My eldest Grands like music … well they enjoy their music, and have even been known to like music from yesteryear. I listen to their music and on occasion find something that I actually both understand and like. My eldest Grand will share his AirPods with me so that I can hear the music with more clarity. I freely admit that some of it makes me grind my teeth but there are some I have downloaded onto my very dated play lists. One thing I have come to appreciate is that I can hear lyrics I dislike, a beat that almost gives me palpations and then I hear magic in a voice. The musicality of the performer crosses two generation. Suddenly I am paying attention. The mumbled, often crass words fade as I track the voice that hides behind them.
Time for an example. Giveon is a good example of this ability to bridge generations. A young man who is featured on rap albums and various other genre songs that I think most people sixty plus would rather not listen to if given a choice. My grandson sent me a link to Giveon’s song”World We Created”. I did not expect the beautiful, rich, lyrical voice that I heard. Modern with threads of other eras that made me listen to the lyrics and the music. What a joy to known that this is a song my grandson and I listen to with pleasure. The artist has created magic in words and music that appeal to two very different people.
One of my favourite songs from the 1970s is Ventura Highway by America. It recreates a place and time long gone but with a nostalgia that is fill of good memories. My love of this song had my grandson listen to it using his EarPods. When he visited he gave me the AirPods and instructed me to listen to it. As I listened his smile grew. I heard a surround sound wonderful piece of my history with a new clarity. The fact that he had taken the time to both listen to it with care and to discover pleasure in it that he shared with me created a beautiful new memory for us both.
I do not see as much of him as I used to because he is growing up. I celebrate him quietly in my own way pleased that he is moving out into the world. I know that we share a lot of memories and will make new ones. Time will pass. Visits will be rare. Yet all I have to do to connect with him is to play our music and remember that every now and then a message will appear with a link to music he has discovered and wants to share with me.
Youth may be careless in many ways but in the ones that count the young give us a view to the world that is to be treasured,
So thank you Baba. I shall keep listening!
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