Negative plus Negative Equals Positive

  Harmony is everything and it is in everything. My dictionary states that harmony is an agreement in feelings or emotions. To reach an agreement, two or more elements must be in sync; they must be on the same wavelength, have the same vibe, be of the same nature, and share the same goal. Harmony is peace, and without harmony, there is chaos. The equation, "negative plus negative equals positive," describes harmony mathematically. It shows that even two negative elements, if joined, can create a positive result. According to the proverbs, "Birds of the same feather flock together'. Well, most of the time, unlike birds, people even though with the same nature do not flock together; but they should if they want harmony.

I live in a village on a forest mountain, surrounded by trees, peace, birds singing, and a gentle summer breeze. More than two decades ago, when my mother, determined to own land, decided to settle in this remote area. There was no electricity in this place. Only a couple of years later, when my family managed to get a power connection, did we become the first to have electric lights, music player, television, and other electrical appliances in this neighborhood. I am a loner who loves quiet places, those were my golden years living in this remote village.

My widowed mother works throughout the day, while I am a musician who does "gigs" at night. Most of my sisters were married and had moved out with their families. Being the first-born, I acted as a father to my two younger sisters and younger brother, who were too young by then. In our home, I am in control, especially of the musical inputs; music at that time is my obsession. Whenever I play my kind of music, everyone listens, even when I play it loud and repeatedly when I am trying to figure out a song. Maybe for my neighbors, it is better than nothing, because some of them, especially those whose houses are far from ours, have asked me to turn my volume up louder so they can hear it from afar. Although I love to play and listen to my music, most of the time the neighborhood is calm and unruffled because most of the time I am writing, reading, contemplating, meditating or listening to my most favorite sound, which is silence.

However, as the year passes by, my neighbors catch up both financially and technologically with us. In addition, with the unrestrained music piracy in my country and the arrival of the internet, they have access to different kinds of music and movies available in the market and in the neighborhood. My golden years of sound control are over, because now I am in a defensive mood. I am surrounded by my neighbors who are too eager and too numerous to be controlled. They are music junkies who always want to emote, to listen, to be heard, and musically in control. I believe that my government have no law against sound pollution, and if there is any, it is nowhere to be found. As a result, I was compelled to listen to various types of songs on a daily and hourly basis; old and new; wonderful and ridiculous. I must admit that some of them are laudable and inspiring, but some of them are total garbage, unfiltered, unclassified, uncensored. Moreover, I was denied access to my most favorite sound, which is the main reason why I chose to reside in this remote location.

My neighbors love to play and listen to music at loud volumes. They play their music early in the morning, which is my time for meditation and writing, and they even play their music at the same time. There were moments when three or four of them were playing, listening, emoting, and competing with their musical choices all at once, and I was caught in the middle of a musical crossfire, half crazy and desperately trying to find a way out to of my suffering.

Bewildered and unable to think of any other option,Being a musician and a songwriter with a vast collection of musical ideas in my arsenal; I decided to emote and release my misery through music. Thus, I put into play songs that I hated most and I called "irritants"; compositions that were recorded by those rebel musical artists whose main idea of music is to yell, express their hatred and make noise: inharmonious, hateful, oddly metered, annoyingly fast, repetitive and meaningless, tasteless, loud etc. However, despite their insignificance, I believe that they were created for a reason. After all, music is a language of the soul and everyone is a distinct soul. In addition, for a man like me, who is slowly losing his soul, those music are mine and speak to me. Therefore, I played some of the extremes of those "irritants," and alas! A miracle happened. Not only did I feel relieved, but I also noticed that all of my neighbors turned off their players as if they were listening to what I was playing.

 

Maybe it was just a coincidence, and maybe it was a work of some higher intelligence. Maybe they were just curious about my choice of music, and maybe they thought that I had finally gone crazy living so alone. Maybe they thought that there was a quarrel going on, which is a natural occurrence in the neighborhood, and they decided that it was better to listen to a live verbal skirmish than glue their ears to silly love songs. Whatever their reasons were, I felt victorious and very relieved from my misery, and I am seriously considering becoming an "irritant artist" in the future. -- ArlenKaliFuentes 7/10/2010