2h13. Le sommeil ne vient pas. Je fais défiler les nouvelles. Une nouvelle frappe. De nouvelles victimes. Des déclarations quelconques, inutiles. Aucune issue en vue. J'essaie de me rendormir. En vain. A 3000 kilomètres à l'est, le vieux pays s'enfonce dans une nuit pour le moins mouvementée. Les frappes sur la banlieue sud de la... Continue Reading →
Photo by Jace & Afsoon on Unsplash A en juger par son style « plastique précieux », l’engin a vraisemblablement vu le jour dans les années 70. La radio est encore d’aplomb malgré les épreuves du temps et de la rue, hommage à l’électronique quelque peu rustique mais Ô combien fiable de ces années-là. Le son est chaud,... Continue Reading →
Minuit quinze. La maison dort. Dehors, une bise qu’on dirait de janvier souffle le froid sur les braises mourantes d’un novembre moribond. C’est comme si le mois de décembre s’était défilé. Dans les combles, une loupiote éclaire tant bien que mal l’antre où tous ces vieux souvenirs s’entassent au fil des déménagements: quinze ou vingt... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B801pQ-3iWo I met your music against all odds. I was on a very short business trip to Norway and I was stunned when I heard this song on the TV, by sheer chance, while randomly flicking through channels to keep the lonely silence of the hotel room away. It was a Monday evening, and Norway... Continue Reading →
And her path to a warm home and a friend Photo by Viktor Vasicsek on Unsplash I met her on a cold winter evening. She was laying on the sidewalk, in the pouring rain, abandoned there by her last abuser. She was visibly broken by years of hardship. The old scars were still visible. The more recent ones... Continue Reading →
Apart from the fact that they do not exist, perfect humans would still have one real flaw, that of being perfect. Photo by Levi Meir Clancy on Unsplash A parallel with music Chances are you have heard of musical notes. Of course you have! You might have even heard them too if you listen to music. They’re called... Continue Reading →
With a mellow twist for a newbie guitarist Photo by freestocks on Unsplash Here’s how it goes if you ever feel like playing it, dear potential newbie guitarist. It only takes three very simple chords: A, E and D. A EHappy Birthday to youE AHappy Birthday to youA DHappy Birthday dear RabihA E AHappy Birthday to you Simple.... Continue Reading →
Images and impressions on a piano improvisation by Elie Maalouf — Images et impressions sur une improvisation d’Elie Maalouf au piano Listen to this Summer improvisation on piano. Let it take you places. Here’s where it took me. In English and in French, because why not? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg7H3K-vuVs Elie Maalouf, Summer Impro! A languid question, one... Continue Reading →
The perfect music for grieving Lebanese folks Photo by Marjolaine Blaison on Unsplash I’ve been listening to this piece of music in near-repeat mode for the past couple of years now. It is an instrumental rendition by a Lebanese flutist and a Lebanese pianist of a love song written by Zaki Nassif decades ago and interpreted by Fairuz, called أهواك (Ahwak) ,... Continue Reading →
On a cold night there’s a cold gun, burning through her hand In the lonely town there’s a lonely girl trying to forgetThe tears she cried a long time ago are still haunting her soulAnd in the cold night all the pain she felt was driving her insane Same night many years ago, lying in... Continue Reading →
Or how a cryptic song from the eighties can take us places I have always been intrigued by Nik Kershaw’s The Riddle. I first heard it when I was ten or eleven years old. My ears were still completely deaf to English back then but the words (as far as I could tell), the groove and... Continue Reading →
Or why not actually. All it takes is the right hook. A fellow author recently sent me an article about a musical experiment which took place in 2007, where a world-renowned violin virtuoso would pose as an ordinary busker in a metro station, playing well known classical pieces from Bach or Schubert on his 300... Continue Reading →
This story takes place somewhere in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, in an area delimited north by the Place d'Italie, and south by the Poterne des Peupliers. An area less walked by tourists and typical Paris enthusiasts but not less interesting in my opinion. Nothing can illustrate it more than a walk down the typical... Continue Reading →
Here's a short one on a masterpiece I would like to share with you dear reader. Now close your eyes. And listen... Chopin - Etude Op 10 No 1 in C major, also known as Waterfall His right hand was set in ample motion. Left to right, right to left, and again, left to right,... Continue Reading →
So why does love fall apart sometimes... Many times... If you're a regular visitor, you might have read one of my previous posts which deals with closure, that very final stop on the side of a love and hate bumpy road, a "face à face" hopefully leading to some peace of mind and to the... Continue Reading →
I heard it for the first time eleven years ago, on a Wednesday evening in Abu Dhabi. It felt like a call. More than a call, an invitation. A portal to end-of-19th-century Paris. Don't ask, it just took me there. To a place and an epoch close enough to our time to make the French... Continue Reading →
1:00 AM, somewhere in France. Pink Floyd playing in the background, and I, wrapping up my previous post before publishing it. Comfortably Numb. Or Confortablement engourdi since we are somewhere in France. A masterpiece of progressive rock if you ask me. And by the time David Gilmour was kicking his haunting second guitar solo, hell... Continue Reading →
Or what closure might feel like Photo by Anna Urlapova We meet after all these years over a cup of coffee No more sorrows, no more tears, bitter-sweet memories Time has gone by, years have flown, rain has fallen, winds have blown I’ve been waiting for so long, now you’re here let’s sing along All... Continue Reading →
I met him many years ago. I was new in town and like most people missing home, I would go there looking for, I don't know, solace, or maybe memories. I found this old piano instead. He was sitting in a corner of the western lounge in the Lebanese parish of Our Lady of Lebanon... Continue Reading →
The Idea Sounding Board 