Cervantes Magazine Number 18: Music
Welcome once again to the music section. Today we will talk about death, but not only about that, but how to turn the arrival of death into a work of art.
Death is a process that we all fear because it is what determines the end of our times. There are endless theories ... Are you going to heaven? Are you going to a purgatory? Reincarnations? We don’t know ... What we do know is that, without wanting to, many of us think of death as a terrifying element, something that we don’t want to reach. Others receive it with cordiality, surrendering to the destiny of life as George Harrison did. With the recent sudden death of The Cranberries vocalist, Dolores O 'Riordan, many questions arise regarding the deaths of influential musicians.
Many artists have managed to transform their fears, demons, desires and stories into art, like songs, paintings, records, books, etc. It is precisely the gift of an artist to make catharsis and bring the energies to one place.
David Bowie, known as the Man of Mars, was an artist who definitely did not belong to this planet. Beyond his eccentricities, his lustful life and his costumes, what always made noise in the minds of his fans were his messages, the way he transformed a reflection into a song and how we lived his fantasy world beyond this simple planet.
Although, as nothing is eternal except for the soul, we ran into the sad news of his death two years ago.
But, beyond his death, what kind of spell did Blackstar casted upon us? How did it affect each of the people that are part of at least a percentage of its process?
Blackstar was David Bowie's last album. It was released on January 8th, 2016, but what is disturbing about it, is that the date coincided with the closeness of his death. It turns out that two days later, it was posted on different web portals that Bowie's soul had taken its course. None of the collaborators had any idea that David was carrying a lung cancer discovered three months before his death, his treatment was running out and, of course, did not have the desired effect.
His two most influential singles, those that gave meaning to the album and audiovisual work, were the songs "Blackstar" and "Lazarus". Blackstar, lasting 10 minutes, was a deep song, but not only for the lyrics, but also its video clip. The blue colors and playful background saxophone wrapped the energy, while showing a kind of ritual, a skeleton floating out of the earth and metaphors about lust, power, praise, wisdom and death.
But the most impressive song (personally speaking) was "Lazarus". The most attractive of both tunes is that they depicted the lustful life of David Bowie through metaphors. That is, you had everything, but in the end you fly, you find your way, and your path no longer belongs to this plane. In the Lazarus Video, Bowie is in bed, blindfolded and with two buttons on the zone where his eyes should be, knowing everything but pretending blindness. Dressed in white and covered in white sheets, it seems that he was fighting between one plane and another. Death, hopeful, brushes David with his hands announcing that the hour is near.
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