A visual gift by Ben Siow

Today, I would like to share a video by Ben Siow.

This piece marks one of those magical journeys, that time and again, transport my heart to a sacred space where the lips are rendered speechless by the eyes. Visual poetry to me is like pretty reflections suspended in perfect solitary moments… and this is one as such.

Original song: 33.Freedom

Scroll to the bottom of page for lyrics. Read along (recommended for the 1st listen).


 “33.Freedom” is written in response to the Virginia Tech shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech, shot and killed 32 people in two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, before turning the gun upon himself.

The song attempts to illuminate the madness of what our insecurities and paranoia can drive us to do. It also suggests a flip-side to this madness, which is defined by our God-given choice to re-create our fears into a progressive unity with our surrounding.

This song is the first of many more to come that will attempt to illuminate the power of perspective in creating a unified world.

     -  In every tug-of-war there is the underlying fear that the opponent will get the better of us. So we struggle to win the tug. Strange, that it is the winner that usually ends up in the dirt.


The birth of 33.Freedom

The night after the news of the shooting, while chatting over the msn with a good friend of mine Ben Siow, we were both feeling rather disturbed and decided to vent our thoughts into a lyrical poetry. And so we wrote a line each across the continents. From that it turned into chunks of paragraphs each and by the time we had exhausted our passion it had settled into a mountain of words upon phrases.

We soon decided that there may be many people who are as puzzled about the madness that was, and who are as concerned about finding some kind of introspective lesson from it. We thought that how, by sharing our reflections upon it with the public could initiate a healing for the kindred spirit. We also knew that this has to be done quickly before this act of insanity fades into another statistic without the consolation of good counsel.

So he suggested for me to turn it into a song while he begin conceptualizing a music video for it. We toiled through the night and by morning Candy and I had completed the melodic arrangement in the Gold Coast and Ben had begun organizing the shoot over in Singapore. Meanwhile we had decided to give ourselves 2 days deadline to accomplish this feat. There was much work to be done.

For the next two days Candy and I attempted to arrange 6 guitar parts into the song before recording the vocals, then mixing and mastering the recording on our PC to the best of our ability in our noisy little ‘motor inn’ apartment.

We relay the song back and forth from Singapore where Ben had begun the tedious task of organizing the shoot on a very busy Orchard Rd. Whilst having embark upon this project with virtually ‘zero’ budget, he solicited the contribution of random passer-bys who were very graciously supportive of the cause. Now, each individual that appeared in the video were plucked out of the millions who were rushing by from their daily pre-occupations and after being briefed regarding our plight had agreed to lend a face to support the message that we were sending out. Blessed are we that even nature herself had conspired to provide perfect lighting for the occasion.

Next, comes the brain-wrecking part of pasting the pieces together. Synchronizing hundreds of visual frames to every little syncopated beat of the song - swapping the flickering images round and round, over and over in his mind and fitting the scenes together in perfect unity one after another. After numerous corrections on edits and re-edits we finally said enough is enough. We agreed that the moment has come to accept that we’ve done our best, given the time and resources that we had. It was time to return the focus onto our other daily commitments, our jobs and most of all, our loved ones.

And so, on the third day we posted it up on Youtube… spent, exhausted and happy to have abided by our higher calling.

The edit

The song is written as a rap mainly. However, since Candy and I are melodically inclined we can’t help but will to tonally re-create each line into a meaningful representation.

The hardest part of it was that there were just such a big chunk of lyrics involved. Normally as writers, we try to be selective of what we end up keeping in the songs. However, with this we felt that everything is so vital to the whole story.

Anyways, we still had to try to keep the song under 4 mins, which is considered way too long by radio play standards, which is 3mins.
So we decided to write it in a melodic “dribble”. Still it was too long which is when we decided to overlap our voices. And that did the trick! Well, sorta… it was still way over 4 mins!

Having explained all that, we would highly recommend that unless you have the rare ability to speed-listen that you have an eye thru the lyrics as you listen to it. It will give a more complete picture of the story. Imagine you’re listening to a rap song. There is usually so much to digest in so little time that unless you are a keen listener, you'd be put off rap forever. Don’t be. It’s just another form of story-telling… an acquired taste, so to speak… much like Shakespeare.



