Static Live Magazine November 2020

Funk And
I think we can all agree that this year has
been pretty weird and it doesn’t seem to
be getting any less so. If you find yourself
in a bit of an “election year” 2020 funk
lately, may I invite you to get down and
FUNK-a-delic with me instead for a while.
With the election making everyone crazy
and Thanksgiving just around the corner,
maybe it’s a good idea to seek out something
most people can agree on and appreciate
together, like good Music!
Last week my brother Jesse sent a link on
the sibling text thread with a nice message
that simply said “For anyone who needs
a lovely day today”. As you might have
guessed it was the song “Lovely Day” by
Bill Withers. His text happened to come in
at the perfect time, on a morning when the
funk of the world, housework and homeschooling
was starting to settle heavy on
me. I had just read some awful combative
commentary on FB and was feeling, well,
less than enthusiastic about our society.
By Candice Beu
I reluctantly clicked the link he sent while
warming my coffee. The funky intro stirred
me even before the appealing voice of Bill
Withers started speaking to me from the
beyond, reminding me of some important
things I was forgetting about being alive
on this day. The lyrics not only made me
smile but the rhythm of the beat made my
own heart start beating differently. All of
a sudden I was appreciating my day rather
than dreading it. I must’ve played that one
song on a loop, like an affirmation, for the
next 15 minutes while I sipped my coffee
and recalibrated my mood.
My whole attitude shifted, due to one
song and I soon found myself going down
the YouTube rabbit hole in search of more
good old fashioned Funk & Soul Music to
combat the November funk and blues. In
no time I found myself feeling like a Bad
MamaJama and blaming it all on the boogie!
This got me thinking, what kind of magical spell does music cast upon us? How does it
affect our emotional barometer, that it can take us from one stagnant state and trans
port us to an elevated one in a
matter of minutes? I had
to ask myself,
could funk and
soul music, (or
any dance
music for that
matter) be the
prescription
out of a
potential
depressed
funk? Could
be, but
music isn’t
mere
“magic”
or
“medicine”.
Music is
deeply
spiritual,
mysterious
and
alchemical in
nature. Our
creation and
expression of it
is as unlimited as
the universe itself.
When we unite through the experience
of music we do connect with a kind
of magic. We join with other humans in
ways we may not have been able to do otherwise.
We link up to the core of one another’s
shared soul experiences. We start to
feel into spaces of relatability and
bridge the gaps to the ancestral, the
archetypal, and to the one human
tribe we all emanate from.
We feel into it together.
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