20th April 2018. I remember waking up to the shock of your death. I started scanning all news articles to find "RIP" mentioned against your name - an end date to a life of super-nova.
Avicii, as a brand, came into prominence in Gurgaon - it came with a certain lifestyle tag and an urge to be "cool" /"updated" / "part of the crowd". Avicii brought affiliation and association - EDM, the genre which was the talk of the town.
All the dates, had your songs blaring out. All the bars and pubs visited, songs swayed to, fists pumped to - were your beats reigning supreme.
Beyond the coolth quotient, in solitude, I started reaching out for the lyrics. That's when I connected with Avicii the person.
Born Tim Bergling, the blue eyed Swede swayed hearts and ruled minds with his songs pinned on the most craved for human dope - "Hope". Edgy and peppy, his music had little of low notes - the tension points within were held for a short span before release into a joyous burst. The knots created were almost physical - you were waiting on the edge till it eased out. All along his songs were messages of love, unity and celebration - of self, love, family, bonds, differences and the courageous spirit to live this mammoth task called "life".
Infusing Electronic Dance Music with organic beats, harmony and genres - he gave EDM a new life. Moving away from an only beats approach, Avicii via AV / execution / narrative - weaved in a magical story of thesis, anti-thesis and climax - his music an enabler and an empower. His songs clearly enveloped the drama triangle via country music set to EDM tunes.
It lifted people - their mood, their feet taps as they jumped along in unison and declaration of spirit -and even lifted the genre planting it at the center of global music-map : a celebration of newness, rejuvenation and soul.
His personal life seemed at a divergent end to his own music. Its startling how each "behind the story" is a darker truth that becomes the biggest chink in the armor. Maybe, out of darkness is born, the greatest creativity. The skill / talent itself becomes a tool - an access to new "Levels".
His death opened up a Pandora's box to claims, lived and imagined reality. The life we are forced to exist on, are, many a times, a fallacy of our own expectations. I understand the lows - the dumps. I understand perhaps, the moment life could have seemed too much - suffocating and overpowering - to snuff it out before it suffused. It is always a war of me vs life - not recognizing that neither function in absolute independencies - but are in correlation. I relate to the very moment, when the voice in your head actually gave you courage to pull the final trigger, stop the blood supply - its surreal as if you're acting out in your own movie. Know it all too well - the need to end it all.
Avicii is a classic case of a person fighting his own doom - with no-one to trust explicitly as everyone seems far away. Its a dreary land, barren, unforgiven territory where people like Tim / me tend to throw ourselves in - unable to find any foothold or climb up. Its a quicksand of drowning emotions, wasted hopes, broken dreams, over-reaching expectations to see them crash and shatter into a million pieces every time. To live fragile - a broken heart or a numbed mind- is a state that the sane cannot comprehend - yet scoff and question.
Long Live Tim. If I ever recognize you in anyplace, I would prefer to gaze from afar and never disturb. Being sought out in public was one of your worst nightmares - fame unsettled. There is a void somewhere - hope, is a dope, after all.
Avicii, as a brand, came into prominence in Gurgaon - it came with a certain lifestyle tag and an urge to be "cool" /"updated" / "part of the crowd". Avicii brought affiliation and association - EDM, the genre which was the talk of the town.
All the dates, had your songs blaring out. All the bars and pubs visited, songs swayed to, fists pumped to - were your beats reigning supreme.
Beyond the coolth quotient, in solitude, I started reaching out for the lyrics. That's when I connected with Avicii the person.
Born Tim Bergling, the blue eyed Swede swayed hearts and ruled minds with his songs pinned on the most craved for human dope - "Hope". Edgy and peppy, his music had little of low notes - the tension points within were held for a short span before release into a joyous burst. The knots created were almost physical - you were waiting on the edge till it eased out. All along his songs were messages of love, unity and celebration - of self, love, family, bonds, differences and the courageous spirit to live this mammoth task called "life".
Infusing Electronic Dance Music with organic beats, harmony and genres - he gave EDM a new life. Moving away from an only beats approach, Avicii via AV / execution / narrative - weaved in a magical story of thesis, anti-thesis and climax - his music an enabler and an empower. His songs clearly enveloped the drama triangle via country music set to EDM tunes.
It lifted people - their mood, their feet taps as they jumped along in unison and declaration of spirit -and even lifted the genre planting it at the center of global music-map : a celebration of newness, rejuvenation and soul.
His personal life seemed at a divergent end to his own music. Its startling how each "behind the story" is a darker truth that becomes the biggest chink in the armor. Maybe, out of darkness is born, the greatest creativity. The skill / talent itself becomes a tool - an access to new "Levels".
His death opened up a Pandora's box to claims, lived and imagined reality. The life we are forced to exist on, are, many a times, a fallacy of our own expectations. I understand the lows - the dumps. I understand perhaps, the moment life could have seemed too much - suffocating and overpowering - to snuff it out before it suffused. It is always a war of me vs life - not recognizing that neither function in absolute independencies - but are in correlation. I relate to the very moment, when the voice in your head actually gave you courage to pull the final trigger, stop the blood supply - its surreal as if you're acting out in your own movie. Know it all too well - the need to end it all.
Avicii is a classic case of a person fighting his own doom - with no-one to trust explicitly as everyone seems far away. Its a dreary land, barren, unforgiven territory where people like Tim / me tend to throw ourselves in - unable to find any foothold or climb up. Its a quicksand of drowning emotions, wasted hopes, broken dreams, over-reaching expectations to see them crash and shatter into a million pieces every time. To live fragile - a broken heart or a numbed mind- is a state that the sane cannot comprehend - yet scoff and question.
Long Live Tim. If I ever recognize you in anyplace, I would prefer to gaze from afar and never disturb. Being sought out in public was one of your worst nightmares - fame unsettled. There is a void somewhere - hope, is a dope, after all.
