This animated video, Re, rested in my drafts for some weeks. Since then it has wanted to come to Hive, but I didn't know how to approach that task. It was on the reply in my head, the music just flew, but the words remained hostages in some distant realms. Re.
Of course, I reflected on the possible meaning of that simple word, the title of this piece composed by Nils Frahm. It is not just the music, but the combination with the animation (made by Hungarian director Balázs Simon) that makes it exquisite for our eyes and hearing.
I watched the video many times and still, I don't have one clear idea of what it could exactly represent. But I am also sure we all can see different details and meanings in it. The ropes which tighten, tremble and connect destruction and unification, in the end, form part of a new shape where a tender creature would maybe find its destiny. Being reborn? Rescued? Or something quite different (the opposite).
Although I think in English while I am writing a post, inevitably, many Spanish words come to my mind that start with re. Regresar, retomar, realidad, retiro, refugio, rechazo, rehén, reacción, regalo, rescate, respiro, rebeldía, rezar, resistir, reposar, revivir, renacer...
However, maybe all these words have no connection with the title of this sublime music. If we think simply, in musical words, it can be the second note in the musical scale. There is a history behind these syllables that are used in music, though.
It was Guido of Arezzo, an Italian Benedictine monk and musical theorist who used the Hymn to Saint John the Baptist, Ut queant laxis. The names of the musical notes of modern Latin notation are taken from the first syllables of the verses of this hymn.
Ut queant laxis
Resonare fibris
Mira gestorum
Famuli tuorum
Solve polluti
Labii reatum
Sancte Ioannes.
Just some centuries later ut was changed to do, to ease the singing of that syllable.
Re-reading what I have written in this post until this point makes me realise that we had a little reflection about the possible meaning of the title, a list of words starting with re and a super short music history lesson. Well, some photos also appeared here, which I played with and gave this colour that they got. 😅
But all that didn't matter. What really matters here is the music of Nils Frahm that waited its moment to come to this music-inspired corner. Let the sound of this composition run in our imagination like this deer in the animated video.
