From my archives,

I was listening to Radio 4 on the way into work and there was an interview with Daniel Barenboim who is this year's Reith lecturer. At one point, in what was a fascinating interview, he said that he had a 'compulsion to create with sound'. I thought this expressed a profound idea which is that for some people there is an urgent need to make sense of the world whether that be through sound, light or science. Now not everybody who feels this compulsion is blessed with the same talent but that does not make the urgency to express any less piquant. I remember viewing the film 'Amadeus' and seeing it as a tragedy, not for Mozart, but for Salieri. Both were visited with the same compulsion to create but Mozart was the greater talent yet of all those that appreciated Mozart only Salieri was cursed with appreciating how great Mozart's talent was and how relatively mediocre his own was. And of course in Salieri's eyes how could such beauty be created by such an impure vessel? Nowadays, we share Salieri's horror at someone 'immoral' also being talented but unlike Salieri we feel as if their poor behaviour actually detracts from their talent.

The power of music fascinates me. I am regularly moved to tears by it but it is not the lyrics that have this power but the sheer sound of it. How does it have this affect? Why does it have this effect? Why me and not others? As a student music was so essential to me that it helped me to cope with the pain that I was feeling because it expressed that pain. Or perhaps its power is darker that I was seduced by it and led into a darker view of the world than I would otherwise have had?

I cannot express how I feel through music. I can remember being about twenty two sat down with my guitar, completely frustrated, totally unable to express how I felt with these six strings. I did not want to learn other peoples songs and court favour with others by strumming around the campfire I wanted to say how I felt and I just couldn't do it! Many years later listening to Bjork I saw that it was possible to express how I felt but you needed to be a playful, Icelandic pixie in order to do that.

I have rediscovered photography recently and it tells my story in a way that I cannot achieve through sound. So my compulsion to create will be expressed through light and the alchemy that occurs when this light reaches the film.

I guess all of us have a compulsion to create with words........

Otherwise why would we blog?

Performing at a Bands Night