to find one single place with raw talent....live jazz music at any given night, a walk in the park with a wanna-be band or a student with a guitar that just wants to gather some cash for lunch. No struggling artists in the metro, none on the sidewalk with their guitar-case open playing for coins. This place is spotless for free entertainment. 

I use to take these artists for granted. In fact, they use to annoy me as they create pedestrian traffic while i struggle to make it to my appointments on time. Today, i long for them, for the inspiration they gave my conscious, the hunger they made me feel, the foolishness i once owned. 

Oh Steve Jobs, you were no sap when you said; “Stay hungry Stay Foolish”

My soul is deprived. Dry i tell you....DRY. I’m walking aimlessly in the middle of this expensive sand dune headed towards nothing. 

I get overwhelmingly excited when any band comes into concert in Dubai and i’m willing to pay crazy amounts just to watch them. Case and point: Metallica. Tonight, i’m driving 2 hours outta my way on a work night to watch a band i no longer listen to, in the hopes they give me some sort of “fair enough” feeling!

2 hour plus drive and 300aed minus to watch a band i once listened to when i was a teenager. And the only reason i use to listen to them is because my 17 year-old self crushed on a boy that was a devil-horn advocate and a rock star wanna-be. 

Tonight i’m headed to Abu Dhabi to reminisce.... 

On a trip to India once, i met this New York avant-guard artist, who once came on a mission to Dubai to paint the ceiling of the Atlantis hotel. Her mission was to give the Atlantis hotel the feel of the Sistine Chapel. When i asked her of her experience and the honor she had for this project, she shrugged and gave me an empty look. 

“That city is soulless”, she said. With no empathy, she looked at me and repeated: “Soulless!”

I was furious. How on earth can she call it “soulless”? It’s my current hometown after all! If she called Dubai “soulless” it meant i was “soulless”....And that i WONT accept!

So i made it my “soul” purpose to be part of any sort of culture in this city....whether discovering random ethnic restaurants in the middle of Deira or looking for raw talent in friends, or paying a whopping 500aed to watch Yaani in the park across my street! Anything, to prove to that New York artist that i was not a person that lived in a “soulless” city.  

So i call out to all my Dubaiers!

Play that funky music on your guitars, spread that YouTube video of the up-and-coming artist, write those articles for free and blog the hell out of them....be your own artist, feel your own music and pay that whopping cash to see that band on their farewell tour! 

Welcome to my first soulful post!