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This week, I read the news that Dolores O’Riordan (lead singer of the Cranberries) had passed away suddenly on Monday January 15, 2018.
Dolores’ songs, soul and powerful voice touched my soul in the 1990’s. I often sang covers from the Cranberries’ 1994 album “No Need to Argue” while I was teaching myself to play rhythm guitar and accompany myself as a singer in 1996-1997.
In this video, I pay tribute to Dolores and her distinct vocal style in a cover of her beautiful song “Ode to My Family”. According to Wikipedia, it is “about Dolores’s yearning for her simple life as a child after having achieved success”.
Music is a powerful time machine which can bring you back to certain eras of your life. As you sing or listen to songs that strongly affected you in the past, you revisit your former self from your present self.
I remember singing this song a lot in 1996 but hadn’t listened to it for over 20 years! Singing it now reminds me of the feelings I had while singing it in my youth. Even when you don’t know the songwriter’s specific context or meaning in their lyrics, you can feel their soul through the emotions and energy generated in the composition.
At that time, I was full of heartache, anger and sadness from personal trauma and from the darkness I saw in society. It was before I learned to heal and evolve through compassion yet it was also an important time of self-empowerment and self-expression. Songs of sorrow or anger helped me channel these energies in a safe, meaningful and beautiful way. (When I listen to the original songs I wrote in 1995-1997, I remember my feelings/worldview at that time and how that chapter led me to focus on a healing path.)
Songs are also vibrational portals into a person’s spirit! That’s why we adore musicians and songwriters. They speak the language of the heart and soul! When they leave this planet, we feel sorrow because we came to know something of their soul AND connected to our own soul through their music…
Music is soul therapy. It helps us access different layers of our beliefs and emotions. Often, music unlocks what is not accessible through the intellect or through words! Music can also help us remember who we are.
Here is a deeply inspiring video about the healing power of Music and its incredible ability to access a person’s consciousness after illness, injury or trauma! It’s one of the most profound videos I’ve seen in the last 12 months even though it’s presented as a basic “feel-good” story. It is profound because it reveals the nature of consciousness AND opens up future possibilities for rehabilitation of conditions like dementia or Alzheimer’s. It might one day bring you or a loved one back to full consciousness from something that used to devastate families. More articles and resources at: https://musicandmemory.org/news-events/news-archive/
What songs from your past remind you of your previous self? How do you feel when you sing or listen to them now?
Listen to the audio only here or download the MP3 file (right-click on this LINK and save to your device):
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