FUTURE
Music for a Better Future
Check out these young musicians. Are they healing the world?
What gives me hope for a better future than the one we live in today, is the young people I meet so often via my work. They are eager. Hungry to do things differently. They are daring. And they are immensely curious.
Curiosity is one of the best virtues to have in this huge transition of consciousness and wisdom.
And then I found these young musicians. They spread hope and love with sound and meaning and cool videos. In this story, I want to share how I find the music that matters to our times. And how being out there, getting active, and adding value helps me make an impact.
But first, let me tell you what makes me immensely curious.
What’s the New Normal?
I hear the phrase so often. ‘The New Normal’. But what is it? Does it just have to do with the pandemic? Or does it reach much further than that? Often, I think we need to let go of what we know. Of what we think of as ‘normal’.
How can it be normal that in our western culture we steal all the planet’s resources and leave the rest of the world hungry? And at the same time we scream murder when someone steals $20?
How can it be normal that in our western culture we compete with each other on everything? Shout to be heard, scream to be right? And at the same time try to fight loneliness?
How can it be normal that in our western culture we take to the streets to fight racism, topple over statues that remind us of slavery? And at the same time enslave so many women and children in Bangladesh to produce our super-cheap clothes?
The question fuelling my life is: Can we find new ways of being? New ways of making our products, of creating our economies? Of doing business and sharing fairly? Of connecting to others with our hearts? And supporting each other fiercely in all uncomfortable choices and daring love-spreading.
We’re all doing our best…
Scarcity versus Abundance
By ‘normal’ we mean that we live in a world of scarcity. But that’s not true. Nature is intrinsically abundant. We made it scarce because we think we can earn more money like that. But even that’s not true.
Creating value (and money) is about abundance. About collaboration. About sharing with other humans and with other species. It’s about taking responsibility for everything in our lives. From the smallest gesture like a smile at the right moment to the big leadership actions that save lives.
Young people know this.
Their veils are thin.
They grasp intuitively that there is so much more possible than we see today.
Yes, there’s chaos now. Hurt. Grudges. Fighting. Wanting to be right. But that’s not what life is about. Life is about living. About making a difference. In our own lives and that of others. About connecting properly. With our hearts.
How about Music?
And then I find young musicians who touch my heart. And I want to share their music with you. Their songs are meaningful. And emotional. And when I watch the videos I see other young people being touched. Crying. Smiling. Dancing.
Something is happening here, my friends.
The world is changing. So I keep hope and listen to music.
The wonderful thing is that I’ve found these musicians via my stories. I read a lot, I write and I share my own and other people’s stories via social media. My audience grows quickly now. Medium: 2.8K followers and growing. LinkedIn: 2.5K contacts and growing.
People want to know how to enter this new world. They want to learn. So I share what I learned. And I connect people with others so they can support each other and feel less lonely in their endeavor to co-create this new world.
And then I receive replies. The first musical find came when I shared this story about an actress from the Amazon. She’s a great young woman called Kay Sara.
She teaches us, in our western greedy societies, how to be humble. How to let others, in other parts of the world, find their own solutions.
“The problem is not that you don’t know that our forests burn and our people die. The problem is that you have become used to this fact. But we haven’t.” — Kay Sara
I shared this story on Facebook and someone told me that she immediately thought about a song when reading my story.
Rising Appalachia
That’s how I found Rising Appalachia. Please meet the folk-music sisters Leah and Chloe Smith, and their beloved band. They merge global influences with their own southern (USA) roots to create inviting new sounds.
This song ‘Harmonize’ is mesmerizing and beautiful. The young people in the video give me hope that all will work out for them and our own grandchildren.
Here’s their youtube channel, with 85K+ subscribed watchers.
We Cannot Eat Money
Aurora is the second young, female artist I want you to meet.
I found her when I shared some poetry last Saturday on LinkedIn. It’s my most powerful social medium. Lots of young and older professional people are eager to learn about nature-based solutions and resilient business models.
So I share.
And once in a while, I share some lighter stuff. Poetry. Or a story. My posts are often reshared by others. This is the poem I shared last Saturday.
Mónica Tátá reacted to my post on LinkedIn, saying:
“Desiree, allow me to suggest a sound that (to me) fits the immense Truth of Poetry, a song from Aurora called Seed.”
I never heard of Aurora before. So I went to YouTube to watch. Wow!
The setting is so beautiful. The old trees, covered by moss. The young people gathered together. And then this fierce, vulnerable young woman with talent from Norway to New York. I cried.
“We cannot eat money, oh no. When the last trees have fallen and the rivers are poisoned, we cannot eat money, oh no.” — Aurora
Aurora, a Norwegian singer-songwriter, has 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube. And I’m glad of it. She deserves to be widely listened to.
Christian Scott
As a final mention, I want to share some information about the young man in the top picture. I saw and heard him perform in 2007 in Rotterdam. At the North Sea Jazz Festival. I was an experimenting amateur-photographer at that time and made this picture.
Looking at it makes me relive the moment. Christian Scott was 24 at the time. He just released his album Anthem. It was his emotional response to the continued suffering in 2007 of his fellow New Orleanians two years after Hurricane Katrina.
He touched my heart. I’m glad I captured the memory of this moment. And I’m so glad I can now share it with you.
Sharing and Discovering
In my own way, I reach out to all corners of the world. And create an opportunity for the universe to surprise me with unexpected replies.
Social media fuel my freelance practice. I get requests for projects. Translations of my stories in other languages. Writing opportunities. Teaching opportunities. Companies and individuals wanting to collaborate.
I’m discovering hope. And great music.
Just by being out there, doing what I do.
What can you take away from this story?
- Music enlightens and inspires
- Young people are inspiring us to be hopeful for a better future
- Social media can be a force for good if we show support and add value in our replies
- Our writing can inspire others to share songs and inspire others
- Inspiring is a chain. One element builds on another. We’re standing on each other’s shoulders to co-create a better future and earn a living doing it
Please give us some inspiring songs and artist suggestions in the comments.
And if you want to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or my website. Or somewhere feeling colors, hearing smells, and tasting words. Building up my wisdom by combining all senses…
Thank you, Mike, for adding your wise energy to my musical words.