I keep a collection of videos of musicians that, to me, are really moving. This “Music Is Magic” series covers those videos and why they are important to me. See the end of this post for a link to the video playlist.
I haven’t gotten too much into the Foo Fighters, but I really like Dave Grohl, and the passion of the Foo Fighters’ fans is impressive. I came across this video, Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters Rockin’1000 Official Video, a number of years ago and I was mezmorized.
1000 musicians gathering in one location to play one song for the members of one band. For the purpose of getting that band to come to their little town in Italy and give a concert. The variety of people is amazing. Watch especially for the kids.
As the camera wanders through the musicians, you see all kinds of faces, but there seems to be two kinds of emotions: serious attention to the playing or happiness. There is a huge variety of happiness, from simply smiling to satisfaction to grinning to giddiness to elation.
This video is one of the bookmarks that I keep at the top of my browser and watch it 3-5 times a week. The sheer enthusiasm of the musicians always gives me a lift.
I don’t know the story of how the day came about or all the work that went into it. I don’t know what the experience of the people there was, other than what is on the video.
But I wondered.
When I was starting to write, this video gave me the idea to write about what that day must have been like. I didn’t do any research, instead focusing on the emotion behind someone who might have participated in this event. The fictional story is called Cesena.
The entire Music Is Magic playlist can be found here.
One thousand people
Enthusiastically play
Much delirium