The lyrics
Man like a boy, using guns like toys
red in his mind, poppin' all those killjoys
Pop pop pop, carrying out his ploy
thinking all this rage is filling the void

Once pure and kind, but fear done its time
Over-thinking, saw a shrink but he didn't see the signs
He was shy, he would cry but his parents said he's fine
Now he's leavin behind a legacy of crime

Did he flip on a summersault on his way out of bed
33 dead, only God knows what he did
CNN's looking to blame, peers portraying the shame
Can't figure out the name of the game. Just a hell lot a pain

Answers are filtered by lies, how do you trace the truth?
JFK dies... and whatever happened to Bruce Lee?
Armed with questions, the powers turned to mute
But there's never a term for you to execute

Chorus:
33 dead they're still trying to beat
the systematic thinking that's weighing down on em 33... Why somebody gotta take the heat (take the heat)
Damn fanatic thinking that need somebody to blame

33 dead gotta let the love flow begin
Let the fears go - let your faith take a turn
33 gotta let the hearts go within
So that the people know that we're ready to learn

Yeah....Uh uhuh uhuh uh uh




Verse 2:
He's got 50 rounds of ammo and five minutes of fame
Today he is an animal that nobody can tame
He's cold and he's bold and he only shoots to kill
The college was in chaos but the aftermath is still

And in reflection, he knows he got no more
If he don't do himself, he's gotta deal with the law
Now nobody said they loved him, nobody seemed to care
He chokes his 9mm, no more crosses to bear

And I'm half way round the globe sitting in my bed
Viewing your world on my TV set`
There are times when I'm leanin too close, 2 closing my doors,
When I'm hanging by a thread(mad) swinging on the edge

We could point our fingers and call out names
Overturn tables and even end our own game
But did you serve your purpose? Is it like you rehearse?
When you look in their faces, did you get the end you deserve? Bro...
(Chorus)

Verse 3:
I know your frustration, but what you did is messed up
I can see your predicament but you need to wise up
To learn the game you need to take a step back
Look at the rules and the players, and why they play it like that

Sure it's hard when you've got a late start
But if you keep that in mind, it'll keep you smart
Cos winners may fall and losers may crawl

But where's the happiness underneath it all

At the end of the day when we lie to rest
Stripped of T-shirts and suits, and when we're all undressed
We got two hands, and two feet and two eyes and one nose
So god knows
We all got to start from scratch.. In the morning...


When we open our eyes, there's 24 ...hours
To choose an experience to do ...whatever
We can stress and hunt and kill -
Or we can come together to heal ...

Bridge:
set your mind free ah... -gotta live for freedom give for freedom

verse 4:
now loner or a groaner, he's got no sense of humor
When he saw those polo kids his mind was like a sauna
He didn't want to play, he didn't know the right way
And on the edge of depression he decided it’s pay day

And the people said they tried, they said he liked to hide
But when he came to seek, the game had turned to pride
What broke this camel's back, put him back on wrong the track
His brain was left to slack(sad) I bet it’s love he lack

It s the gun laws, character flaws, the education bore
It s the media, bad seed in ya,
It s the selfish lives we lead, the love that we need
Do we really take the time, put our pride on the line

The illusion is clear that the fact that you ain't here
You fear your past and you worry your future
But brother(sister) remember whether rich or poor
Each and every day there's only so much we-can store
Uh uh uh uh uh uhuh
Chorus

Introduction to Colorful Blac

This is our first blog so we feel it's only appropriate to introduce our core selves - the fundamental essence that reflects our external manifestations (our vibration & music, our art & movement, and not forgetting the misgivings & forgivings of our interactions in this complex state of the world.)



We all do what we can to share our best manifestation at whichever point we are at... Here is the 'point', the foundation upon which Colorful Blac is built.

This is our DESIDERATA:

- In our daily dealings,

Ask not for the attainment of things, rather ask what it is that is worth attaining… and you'd realize that the only thing that is worth attaning is the art of gracious giving.

Gracious giving means happily giving to people whatever makes them happy. In this way, make happiness your gift and giving your happiness.

However, remember one ground rule... anything that interferes with freewill interferes with happiness. So let others have whatever makes them happy as long as it does not impose upon freewill and the truth.

In this way, let those who ASK receive, and refute those who demand because the enforcement of their will upon you disregards freewill and comes in conflict with the law governing freewill.

In this way, let those who wants to receive, first ASK. How else would you know if others value the happiness you have to offer… for even the gift of happiness when enforced comes in conflict with the law governing freewill.

And with this in mind, give freely without demand.

The Hebrew scriptures read, “To those who give freely, they shall receive freely… and give unto others what you would have unto you”. Therefore give without demands so that you too shall receive without demands from others. And if your wish is happiness then let happiness be your gift. And what an appropriate gift it is… as everyone, if asked, will wish for just that too!

With all that said, then…

Let’s get together and give forth happiness
Happiness in beautiful images
Happiness through sensuous sounds
And let’s populate the earth
with a Happy Peaceful feeling of Harmony! (Inspired on the: 9/08/2004)


In the days to come, we will try to elaborate these principles in words and in spirit through our personal compositions, lyrical interpretations and photographical representations. So stay tuned, and express your sentimentality if you share a common vibration.