your music-based productions
Florina Codreanu
Here come the models, namely what you were expected and asked to write.
1. Ioana Trifu: Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
For the majority of us, the moment someone tells the words “United States”, the first thing that pops in our heads is New York City. The well known “city that never sleeps” is one of the greatest representations of urban life. US itself was called “the melting pot” throughout the years, but there is no greater city able to sustain the metaphor than New York.
“Empire State of Mind” is a tribute song to New York City, also known as
“the Big Apple”. Throughout the song, we encounter different slang words that
refer to different parts, neighbourhoods, streets and personalities from the
big city. Some of them are: “8th Street” which is a place where urban teenagers
hang out, “Bed-Stuy”, an African-American neighbourhood in the centre of New
York, “Yellow cab, gypsy cab, dollar cab, holla back” which refers to all kinds
of transportation from legal to illegal, or “Home of that boy Biggie”- American
rapper.
The city itself is seen as a destination, as a place that reflects its habitants’ success in life: “…and since I made it here/ I can make it anywhere”. The same point of view is reflected in the following lyrics: “concrete jungle where dreams are made”, which takes the idea further and defines New York as a somehow “cold”, urbanized jungle, where everyone tries to fulfil their dreams. For this reason, New York City became the home of a mixture of cultures, nationalities and races, but also an inspiration for the newcomers: “These streets will make you feel brand new/Big lights will inspire you…”
Moreover, the title suggests the idea that being part of the city is more of a state of mind. Empire State Building is the well-know skyscraper that became one of the icons of New York that its inhabitants are very proud of. But more than that, we can clearly see that the text is filled with personal aspects of Jay-Z’s life that can let us state that the song’s New York City is Jay-Z’s New York City, a representation of reality filtered through his own subjectivity.
All in all, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are responsible for a true “exhibition” of the complexity of roles that New York City has had through the years and will continue to have, welcoming young people who try their best to become something in life. But more than that, New York City is able to show any of its visitors, different categories of people, lifestyles and mentalities.
2. Bianca Marcoci: The Verve – Rolling People
Life as we don’t know it
Weird sounds were still running through my mind. They were splitting my ears with their silence and they were blurring my view with their power. I was still there. Next to the typewriter, as I remembered. Surrounded by chips from the alter dimension, bits and pieces of broken glass. I don’t know how much I’ve slept, maybe a few minutes, hours, or days. I think there were thousands of shards around me, I still don’t know how a glass can break into so many pieces. I was finding myself, in some way, in that picture. Of course, the chips were the broken pieces of my being. All of them small, distorted and tormented. That’s when I saw a big one, and I saw my reflection in it. It was the time when I realized that I haven’t been sleeping for a few minutes, nor a few hours, nor a few days. I have been sleeping an entire life, I have been sleeping my whole life. Crammed in a world too small for me, captive in a city that I had long forgotten, because of a society that consumed me completely.
I remembered how I used to love the city and the people in it. I remembered how just being there, in the heart of the city, made me feel as I was in the heart of the Universe. Or, better said, as I was the heart of the Universe. I used to be so optimistic, before feeling suffocated by the crowd and its stupidity.
And then it hit me: I am still alive. I only have one life, and I won’t get another one, since no one really cares if I like the one that I’ve got or not. Or if I’m able to escape and live it. So I decided to take my life back.
I got out of my house and I felt it again: that familiar, reassuring air. There was life and confidence in every part of it. I started filling my lungs with it and I finally felt alive. I started walking on the street: the same people, still in too much of a hurry, still walking like robots, still with no time to laugh. I was the only person there who was just wandering the streets, and it felt so good. The wind was blowing through my hair, liberating my mind and my thoughts.
I looked around. The city was just perfect, as it used to be when people were still living, not only existing. The square had the same perfect shape, as if it was smiling. The wind was so powerful, it gave me energy like nothing else. I remembered when I was little I’d raise up my jacket, pretending to fly and laughing like there was no one near me. I was feeling free and invincible, so invincible that I wanted to re-enact a scene from a Bon Jovi video, and jump from a bridge. (but luckily I realized soon enough that I didn’t have the necessary equipment, so I stopped).
I was crazy, I was happy, I was alive and determined to change the world, to change the society and to raise it from the dark depths it has fallen into. No more sad people. Live for today like there’s no tomorrow.
So come alive with the rolling people…
3. Alexandra Giurgiu: Big City Life – Mattafix
“Go south on Wooster Boulevard, then turn right just near the Church, continue straight on until crossing Steinway Street, but turn left when you see the large billboard for the mayor’s electoral campaign and head north for half a mile on Blueberry Avenue, but if you’ve reached the overpass, then you’ve gone too far and must turn…” James Dutton was trying to remember all the details Elaine, the lawyer he was working for, gave him before she fled to her 1960s Porsche, still yelling she has a highly regarded client waiting for her. A brown envelope must be delivered in the next 2 hours, but because Roger, the mail boy, resigned this very morning, Elaine assigned James to do the job.
