I was not a concert-hopping fool this weekend. I did not bop in and out of performances, did not try to go to everything, and I am perfectly content with my choices. I had a good time. I may have missed something amazing, but I am ok with that.
I intentionally took it slow on Saturday. Slept late, puttered through the day, rushed nothing. Although it was tempting to wind myself tight as could be and go downtown and revel in the music, it was also all too apparent that time to unwind was a greater priority. This one of those occasions where plans and reality actually aligned themselves. It had been a busy week. Sunday was overscheduled and I knew that I would push myself to do and see and hear as much as possible. I needed to refuel.
I did go downtown to one concert, a performance by Wu Man at the Square Room. Sitting on the floor, legs crossed in front of me I found the music at times to be very meditative and calming. In fact Wu Man captures the world in four strings and the music had incredible depth. It felt timeless: ancient and modern; alternately spiritual and worldly; simple and complex. And yet, even in those worldly songs of battle and other human concerns, my inclination was to pull inward, and relax into the music. At one point even the sound of water, slowly gurgling beneath the melody, flowed through her strings.
I could not help but think of an infant lying on a blanket very close to where I was sitting, could not help but hope that this was a good thing, this music filled with history and humanity, this oasis in a world often filled with dissonance, the now, and the rush to the future.
