Für Lena † 2011
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her short life ended so suddenly and unexpected with only 20. beside the huge pain i experienced through her decision to leave, i think i can now say after years of thoughts and reflection, that it was also the event i learned the most of.

this day changed literally everything. it was the hardest reminder that we only have very limited time together, so early in life. it effected all my decisions, every breath is a deeper one since this day. i see with a clear mind and open heart now. it gave me more passion, the ability for self care, it strengthened my empathy & understanding and created a even stronger will to leave the world better than i found it.

i’m sharing this because i don’t want her to become forgotten and meaningless. so, this is what i learned. maybe you get something good from it, too.

be good to yourself. be good to people, even the ones you think that don’t deserve it. be kind to every other sentient being. everyone has her or his own invisible struggles, be aware of it and respect it. keep the people that don’t make you grow and keep you small out of your life. trust yourself, but be ready to question yourself, too. fight. try to find beauty in the saddest and darkest moments. don’t be surprised of change, because it will happen. don’t live a life of bad compromises, go for the whole. don’t fear insecurity. be more brave than you actually are.

_____

Was am Ende

Leise, sonst hörn uns die Wale

Usually I do a million takes when I record a new song. This time I stopped around take 10 to prevent perfectionism taking over.. 
So, it’s not super precise, but hey! I finished something! 
I hope you enjoy it. 

*Alice

Unverzagt

Free Download of the sheet music: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U4a7Hu0f91URzi019wVD5ouytAmkImxk/view?usp=sharing

Mixed & mastered by Martyn Heyne. 
Released by Moderna Records.
Cover picture by Jacob David.

‘Please tell my mum to burn me’, he suddenly said, after we‘d been silently sitting together for a while, carefully watching the fies residing in the kitchen. It came out of nowhere, seemed like a random thought going through his mind.
My friend is not a passionate talker, he rarely shares any thoughts with anyone. But if so, it’s often a pretty weird conversation starter.

So it came that on this summerly day he was asking me to contact his mom after his death and tell her that he wants his corpse to be burned. We started discussing death, our experiences we had in life with it so far and how we deal with it. From his viewpoint, death was a pretty rational thing. It just happens at a point. There’s no need or use for grief for other people.
This was new to me - I’ve never met someone before who could not understand why humans connect to each other emotionally and why they might miss each other. I told him not to die for a while, because I would still like to have him around.

This whole conversation got stuck in my mind and I started making a playful / happy song in connection with the quote from him.

It was originally a piece played only with my left hand and accompanied by me singing. But I found my singing terrible :-) That’s why it became a solo piano version.
In case there’s anybody out there who enjoys singing, feel free to make use of the lyrics :)

These are the lyrics (original quotes):

please please 
please tell my mum 
please tell my mum 
to burn me

please tell my mum 
please tell my mum 
to burn me, burn me 
burn my dead body

death is inevitable
death is inevitable

oh i don‘t know how i came to this topic 
oh well yes i said i liked fire
fire
fire fire

please tell my mum to burn me

hi! this is alice & her piano. 

here you'll find music inspired by compassion - and its absence.


///

compassion hurts. when you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. and you cannot turn away.
your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. you must either learn to carry the universe or be crushed by it. you must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors. -andrew boyd

title picture by Jacob David

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