Calm Within a Crazy World

As the world around us changes ever constantly; we speed our way along the server that is modern life and I personally move on from the reasonably controlled chaos that is university, the need for a bit of peace and quiet, calmness and tranquillity is needed before moving into the parallel turbine that is adult life.

Life has been quite hectic over the last 3 years; inner city living generally does that to you. From the testing early morning studies, the traffic on the streets, the throngs of people and the late night antics whether on the streets, in the clubs and bars or in the university library, swatting up on all things that will aid me in my future. It all rushes by in a haze. It seems like only yesterday that I was saying goodbye to my parents at the start of my university adventure; and now it’s over. As life has unfolded over the last 3 years and experiences, challenges and adventures have sped around me, I have increasingly looked for areas to seek calm, solitude and peace throughout my life, to help with managing the stressors that impact on life.

Such calmness has come about in two particular ways, firstly through walking and running the High Peaks and the Derbyshire Dales and secondly, through discovery of new music. I don’t need to explain to you the benefits to both physical and mental health that walking and running bring, especially in the Peak District. My personal preference is to just stick a pin in the map and go from there, sometimes I don’t even use the map, I just strap my walking boots on, jump in the car, drive and then walk or run. Whether it be 2 miles or 20, Mam Tor or Snake Pass, there are endless places in which to pull back from the hustle and bustle and just let your mind and body wonder.

I have always been interested in walking, running and physical activity in general, so that’s not terribly new to me! What has been new and is an ever constant change, is the discovery of music to calm the mind. It’s by far in a way not a new phenomenon, too many have written about their musical influences in calming their mind and soul. Yet it is for me. The point of this is to list just a few of such pieces, albums and artists who I can best recommend for the calming of a mind. I admit they are my tastes and may not suit everyone but I have tried to be widespread in my listing.

First up and in no particular order is the angelic Alison Krauss and her band Union Station. My parents introduced Alison to me, subconsciously. They bought her records from the late nineties and early 2000’s and played then almost on repeat every Sunday night during our traditional weekly family meals, one of the few times during the week, especially as me and my brother grew into teenagers and then young adults, where all four of us would sit round a table and eat together, much like our ancestors must have done for centuries previously. However, at that stage, I never really took much notice about Krauss. She had a pleasant voice but at that stage I was rather musically intolerant. It wasn’t until university and the search for calmness and peace, that I rediscovered Alison Krauss. There is, in my opinion, no finer female voice in her style anywhere in the world. With only a couple of bars of song, Krauss has the ability to open up my soul, and send shockwaves of emotion through my veins. To say that she and her troupe of players that make up Union Station have revolutionised Bluegrass music is somewhat an understatement. Krauss, as has been mentioned before but I can only repeat, is just as good, if not better, live as she is on her studio albums, of which there have been many. Sure enough awards have followed, many of them. If I were to pick one album for recommended listening for those searching for tranquillity, it would have to be her ‘Live’ album from 2002 performed at Louisville in Kentucky. As far as live performances go, you will struggle to find better. I wil not easily forget those long days and night before exams or assignment deadlines, whiling away at a computer with Krauss' soft voice and the caressing melodies spilling through my headphones like a babbling brook down a hillside. 

European folk music has also had an impact on my search for tranquillity within music. Being of Irish decent, I have an ear for Irish as well as English folk music. Being from a fairly ruralised town in the south west of England with its own folk festival, you are never too far away from a Morris dancer or pagan chanter. However, I’m not talking about that particular type of music. The folk music I’m into is often accompanied with an electric guitar. On the Irish side, I recently discovered the music of Christie Moore, legendary Irish folk singer. Amidst the evocative protest songs like ‘Back Home in Derry’ and ‘Burning Times’, those seeking calm will be attracted to the melancholy ‘City of Chicago’, in my opinion one of his best. It has a lilting melody of wistfulness, the longing for home and could be seen as an anthem for the some 80 million Irish diaspora spread across the globe.

Sticking with folk music but jumping across the Irish Sea, I have also recently discovered the music of Sandy Denny, a relative unknown to all those outside the broad genre of British Indie Folk Rock. She is known for her membership of bands such as The Strawbs, Fotheringay and Fairport Convention. It was with the latter that she was at her most prominent. I say ‘was’ because sadly as bright as her light shone throughout the late 1960’s and 70’s, her life and legend was cut short in 1978 at the age of 31, short of her prime and of her opportunity for wider appreciation. However, she left a remarkable legacy. ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’, written when she was just 19 (yes... that's not a typo), remains one of the finest folk songs ever written. It is spine tingling. Many say it’s depressing and sad. I disagree, it does have a certain sense of melancholy. Denny's voice is eerily shrill, yet it is also a song of hope, of being alive, love and the future. I also admire her choice of song titles for example, ‘North Star Grassman and The Ravens’, another one for the calm seekers, whatever she was thinking of when she came up with that title, who knows! Sandy Denny deserves a deeper overview of her life and work, I’ll work on that!

We’re now well on our way to tranquillity, next on our playlist is a piece of music that you probably wouldn’t imagine a 24 year old to listen to… but I’m going to come out with it anyway. It’s Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ ‘Lark Ascending’. Yes it’s a piece of classical music but it reminds me of my childhood, the countryside and the long walks we used to go on. I’m reminded of the hills, the wind, the rain and my family. It seems I’m not the only one who thinks like this. In a poll of Desert Island Discs listeners, it was voted their favourite. The solo violin, especially throughout the second half of the piece rises above the rest and floats on the wind, over the patchwork fields, dense forests, over the peaks and down the dales that make up our countryside. It is that most English of classical pieces. Most islanders who chose this piece as one of their 8 for the BBC Radio 4 program said that it too reminded them most of home. It’s another in the collection of pieces that can whisk you away into the land of imagination, tranquillity and more often than not sleep.

I’m now going to select a very personal piece of music I doubt anyone in this country has heard. That is unless you were able to catch the end credits of the most recent Inspector Montalbano program, released back in 2019. It’s called ‘Comu Aceddu Finici’ by Italian singer Olivia Solero. Look her up on your digital streaming service, it will be worth it. For fans of the show, see my earlier features on it. For a program, which has run for 20 years, that rarely uses music that includes lyrics, this piece, in the latest encounter with the Sicilian detective, strikes a chord. Maybe it’s the echoing violins, maybe it’s the backdrop to the show, maybe it’s the expanse of time in which the show has evolved, I can’t quite put my finger on why it fits so perfectly into my ‘calm’ playlist.

That about brings an end to the artists, albums and songs that have eased me through my early adult years. They’ve soothed me through the stress, the anxiety, the good times and the bad. Honourable mentions should go to The Cranberries for ‘Linger’, Kraftwerk for ‘Neon Lights’ and ‘Tundra Swans’ performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and featured on the wildlife series Wild China. All are freely accessible on digital music streaming services and I hope that these selections can aid you in finding calm in our crazy world.