Category: Reflections

Thoughts and blurbs about things that make life worth living.

Hiroshima. Forgive and never forget.

We are traveling in a Hikari Shinkansen (bullet) train to Kyoto at warp speed. Cities morph into tunnels, bridges, mountains. Humans racing, we always want more. Time once stood still in Hiroshima. 8.15 am, August 6, 1945. Today the A-bomb dome and peace park are the only reminders of what happened here. You cannot imagine the scale of destruction – and it is even harder to believe this disaster was inflicted by mankind…
Martyrs, guinea pigs, victims, survivors, aggressors,… the people of Hiroshima were all these things. But when they were hit with the biggest weapon ever made, it destroyed their whole city in a flash and killed 80.000 people instantly.  It slowly killed even more than that in the months and years after the blast.

And how did Hiroshima respond?
‘We must be advocates of peace.‘

 

Every night should be Slow Music night

There are not many Famous Belgians, but Adolphe Sax is one of the lucky few.  In 1841, he invented the saxophone, an unique combination of power and agility.  Yet a contra-bass saxophone still weighs in at a whopping 20 kg – and only around 25 exist in the world today.

All the more reason to be absolutely amazed by bass saxophonist Colin Stetson‘s solo at the beginning of the night!  First, Shara Worden (aka My Brightest Diamond) opened the evening, seated at the piano, urging us to ‘Slow Down’ with her enchanting voice.  In case anyone was still unclear about the theme of the night, Colin was there to reinforce the message. Like a snake charmer, he hypnotized the audience. One minute became five, five turned into ten and then time just stopped. Continue reading Every night should be Slow Music night