Spinning Words

…but still around.

I had my last exam from my master’s programme today. This time last year I had no idea when this day was going to come, I actually had no idea if it was ever going to happen. Should I be dancing and singing? Maybe after I get my grade for this exam. For now, it just feels strange. It’s been a long and bumpy road but what a journey it has been! From searching for a programme that I could fit my research interest with to actually getting admitted and going into it full speed ahead without even knowing what I’m getting myself into, this has been more or less pretty close to what I’ve wanted and what I’ve expected. And it’s been a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun too. I am really happy for meeting and working with some really amazing people!

I will end this post with this story:

At the beginning of my second semester I decided to write an assignment on a movie, a quite unusual one, made after Marillion’s album “Brave”. It was the first time when I actually sat down and tried to link theory with music that I like, or, to put it an academic context, the first time I saw music as a pop culture text and tried to link it with politics. And I absolutely loved it and I got a hint that maybe there is something in this music that I so dearly hang on to (when I am not watching tennis). Starting then I can say that I wrote a lot of assignments listening to that particular album, including my thesis. Funny enough, on Sunday I will be going to a concert, not Marillion, unfortunately, but the singer’s solo project. Cute coincidence and a great way to end it all. But I don’t plan to stop here and hopefully I will still stick around, at least for a little while.

Below is a short part of the movie, the one soundtracked by my favourite song on the album. I will not go into the details of what the video means, from a political perspective, the meaning behind the suicide act and the bridge and the mask, but i do welcome you to enjoy a beautiful song and catch a glimpse of what I like working with.

To my shame, I realised I didn’t take the time to write anything about Romanian music. I am so sorry for that because we happen to have some great music. And to some of it I’ve practiced playing guitar on a broom when I was 5 or 6, can’t remember actually. I never took it further to actually learning how to play the guitar but who needs it anyway as long as you have a broom?

Because I am still stuck to the mystic side of the celebration of St. Andrew and because I happened to come across an image of the fairies from our myths (ielele), I am now stuck on Cargo and “Ielele”. I can’t remember how many nights I spent in shabby pubs listening and singing along to their songs. Most of them give me a feeling of freedom and free-spiritness. The song is in Romanian but it sounds great anyway. And a lot of their songs do, give them a try.

Going back to my days where spending rock nights in a club was an absolute must, I will post below a song from Trooper – “Tari ca muntii”. I will never forget how this song lifted the spirits (and the beers) whenever it started. So in a dark, smoke-filled, super hot, rat-cage club, listening to this song was a treat. I saw these guys live a few times, their songs bring back some good memories.

Now that I actually started writing this I keep remembering so many good songs that I think I might have to come back later with a second post on Romanian music. And maybe in the future I will not stick to rock music only though this is the one I know best. Anyhow, to end it, here is a song that’s in English. Funny enough, when I lived in France I actually found one of their CDs in a metal shop in Clermond Ferrand and people there seemed to know and like them. This also reminds me of a shabby pub, it was in a basement actually, I forgot its name, and of mulled wine I used to drink while chatting with friends and singing along.

I will come back to you with more Romanian music, and not only the loud type of music, but also folk, classical and other stuff, I promise. It’s worth giving it a try, just like other stuff coming from Romania.

Cheers!

Today is December 1st, it’s Romania’s National Day. If I were at home I’d be happy because it’s a bank holiday, yesterday was one too, so happy people back home had a 4-day week-end. I celebrated not by taking days off to run to the mountains but by wearing the traditional Romanian blouse (ie) and our office at work proudly has the Romanian flag on one of its walls, among lyrics from Kent, John Lennon’s “Imagine” and “Do You Hear The People Sing”, and we’ll keep it there all week.

Today I’ve attended my last seminar that was part of the Master’s Programme I am soon (hopefully) finishing. This feels strange and I am stuck somewhere between panic and joy. I think the little nerd in me feels like she’s loosing something. Yet that would mean ticking a dream on my bucket list, and a very important and dear one. I am not there yet, though.

I am not in the Christmas spirit, I think I forgot that in London, but I plan to change that with glögg and pepparkakor during the week-end. Until then I am really enjoying a late evening at work, fighting Excel files and counting broadcasts and protests, eating chocolate and drinking coffee. I think late evenings at work are part of my nature, just as days at the tennis courts or evenings at rock concerts or afternoons by the sea. And I am also listening to music because it helps me focus. Today’s treat: “Silent Lucidity”. I can’t remember how many assignments I wrote listening to this song. I discovered it during my exchange in Dijon, or re-discovered it to be more precise, as it’s a song I’ve known since I was little. And I am sure I worked on a lot of excel files listening to it, today it works wonders. Give it a try. And try to say the band’s name out loud.