Hello & welcome! :)
In this fifth edition of Distante, you'll find a brand new playlist with 13 tracks carefully curated by me, which you can follow/hit ♡ button (save to your library) on Spotify:
Precisely three years ago I moved from Brasil to London. Living abroad for 1095 days has affected me in many ways, including my work on music curation and, even more profoundly, my relationship with music. I wrote about this particular aspect of being an immigrant in this edition. This is the first chapter of an ongoing series. Keep an eye on the newsletter for the following pieces! :)
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// On music, playlist and being an immigrant
“For Heidegger, migrating does not only designate the <<earthly>> stay of mortals, in a metaphysical-Christian sense, it does not mark a beginning and an end, but it affects existence, (...) on the continuous leaving oneself, separating oneself from oneself, which is a perennial migration.” Donatella di Cesare, Italian philosopher and essayist, in her book Residents Foreigners, 228.
In 2021, I started writing an essay on the songs you listened to in your lifetime - from the ones that touched your soul when you were just a baby, a child, a teenager, and so on. Could every part of our lives be marked by a group of songs that point directly to where we were and who we were at the moment? How do these tracks help you understand your paths in life so far? Can music be a map of each person's life?
I got obsessed with this idea, so I created my own musical map and compiled a playlist featuring 80 songs. When I finished the process, I remember saying to myself: well, all my life is into this playlist. I saved it on my phone.
A few weeks later, I started to work at an art gallery shop. It was my first on-site job in London. At that time, I had lived here for only six months. Covid was still a huge concern, so I only had a few opportunities to get to know people or even to practice the English language. I was nervous about everything related to this job, from talking to my colleagues to providing customer service. For months, every worked day would be a huge win. I survived!
One day, taking the tube on my way home, I discovered that this uneasiness had nothing to do with the job. Or with my co-workers (some of them have become my closest friends in this country). Or with the customers. What helped me understand was listening to that musical map playlist.
When I hit the play button and started listening to all these songs I knew so well, that have helped me to get here, songs that have taught me so many things, or made me laugh so many times, or even wanted to dance, or to sing, and to love, and to learn, and to believe… that was like remembering who I was before getting here. It's not who I am now because I've changed, but it is still an essential part of me. And I could only continue inventing myself if I became familiar again with who I'd been earlier.
I'm still working in that art gallery shop from time to time. I've become much more comfortable with the job now, though I still feel a very similar nervousness; even more than two years have passed. But now I've got the antidote: my musical map playlist.
“Changing languages means adopting new mental codes. You change countries and establish roots in a new land. Observing the changes imposed on a human being by a different cultural environment is quite amazing. The immigrant who lives in a community and does not camouflage himself among the natives maintains group habits. The isolated, on the other hand, does not. He becomes part of an unknown universe. He leaves your crib. The new language is a new homeland." Teresa Cremini, Egyptian-born Italian writer and author of "La Triumphante" (no English version), in an interview with Brazilian publishing house Ayine.
// THE 005 PLAYLIST
I’m Eduardo Lemos, and Distante exists as a place to explore the intersection of music and immigration, bilingualism and other topics alongside organically curated playlists.
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