Rubenerd

As part of a Christmas present for my dad I've been ripping all his CDs for him… an adventure for another post! Anyway I've become so desensitised to CD cover art because I've been opening hundreds of their cases, taking the precious round discs out and throwing them into the drives of this machine with obsessive fervour.

One CD caught my attention though: on the obverse side of that little stapled CD book that you see when you open the case up, I read this passage by Igor Tamerlan for his "Bali Ethnicity" album released in 1996. On Last.fm I'm one of only seven people who has listened to his music. Amazing how a service like this can connect people from around the world who may have been to the same little music shop as my family had been to at one point. It really gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!

I'm not a religious guy, but even I thought this was a beautiful thing to read, and especially holds true at this time of year.

This album is inspired by the assumption
that "small is beautiful".
It may concern anything
that life features.
A seed is beautiful
for it will grow into a plant.
A child is beautiful
for he holds a [man’s] hopes.
Bali is beautiful for it naturally
reflects a world with peace, harmony and faith.

Entering the twenty [first] century,
I [first] would like to say "alhamdulillah"
then to thank my wife and everyone
who directly supported me
to make Bali Ethnicity
become a "small reality".
May God bless you
and give you soul certainty

Igor Tamerlan D. W.