The Stranger's Name is Love

I love a good Flash Mob, especially ones that use the power of music to surprise, delight, and bring complete strangers together to be reminded of the love that underpins and fuels the universe. So I thought I’d share three of my favorites with you:

• Nessun dorma - featuring the incredible Mexican tenor Rafael Rojas singing with the ladies of the Chorus of Opera North in Trinity Leeds shopping mall. Nessum dorma is an aria from the final act of Puccini's Turandot and one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. Click HERE for a summary of the story behind the opera.

• Asimbonanga: This flash mob is a tribute to Nelson Mandela. It was held in one of Woolworth’s retail outlets in South Africa and featured members of the Soweto Gospel Choir posing as shoppers and store workers at one of its retail outlets. Asimbonanga is Zulu and means “We have not seen him.” The song was written during Mandela’s incarceration and made famous by Johnny Clegg. It called for Mandela’s release. Click HERE to read the lyrics in both Zulu and English.

• Ode to Joy - This incredible performance of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,’ the the final (fourth) movement of his Ninth Symphony, completed in 1824. The Flash Mob took place in the Spanish city of Sabadell. The double basist seen above on the left was posing as a busker, waiting for someone to give him some coins to start playing. It fell to the little girl on the right to get things started. What followed was truly magical and involved more than 100 performers. Click HERE to learn more about the piece.

Some Thoughts

Beethoven’s Ode to Joy has symbolized hope, unity, and fellowship across borders for more than 200 years. When Beethoven began composing the Ninth Symphony his hearing was already deteriorating, and by the time he completed it he was completely deaf. And yet he persevered, knowing that on some level what he was creating had meaning and purpose beyond his physical limitations - that he was bringing hope and joy to a world that would need it long after he was gone.

Today I’m here to remind you that the love and hope and joy that fueled Beethoven’s creativity and enabled him to listen beyond what his body could translate into sound is alive and well in each of us. Likewise, his ability to “tune” into his spirit - to the part of himself that transcended physical reality and could hear without hearing - is alive in all of us as well.

Contrary to popular opinion, creativity does not belong to only a few “special” people. It lives in each of us; is expressed uniquely in each of us; and is needed by ALL of us to complete our collective story. So don’t let the cacophony of negativity and drama filling the airwaves and washing over our media like a tsunami keep you from tuning in - from listening to your spirit’s music and sharing (however it wants to be shared) with the rest of us. We’ll be listening, I promise.

With love and light,
Jena

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