“Taxi!” shouted the man, thinking that unfamiliar district was too far for him to walk. A yellow cab stopped and an impatient driver with greasy hair waited for James to enter the car. It was a sunny afternoon with the sweet scent of jasmines flowing into the air, just perfect to make one reminisce that summer spent at the sea, with the billows smooth and bright caressing the black cliffs. James made a swift gesture with his hand and the man drove away. A walk will definitely do him good.
Tall glass buildings were spreading soft beams of light everywhere in his path. In a window of a well-known designer shop, female mannequins were being changed in their silky dresses. The broad streets soon became filled with crowds of people, floating away in haste in their bright coloured attires. James started wondering around the city. He thought at how surprisingly wonderful and easy his life turned out to be. After he inherited the money his wealthy uncle Alfred left him, he bought that elegant apartment near the Highbridge Park where he also met his gorgeous fiancée. It was a year ago, on a warm September morning. He can still recall her dazzling eyes from behind her golden curls when she followed him, walking her dearest Labrador…
A shrill sound woke him up from his reverie: a black cat jumped from somewhere above him and landed on some tin cans. He raised his head and saw “Dirtan Street” written on a little street sign. James quickly scanned the envelope; he was nearly there. At number 13, he found such a ramshackle house, that the only thing keeping it from collapsing was that the walls couldn’t decide which way to lean. Puzzled, he knocked at the door. Then, he turned his head around and saw dozens of such houses. In front of one, an elderly man was scrubbing the rust from a wiry fence, while a thin boy was playing with some sort of a bottle-made puppet.
James heard steps coming from inside the house and the door opened, while an old car limped along with a strangled noise. A large woman appeared and asked what he wanted. She was carrying a little girl who seemed right about to cry. “I…have for you…my name is Mr. Dutton and I was sent to...”, tried James to defend himself, but he was too overwhelmed by the situation. Another girl suddenly appeared in the doorway. She was smearing something slimy on a piece of bread and preparing to wolf it. “I’m sorry to have bothered you, I got the wrong house”, uttered James and turned away. He took the envelope and tore it to pieces. What was he going to do? Throwing an eviction order in that poor woman’s face or threatening her with a lawsuit or whatever that envelope contained would only leave her hanging by a thread. Was he really like that?
He felt so naïve and somehow shallow. His entire world was a crystal ball, which was now slowly cracking and would soon shatter. He was one of them, corrupt, indulging in simple pleasures, making use of masks, of fake disguises to shape the lines of his otherwise half-empty mind. He walked in a hurry along the dusty streets. His mind was dragging him elsewhere, in a place of comfort and consolation, in a place where he could not witness the tragedy about to happen. His own.
A shop’s cheerful decorated window in the city center attracted more attention than usual. The small television set it had displayed, announced the sudden death of a young man they all seemed to know. Witnesses claim he was hit by a luxurious car while crossing, in a distracted manner, a street near the Saint Mary’s neighborhood, which was due to be demolished by the end of the month to make way for the construction of the new business centre. Some nodded, some were displeased, but they all continued their ways, trying to keep up with the city’s brisk style of life.
4. Maria Ghiurutan: Urban Life – Busy Upbeat Violin Beat
Do you enjoy living your life between concrete walls, steel, fake smiles and robotized human beings? Do you still believe you are unique despite all the similarities? Who is your god? Is it money? But you stopped asking questions a long time ago… Why did you stop wondering and believing? Why did you stop dreaming and living? Is it easier now?
Wake up! You were dreaming…. What’s your name? It doesn’t really matter; I’m just pretending that I’m polite. Go to kindergarten, to school and high school, to college – a top one, preferably, get a well paid job, a wife or a husband – falling in love is optional, have kids…. Repeat the exact process ad infinitum. Is it not enough? Go buy something. Are you unhappy? Don’t worry, we can fix you. You want to follow your dreams? Yeah, sure, go for it… but don’t forget to buy a few things while you’re there because happiness is now for sale.
The truth is that there’s more to urban life than this. We do live in a concrete jungle, some dreams are crushed, some aren’t, some people follow, some are followed. But aren’t all these clichés? Try to see beyond them and let your adventure begin… add a splash of color and dance to the jungle rhythm. You can’t hear the music? Create it before someone else does it for you. Try to enjoy every day and stop finding excuses. “Even the birds are chained to the sky…” said Bob Dylan, but does this mean that they are deprived of their freedom? I didn’t think so either.
P.S.: I do know that there are birds which cannot fly…
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Florina Codreanu
ir...@yahoo.com, codreanu...@gmail.com
florina....@lett.ubbcluj.ro
(004) 0740 091 395
Plopilor 61/15, 400379 Cluj-Napoca
http://florinacodreanu.blogspot.com/