Music Connects Us All
Music Connects Us All
If you are listening to this program, you are a music lover. Not everybody is a music lover, believe it or not.
There’s something about music that I’ve been thinking about lately. Music connects us. It’s got its own energy, as my friend Itzik DaYa says. I keep on being amazed how I reconnect with people over and over.
I’ve been reconnecting lately with family I had not spoken with for some time, and we found ourselves communicating through our traditions, our Iraqi language, our memories, and now, also another language: music in common.
Music speaks in a language all of its own, don’t you think?
I’ve heard from friends I had lost touch with, and from complete strangers, believe it or not, that heard something on this program and felt connected to it, and sent me messages, and they are totally strangers.
What I think is remarkable about music: it reaches across families, generation, countries, culture, age, and of course languages.
Israel was a melting pot for all of us. We heard music from all the surrounding Arab countries, Greece, Europe, Turkey, of course UK, and whatever came our way from the United States. We didn’t speak a word in English or French, barely a little Arabic, but we sang and hummed along music we never heard before, language we never spoke.
Music, and sometimes one single song, can bring many people together, many artists, to one simple cause.
Think about “We Are the World.” Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Bruce Springsteen, oh my goodness, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Tina Turner, and dozen of other artists walked into one studio one night in LA right after events in that city. And by the way, if you haven’t seen the documentary about the making of “We Are the World” on Netflix, it’s well worth it.
But all of them left their individual career, and one thing very important, they left their egos outside the studio. They got together for one cause: for hunger in Africa.
And it happened again with Band Aid and “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” with artists coming together. And another song I’m going to bring you shortly of artists from all over the world singing in all different languages, united under one song and one mission.
That’s how music connect artist under one mission, and that’s the power of music.
It can lift us when we are down, and it can remind us where we came from. You know, it can also make us dance when we don’t feel like dancing, and it can bring tears to our eyes, and it can bring strangers together in a concert. I’m sure that you all experienced that, when you have absolutely nothing else in common except the artist, and you look at each other and you jump up in joy and you smile and you sing along. We all experience that in concert.
Maybe that’s why I keep on coming back to music. Because music is like an octopus, so to speak. It has many arms: one reaches into memories, one reaches into your family, old friends, it reaches across borders, and another one reaches out to somebody you’ve never met, but need a lift.
So, tonight we are going to hear music from different places, different cultures. Nothing different about this show; I always bring you different new languages and different cultures. But underneath it all, there is one common thing: connection. And when people connect through music, something else happens: we lift each other.
You know it, and I know it. So let’s get started.
This is East to West, World Music Songbook, and this is Eitan Battat. Stay with me for the next couple of hours.
Tonight’s Playlist
| Track Title | Artist | Length |
|
Thank You For The Music
|
ABBA
|
03:54 |
|
Ain’ No Sunshine
|
Chilled House
|
04:09 |
|
TAMBOR
|
Tony Allen
|
04:56 |
|
We Are the World
|
USA for Africa
|
07:15 |
|
The whole world sings together
|
Artist from around the world
|
05:33 |
|
תנו לגדול בשקט
|
שלומי שבת
|
04:14 |
|
Sleepwalk
|
The Shadows
|
02:46 |
|
Jolene (Todd Terje Remix)
|
Dolly Parton
|
05:48 |
|
L’Ete Indien (Indian Summer)
|
Joe Dassin
|
04:28 |
|
Silence radio
|
Velorich
|
03:30 |
|
Sugar Clouds
|
Asgeir
|
04:28 |
|
Luna Sul Mare
|
Anima Clara
|
05:22 |
|
IMAGINE
|
Enzo Buonaurio
|
03:08 |
|
Give Peace A Chance
|
John Lennon
|
04:53 |
|
Twilight Time
|
The Platters
|
02:49 |
|
Reflections Of My Life
|
Marmalade
|
04:02 |
|
The Way It Used To Be
|
Engelbert Humperdinck
|
03:13 |
|
Handbrake
|
Micatone
|
04:03 |
|
All the songs you gave me
|
Maria Bethania
|
04:02 |
|
Love Is Stronger Than Pride
|
Sade
|
04:18 |
|
Baby It’s Cold Outside
|
Rod Stewart & Dolly Parton
|
03:51 |
|
The Hardest Part
|
Olivia Dean, Leon Bridges
|
03:22 |
|
All the Love in the World
|
Dionne Warwick
|
03:30 |
|
Is it Selfish
|
Lucca Mae
|
04:22 |
|
DO 4 LOVE
|
Snoh Alaegra
|
03:09 |
| 13 Jours en France | Francis Lai | 03:45 |
Thank you Eitan for the beautiful music, the captivating stories and all the knowlage you have in all of this. East to West is the only program I listen to in a radio, anywhere. God Bless you for making our lives more joyous. p.s and for playing my songs on your radio. Tami Nora your loyal listener