at ghai's*

when i was in niger, i made a little playlist on my ipod to listen to while falling asleep: to calm my mind from the day's thoughts, to distract myself from the excruciating heat, and drown out the constant noise outside the window...

ever since, it's been my go-to playlist when i need calm. i use it on planes to put me to sleep, and today i came home from work, closed my curtains, crawled under my poofy duvet, and put it on. unsurprisingly, the noises outside my window here in new york are comparable in the strangeness and volume of those in niamey, and after a loooong succession of restless, sleepless nights i was in desperate need of stillness :) truth be told i'm the worst napper ever, even when exhausted, but just lying down for an hour in the dark is heavenly. (does that sound weird? but is anyone else the same? c'mon. i'm sure there are others...)

anyway. this series of songs acts almost like a pavlovian mechanism to me now - i'm listening to it as i type, waiting for dear friend xarissa to arrive from DC for a weekend in the city. they're so significant to me at this point, i thought i'd share the line-up:

1. journey to the line + light from the soundtrack to the thin red line, by hans zimmer
at exactly 3:37 into "light" i always, ALWAYS reach a type of transcendence. no joke. it's that beautiful. plus it corresponds to the most poignant scene in an already uber-poignant film. oh it's so good.... it's like everything just winds down, falls away as the chords descend...

2. flight over africa from the soundtrack to out of africa, by john barry
again, at 2:42 = pure catharsis. plus... oh bob.

3. the rest is the ( ) album by sigur ros, in order from untitled 1 down to untitled 8
nothing is more calming.

so, if you need some peaceful quiet facilitated (ironically enough) through music, voila my recommendations :)

also happy friday and impending weekend - oh i'm more thrilled than i can say it's finally here - aren't you?

*ghai is the LOVELY beyond lovely woman who shared her home with me in niger. the sentimental value and layers of nostalgia and meaning in this order of songs is of course the best thing about the playlist. sigh... it will be so wonderful to be in africa again - whenever that may be - ideally soon... :)