_{Source: Pexels, modified}

Studying music with Kurt Vonnegut, owner of the Santana Studio near Wittgenstein Street, was a new experience for me. In the Rising Star game, you had to take frequent music lessons to suppress your big ego. A large ego would reduce the gain of your Starbits.

Kurt was a tough guy. He could chopped up your guitar if you picked the wrong chords. However, he was kind-hearted and often recounted his experiences as a musician and music producer. His experience was very useful for me, new kid on this hard music stage.

Today I was back on Wittgenstein Street. Return to the corner of the Matahari Bali clothing store. I busked for a few hours there. One of the songs I played was Windswept by Skaarl (Hive account@skaarl). It's a funky song even though the title was about something that got hit by a strong wind.

It suddenly rained. The weather these days was so unpredictable. The sky was so dark. I hurriedly put away my equipment and ran into the roof of the nearest building. Maxim The Saxophonist had taken shelter there. He laughed at my arrival. "You know, the rain is the best friend of musicians like us," he said, baring his white teeth.

"It's such insolent rain. I haven't made enough money to buy a cup of coffee," I grumbled.

"You can't do that. Like I said, rain is a friend to us," he said. "In fact, the rain is a friend of all musicians."

I brushed off the raindrops on my shirt.

Come to think of it, Maxim was right. Rain was actually a musician's best friend.

Weather was music. Musicians seemed to be very conscious of the weather, which could affect mood or inspire songwriting. There were authors who wrote "154 Songs About Rain". He mentioned a number of rain-themed songs, such as It Will Rain by Bruno Mars, Set Fire to the Rain by Adele, Crying in the Rain by The Beatles, Fall Like Rain by Eric Clapton, Raining on Sunday by Keith Urban, Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Rod Stewart, +A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall_ by Bob Dylan, Purple Rain by Prince, The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin, So. Central Rain by R.E.M., and Red Rain by Peter Gabriel. Oh, of course there's November Rain by Guns N 'Roses, I Made It Through the Rain by Barry Mannilow, and When It Rains by Kid Rock.

Scientists were also interested in this phenomenon. In 2012, a group of meteorologists and weather experts gathered to discuss this topic. They concluded that many musicians saw the weather as "a kind of escapism."

They analyzed 15,000 pop songs and found that 419 mentioned weather and 190 of them made weather their main theme. The relationship was often stylistic: the sunrise as joy or rain as sadness. However, many song lyrics also had complex metaphors and might even refer to certain records of weather history. In essence, they agreed that musicians were very aware of the weather, as well as rain.

The rain was still pouring on Wittgenstein Street. I was humming in the windy rain. Maxim hummed too. We laughed and sang loudly. Sometimes out of little things like this joy could be born.

_{Source: Jeandaniel Francoeur from Pexels, modified}

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Mimpi Menjadi Bintang (Bagian 8): Bersenandung di Tengah Hujan

Belajar musik pada Kurt Vonnegut, pemilik studio Santana Studio di dekat Wittgenstein Street, adalah pengalaman baru bagiku. Di Rising Star game, kau harus sering-sering mengambil pelajaran musik untuk menekan egomu yang besar. Ego yang besar akan mengurangi perolehan Sstarbits.

Kurt adalah lelaki yang keras. Ia bisa mencincang gitarmu bila kau salah memetik chord. Tapi, dia baik hati dan sering mengisahkan pengalamannya sebagai musisi dan produser musik. Pengalamannya sangat berguna bagiku, anak ingusan di panggung musik yang keras ini.

Hari ini aku kembali ke Wittgenstein Street. Kembali ke pojok toko pakaian Matahari Bali. Aku mengamen beberapa jam di sana. Salah satu lagu yang kumainkan adalah Windswept oleh Skaarl (Hive account@skaarl). Ini lagu yang funky meski judulnya bicara soal sesuatu yang diterpa angin keras.

Tiba-tiba hujan. Sialan. Cuaca beberapa hari ini begitu tak terduga. Langit begitu gelap. Aku buru-buru membereskan peralatanku dan berlari ke bawah atap gedung terdekat. Maxim The Saxophonist sudah berteduh di sana. Dia tertawa melihat kedatanganku. "Kau tahu, hujan itu sahabat karib pemusik seperti kita," katanya sambil memamerkan giginya yang putih.

"Ini hujan yang kurang ajar. Aku belum mengumpulkan uang yang cukup untuk membeli secangkir kopi," aku menggerutu.

"Kau tak boleh begitu. Seperi kubilang, hujan itu sahabat bagi kita," katanya. "Pada kenyatannya, hujan adalah teman semua musisi."

Aku menepis butir-butir hujan di bajuku.

Setelah kupikir-pikir, Maxim benar. Hukan sebenarnya adalah sahabat musisi.

Cuaca adalah musik. Pemusik tampaknya sangat sadar akan cuaca, yang dapat mempengaruhi suasana hati atau inspirasi dalam mencipta lagu. Ada penulis yang menulis "154 Songs About Rain". Dia menyebut sejumlah lagu bertema hujan, seperti It Will Rain oleh Bruno Mars, Set Fire to the Rain oleh Adele, Crying in the Rain oleh The Beatles, Fall Like Rain oleh Eric Clapton, Raining on Sunday by Keith Urban, Have You Ever Seen the Rain oleh Rod Stewart, A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall oleh Bob Dylan, Purple Rain oleh Prince, The Rain Song oleh Led Zeppelin, So. Central Rain oleh R.E.M., dan Red Rain oleh Peter Gabriel. Oh, tentu saja ada November Rain oleh Guns N' Roses, I Made It Through the Rain oleh Barry Mannilow, dan When It Rains oleh Kid Rock.

Ilmuwan pun tertarik pada fenomena ini. Pada 2012, sekelompok meteorologis dan ahli cuaca berkumpul untuk membahas topik ini. Mereka menyimpulkan bahwa banyak musisi melihat cuaca sebagai "semacam eskapisme".

Mereka menganalisa 15.000 lagu pop dan menemukan bahwa 419 menyebut soal cuaca dan 190 di antaranya menjadikan cuaca sebagai tema utama. Hubungannya seringkali stilistik: matahari terbit sebagai kegembiraan atau hujan sebagai kesedihan. Namun, banyak lirik lagu juga punya metafora yang rumit dan bahkan sebagian merujuk pada catatan sejarah cuaca tertentu. Intinya, mereka bersepakat bahwa musisi sangatlah sadar akan cuaca, juga hujan.

Hujan masih mengguyur di Wittgenstein Street. Aku bersenandung di tengah hujan yang berangin. Maxim turut bersenandung. Kami tertawa-tawa dan bernyanyi keras. Kadangkala dari hal-hal kecil seperti ini kegembiraan bisa lahir.

_{Source: Rahul Dogra from Pexels, modified}

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