Music Heals Your Soul

I’ve been in Seattle for nearly a week now, due to attending the Microsoft MVP Summit. I’ll be writing more on that later. I’m very tired from all of the activities, but I was moved to tears tonight by an experience I had, and wanted to get my thoughts down in writing while they’re fresh.

My boss, Chris Pirillo, picked me up yesterday morning when the conference ended. I am spending the weekend with him, just hanging out and having fun. Usually when I’m here, we’re batshit crazy busy with Gnomedex, and we really don’t get to visit. Chris decided to take this opportunity to have a small get-together at his house, complete with live music. I had no idea what was in store for me.

Around 7pm, these two guys show up. Their little duo is called Hejira. One of the guys is a guitar player. The other is a cellist who once played an impromptu concert on a street corner with Justin Bieber. They set up their instruments, and tuned up. We all gathered around… and then they began to play.

If you know me at all, you know what a huge role music has always played in my life. It is a part of my soul. I don’t know how else to put it. I play it. I sing it. I listen to it. I live and breathe music. That is truly where my greatest passion lies.

As they began to actually play, I sank down to sit on the floor and just stare, open-mouthed. Within about ten seconds, I had tears in my eyes. I have never heard anything like this before, of course, since no one plays anything like this. I was blown away, and there they sat… not more than ten feet away.

The cellist is from Egypt originally, and sat first chair in the Cairo Opera House for sixteen years. He is a man who feels the music deep in his soul, and his heart comes through his fingers and out of the instrument as he plays. They take songs and put their own flavor into them, such as hits by Michael Jackson. It’s really impossible to describe. You just have to listen.

I have been struggling with some deeply personal things for several weeks, many of which came to a head very recently. My emotions have been dragged through the mud and the muck, and I’ve had a lot of trouble trying to bring myself back up. I have cried a lot, and tried to make sense of my World most of the time.

Listen to Ashraf play the cello tonight spoke to my soul. I could feel myself begin to heal a little, finding some inner peace for the first time in what feels like forever. I only wish I could find the right words to explain to you how amazing this experience was.

Please. Listen to their music. Close your eyes, and open your mind. Let the music into your heart.