I´ve been meaning to write about music and what it means to me and my family for some time, but just couldn´t find the time and peace to sit down and collect my thoughts. Besides, I must remind myself to keep this blog about Yone and Dácil, and not make it about me. But there is just no way around me, or Jorge, or my parents for that matter… because all just flows naturally and the tides of life sweep back and forth through all of us.
I grew up around music. Not at all professionally, but my father was an avid jazz listener and there was an expensive Dual sound system in our living room. My mother was brought up playing the piano, and when we were still in Amsterdam she sang in the local church choir. And so did I, as a child. We used to drive from Amsterdam to Slovakia every Christmas and my father would make cassettes for the road, with a mix of his favourite lp´s. Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Ella Fitzgerald…
When I was 17, I joined the Puerto de la Cruz choir with my mother and I´ve been singing ever since. When we were living in Amsterdam, Jorge and I´d go dancing and clubbing with a group of friends with whom we are still very close, probably partly through music and dancing, and we´ve seen many of the great house and techno acts of the 90´s live, Orbital, Lamb, L.T.J. Bukem, the Chemical Brothers… Jorge has forged himself quite an impressive vinyl collection and got into dj-ing when he bought his Stanton decks. I love singing renaissance music, and Bach, and Handel, and Ravel, as well as listening to jazz, funk, house, techno and Canarian folclore… good music is good music. Any genre. If it gives you goosebumps, it´s good, even if you don´t particularly like it.
When Yone was born, we decided he should at least learn to read music at an early age. Yes, we too are guilty of the child-project syndrome: parents who have projects for their children, or even treat their children as their project; moulding them into all they themselves would have wanted to be but never had the chance. I don´t think we were very extreme but the project thing is inevitable. However I feel that with music I have a good excuse. It´s really difficult to learn notes, theory, solfege as an adult. We never expected Yone to become a professional musician, but what we´d really wished for him is to find comfort, solace, joy, pleasure, peace in music. So once in Tenerife, we signed him up at the local music school, and when we moved to Puerto he joined the band playing saxophone. Then came the timple and then the guitar, plugged and unplugged.
This is yesterday evening:
This is 2011:
And this is one month ago. Note how he can now reach the bottom keys of his saxophone…
After the summer holidays Yone decided to take a break from his regular band rehearsals. He´s been playing in the band since 2017.
It was time for something different. He likes to sing. He reads music. He has a great baritone voice. Time for the choir! He did an audition and joined the same choir I have sung in since 1989 for the Christmas project. Not the least Christmas project: a week long workshop with Spanish choral eminence Jordi Casas singing Bach´s Jesu Meine Freude, a Monteverdi mass and Vivaldi´s Credo. It was sublime!
As for his sister… There are only few photos where Dácil isn´t wearing her headphones. Come to think of it, it´s ironic that a couple with a fine arts degree, amateur dj and fanatic choir singer should have a deaf blind child. Or maybe it´s the way it should be… Dácil has a very distinctive taste in music, which is clearly forced upon her by us, as she hasn´t been able to choose what she gets to listen to. Nor has Yone, for that matter, so that´s just tough luck for both of them.
Ama received a spotify acount for her 80th birthday. Complete with personalized playlist featuring all of her favourite 40´s, 50´s, 60´s and 70´s music. From the Andrew Sisters to Abba and Boney M, basically… This she will offer Dácil when they´re together, and Dácil just can´t get enough of Timi Yuro and Charles Aznavour.
However, if Jorge or I give her Timi Yuro she will decidedly throw the headphones to the far corner of the living room and demand something completely different. This can range from Everything but the Girl to Squarepusher or Ibiza´s greatest summer hits… One never knows.
This is 2013, in Slovakia, with a portable mp3 player.
We´ve been investigating the mp3 market ever since. Microphones are annoying as they are noisy and we all have to listen to her music. So we switched to headphones. We tried bluetooth, we tried cables… We tried iPods, we tried iPhones…
The main thing here is that she just loves her music. It relaxes her. It gives her joy.
Music feeds us, comforts us. We all thrive on music. It makes me proud to be able to share it with the people I love. I hope it heals and soothes others as much as it does me.
Yone & Dácil 