For the past months, I’ve been thinking about starting a blog for the project. I decided to introduce something simpler... just me sharing my thoughts. If you feel like expressing yours, please contact me and I’ll publish it.
Hello,
It has been over 3 years since I started SongInitiative, I have to confess that the progress is moving much slower than I anticipated.
When I speak with the musicians that are already in the mix or people that were just invited to join, I’m constantly amazed. They are awesome, they have so many interesting stories, we have so much in common.
After these interactions I’m often full of energy and with a renewed sense of purpose. The idea behind it seems real and viable, the branches growing, the music starting to take shape... so how is it that things don’t move forward? How do we get stuck?
I keep asking myself if my approach is right, if I’m able to convey the spirit properly, if the connection between friends of friends is a strong enough currency to afford forward motion.
On a good day, I simply understand that being a musician today is harder than 10 or 20 years ago. Having to generate enough income to pay the bills in this “post-cd” world is becoming daunting. I ask myself, how can I get upset when they prioritize my project at a lower level? Who wouldn’t when you are struggling?
On the other hand, in those moments, I become somewhat sad.
Not with the musicians themselves but with the fact that the reality of surviving as an artist is so hard that there is very little space for us to be free, to allow ourselves to engage in music making just because it makes us happy, just because that’s what we like to do, simply because we don’t need a reason.
As a “retired” musician myself, I have the privilege of sitting on my chair by the fireplace, sipping on a glass of wine while looking at the mountains. In these moments of reflection, I’m highly aware of how much easier my life is today but also how much of the artist in me is still hungry for meaningful opportunities to create something moving and to make new connections.
The artistic river that once ran at full force is now much smaller.
I like to think of it as a balsamic reduction where the essence and intensity is enlarged while the volume is reduced.
So they question is what/how can I change to allow the project to move forward?
The simple answer is $$$.
Could I generate money to “buy” our selected friends some piece of mind so they could engage with SongInitiative?
If so, would the spirit of it now change? Would the new musician simply see it as just another way to collect enough $$ to pay their bills?
I don’t have answers.
One aspect of this project is to document the reality of our community. To make it visible how much outside music interferes with our ability to create music.
When the lines go silent on me and I start to think, should I bug them again? Should I remind them of the project? I start to wonder how many of us allow things to fall between the cracks.
It is easy to say we care but it is even easier to forget we don’t actually act on the things we care.
I write this message on Jan 2017 in the USA. If you have or had a life of a musician, you know how much travel is involved, how much crossing borders is part of our routine and you also know how many incredible people you will find on every city you end up.
You probably also know the shift that is taking place in the world right now.
Whether you are a conservative or a progressive, one thing should be clear. We are all one. We share one planet. We are all part of it whether we like it or not, this journey is a collective one.
My desire is for a kinder world. I know how much I grew as a person because I got to meet you, because I travelled and tasted our food, because I learned about your music and because I became your friend.
I know I can do more, I know we can.
So for my part today, I’ll say that this project won’t stop. It will move however fast it does. I’ll try to re-connect, to create ways to offer you your piece of mind, to insist in not letting the river go silent.
A river is not contained by borders, it doesn’t separate, it connects.
:0)
For the past months... months...
Hello again,
To say that the world changed a bit, doesn't quite describe it. The interesting fact for me is that I started this project many years ago with a vision of a world not defined by geographical limitations. A group of friends collaborating remotetly.
Well, I guess I was ahead of the changes.
The reality of a world under a pandemic is VERY sad and indeed not at all what I imagined but the methods of collaboration that I spend time convincing folks it was viable are now part of our daily routine.
I have been bery lucky to not have my life completely turn upsidedown but a lot of my musician friends have. They lost their gigs and the ability to support themselves & family.
I feel for all of you.
I placed Song Initiative on simmer a while back. Not because of the pandemic but because I did not find that the community really cared for my vision. I was disappointed for sure.
There is not much I want to share today about that story, I'll leave it for another occasion. The idea is still great from my viepoint, I hope that in the future, I can get it going again. For now, we are on pause.
Be safe out there.
:0)
