Weekly Photo Challenge: Humanity

I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.
Billy Joel

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Music.

The universal language.

” … an explosive expression of humanity.”

Where there is music, people gather.

A note, a pulse, a rhythm touches the air and we are moved, respond … differently.

Sing along; tap a toe; meditate; all out dance.

It’s our differences that make us human, and humans, with our differences, make up humanity.

On our recent trip to Italy we met with two musical surprises.

The first was in Florence. During our last evening in Florence we stopped by the Ponte Vecchio where two talented guitarists had set up and attracted a large crowd of tired tourists winding down their day.

With a view of the beautiful River Arno as their backdrop and surrounded by the ancient air of the old bridge, the duo’s energy and whimsy added a twist of musical ambiance to an already magical setting.

As I gazed around the haphazard audience I was moved by how so many diverse cultures could gather together in one place and happily listen in on the musical conversation being struck on these two guitars.

Music speaks to the soul of what’s important. It is healing when we allow it this capacity. And at the end of a long day tramping through the streets of an ancient city, it is restoring too.

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Two weeks later in Venice we experienced much the same thing in the Piazza San Marco.

In the evenings, parlour orchestras (I guess you’d call them) set up on a rotating basis to play the classics (Vivaldi, Handel, Rogers and Hammerstein, Lloyd Webber, etc.) to draw traffic into the cafes.

Tourists of every persuasion gather in the square to eat gelato and move about between the bands.

For a hefty sum, if you so wish (and we did one night) you can park your tired derriere at a table and enjoy some refreshment ~ a glass of wine, or cappaccino and biscotti, perhaps ~ while listening to tuneful melodies resonating into the square.

A different expression of music in another city but no less magical than
that we’d experienced in Florence.

And so it goes anywhere in the world where the universal language of music
speaks to the hearts of all.

Thanks for visiting …

Dorothy

~*~

©Dorothy Chiotti … Aimwell CreativeWorks 2014