Ibiyinka Alao

The Music Party

Flutes of many colours remind me of you
Red Sun in the horizon is the way my heart will bleed
Blowing it out really helps to heal the wounds
I will shine for the world to see
That I am filled with colours

There goes a man when he follows the dream
That's on his mind
There goes a woman when she feels the warmth
Of the fire within her soul
I see a boat on the river it's coming back home
Back to the hut where home always is

The music that they make is like the Sun at the horizon
The water is frozen like a moment in time
There is the fire to melt it only if we choose to love

"The Music Party" embodies the order that comes to us when we reflect on music as visible art. To me, painting is frozen music. In order for us to detect the music that warms the hearts of the two prayerful women on the right, we must consider the elements of matter (solid, liquid, vapor). Music is the frozen water in the ocean below the horizon. The man on the left is pretending to blow out the sun from his flute. It is his blissful fantasy. We can observe that the sun is red hot because it casts long shadows on the shekere's gems on the lower left. Therefore, the heat is the impetus for melting the solid music, which is reflected also in the colorful boiling pot that heats liquid music. The liquid music is then vaporized and shoots up as sharp bursts of sound that are as melodious song flowing into the hearts of the two women. The end result is a feeling of tranquility that we can feel also by melting this painting with our eyes to almost sing the music that is frozen within.

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