DESCRIPTION
This song was written while the Space Shuttle Columbia was exploding on its re-entry to earth the 1 February 2003 and it's not a typical blues. [617 words]
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
who am I ? Let me tell you. MUSIC. That's the magic word. Music used to mean everything to me throughout all my life. Other outer worlds in which I could escape. The chills up my spine. I've been hearing songs in my mind all my life. Verses, tunes, something I cannot bear inside for a long time. Sometimes I am able to record them on a tape. Then the song is asking to be born and I'll be reckless until this new baby comes to life. That's how songwriting goes for me. And that's how I started writing songs. It's nothing particularly pleasant. It's more an incontrollable urge than a exercise of pleasure. When I was a kid I spent my days traveling (no other term would be more appropriate) with the tapes of The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, The white album. They are written with indelible ink on me. After that I soon discovered the late ´ 60´s psychedelic universe. That was an age of high hopes, soon betrayed. The MUSIC, then, had something sacred. MUSIC made us feel like we were living in a sort of community of dreams. But the dreams soon evaporated or turned into nightmares, anybody who's over ´40 can remember this. The ´70´s threw everything in the garbage can with disco music taking over. MUSIC was equal FUN, something too easy for me. I had been having a lot of fun but I needed MUSIC to be more than that. Then, I was sixteen, came the punk. Substance, our screwed up dreams made solid. The rough rage of getting nowhere. Sex Pistols, Joy Division, The Damned, The Clash. My spirit came to know the beauty of raw power. The first song I've ever written came to my fingers while I was strummin' my acoustic guitar. Words and music. Together. All in a once. The words I'd just finished to sing gave me the whole picture of what was inside my mind. That gave me the creeps, I was barely 14 when I met the siren's cry of songwriting. I was 20 when I founded the new wave italian group "The Drivers " . I was the songwriter, singer and keyboard player ; After several gigs and concerts and some appearances on local televisions the band broke up. I continued to write songs and started putting together a home studio where I could record and play all instruments by myself. Besides rock music I experimented ambient music and the using of sound effects in making songs; I'm fond of oriental philosophy and mysticism and I sometimes use the chinese I-King to find inspiration for my songs; In 1989 I started a long series of journeys that led me around the world seeking new experiences. At the moment I'm busy living my life and working on my new songs. Many of my fans describe my music strange yet cool and relaxing.It seems to put them in the right mood, it's pop-rock but has something indefinable, due to my psychedelic background. If you really want to define my music just imagine a cross between Pink Floyd and Depeche Mode.
It was saturday morning in Italy, I woke up late (as usual) and started playing some random chords on my piano. Very soon I found myself playing 4 chords which seemed to me as if they were floating on air . I kept on playing, waiting for a variation in the melody to come out my fingers, I was fascinated by that slight change of tone of the intro. It reminded me of the stars and of the outer space. Closing my eyes I could see black sky and silvery lights. After a while I turned on the television without sound (I often do), and saw what seemed to me a normal re-entry of a Space Shuttle : I was amazed at the coincidence and I went on playing without looking at the television again, wondering about the stellar correspondence and synchronicity.
Soon I found the missing piece of the song. It fitted perfectly with the intro and seemed to have a bit of an epic touch, giving to the whole song the sensation of a sad triumphal march. I kept on playing. When I was sure that I had the whole song memorized in my mind I lit up a cigarette, looked up at the television again and saw the images of the exploding Shuttle.
I was shocked; I felt shivers up and down my spine, really got the creeps. I was thinking of synchronicity, feeling like I'd just been connected to other people's lives. I remembered a girl I had noticed before, she was in the shuttle. She was the same age as me, I saw her before on the news, she had impressed me for her beauty, intelligence and courage . I felt so sorry for her.
I finished recording "Blues for Kalpana" on the same day of the shuttle explosion.
I am honored to dedicate this song to the brave astronauts who lost their lives for all of us, and, particularly, to :
Kalpana Chawla ,41 , aerospace engineer, FAA Certified Flight Instructor and Mission Specialist for STS-107. Kalpana Chawla was responsible for more than twelve scientific experiments on the Shuttle Columbia. It was her second trip into space, the first one was in 1997. She described the earth view from space as very beautiful, and said she wished everyone could see it as she had.
Kalpana Chawla was born forty-one years ago in Karnal, about one-hundred-thirty kilometers north of New Delhi. Her friends say she always had the dream to fly. She moved to the United States in the nineteen-eighties, after graduating from Punjab Engineering College. She studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Texas in Arlington and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She became an astronaut in 1994. After Kalpana became an American citizen, she continued to stay in touch with students at her school in her hometown. Every year, she invited two of them to visit her at the American space agency. Students say she told them to follow their dreams, and that she would help them if their dreams could not come true in India. Hundreds of students had gathered at the school when the Columbia astronauts were expected to return to Earth. They prayed together when they learned the news that the shuttle had broken apart. Kalpana Chawla was the first Indian-born woman in space. But she told Indian reporters that she did not feel Indian when flying. She said that looking at the stars made her feel that she was from the solar system, not from one area of land on Earth. Millions of people in India, the United States and other nations mourned the loss of Kalpana and the other six Columbia astronauts.
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