Music lights up my day

Samuel Flamand

Herald: What are some of the groups you like?

Samuel: Alanis Morissette, Lenny Kravitz, Sinclair [a French funk band], Seal, Joe Jackson, Billy Joel. I like the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Spin Doctors.

I also like old Motown singers like Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, and the Jackson 5. And Stevie Wonder. My favorite band at the moment is Jamiroquai, a British acid-jazz band.

I really love a song when it moves my heart or makes me want to move my feet. When I can feel the singer's emotions through the melody of the artist's voice or through the beauty of the words. That's an expression of Soul, which is another name for God. It's an uplifting feeling, something you can't touch or see physically. Music enlightens my day. It makes me feel better when I'm not feeling too good. I see music as one of the ways God speaks to us.

Herald: Do you care more about the music or the lyrics?

Samuel: Generally the music, because the melody and the sound speak to me directly. I don't feel a need for words. But when I do listen to the words, I like certain themes better than others. The love theme appears in most of the songs. I really like, for example, “Love Lifts Us Up Where We Belong.” And I like the song “Let Love Rule,” by Lenny Kravitz. A lot of lyrics are based on the theme of friendship, like “Lean On Me,” by Bill Withers, and Stevie Wonder's “That's What Friends Are For.”

And there are always the themes of happiness and peace. They come quite often in Jamiroquai's songs, like in “Stillness in Time,” or in the beginning of “The Return of the Space Cowboy”:

/ Everything is good, and brown, I'm here again with this sunshine smile upon my face, my friends are close at hand, and all my inhibitions have disappeared without a trace, I'm glad, I've found somebody who I can rely on. /

Some people may say, “You can attain such a state only through the use of drugs.” But I've really felt a solid sense of happiness, like the one described in this song, by turning wholeheartedly to God. This song relates to my life. It describes how I've often felt when I've been physically healed by praying to God.

Herald: Do you spend time with your own thoughts?

Samuel: Yes. I write songs, mostly on the guitar. Alone, contemplating the clouds (I love looking at the clouds), taking time to listen to thoughts coming to me, I'm inspired to write the music or the words of a song. Afterwards, I always feel peaceful and happy.

Music is one of the most wonderful gifts God has given us. Many, many songs have reached my heart that I will carry with me for life. I really understand the words of this song:

Music was my first love, and it will be my last
Music of the future and music of the past.
To live without my music would be impossible to do.
'Cause in this world of troubles my music pulls me through.

About the author

Samuel started learning violin at age 6. And he and his sister sang together. In Bordeaux, France, where Samuel studied computer science, he played in various bands — rock, jazz, and classical. Samuel now works on navigation systems for cars and plays bass guitar in a German rock group.

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