The Grand Piano
It's been a few years. However, I remember the experience as if it was only yesterday. It was
the time when I started to just travel around the world. Wherever I liked, I stopped for a few
days to dive in the sea, to listen to the existing rhythm of the region or even to get to know a
person just a bit. It was the time when I began to discover myself and to uncover areas that
until then had been waiting to be discovered under a heavy blanket of fear. I lived those days
like an adventurer.
Although I preferred to go far away with my GT – the interior was then my safe place .... my refuge –
from time to time I was also drawn to destinations that could only be reached by boat or plane. My
first flight was a long-haul flight to the Philippines. After I had 'survived' that, the big planes became
my friends ... not least because I love the attention of the stewardesses.
One of my middle long-distance destinations is in the south of Turkey ... a small place called Kaş.
In ancient times, Antiphellos was found here. The place displays this past with an unashamed grace
and among the inhabitants it is never quite clear whether Greek or Turkish blood predominates. I
love this place. The fact that the nearest airports are in Antalia and Dalaman makes this place
unattractive for package holidaymakers ... who are reluctant to make the long transfer. Thus, a
paradise for a special kind of people has developed there and, as in every 'hot' country, the 'real' life
in Kaş only begins when the sun has already sunk into the deep blue of the sea for a few hours.
There is a large square in the centre of Kaş. It is bordered on the south side by the harbour and
the open sea. Traditionally, this is where the restaurants and cafés are to be found, and once a
bank holiday is indicated, it becomes the People's Festival Square. In the side streets – almost all
of which lead to the sea – there are a few music cafés. In these, live performances can be heard
again and again, and as a rule, they are performed between door and door. So the visitors sit both
inside and outside the café. Kaş loves blues and light rock ... the music of the 70s. A paradise for
those who started their future in the 'Love & Peace-Era'. It also makes the usual H.E.A.D.
(high-end-audio-device) completely superfluous. Kaş. vibrates at night and even women with
blonde hair can frequent this place alone without the risk of being 'stupidly' hit on. I spent many
terrific hours there and got to meet some very special people.
In the streets at night hangs the heavy scent of jasmine and the beguiling fragrance of angel trumpets.
After a few days you simply forget your everyday life. For me, 'dreaming-while-awake' begins in such
moments and I like to follow it. It is what we preferred to do as children and too often forget to do as
adults. Floating around in the sea during the day and listening to live music at night, bathing in oriental
scents ... it's paradise, pure and simple.
_________________________________ "Live is but a dream within a dream " __________________________________
Not from me, but true nonetheless. Edgar Allen Poe wrote it. On one such night, closer to dreams
than everyday life, I met a very special person ... although this was not in Kaş. I had met the lady
during a walk on the beach and heard her play in a live concert. She has the beautiful name Akari
... which means 'brightness' or 'light'. Akari is the daughter of an American father and a Japanese
mother. She is a pianist, also writes her own compositions ... loves jazz and blues.
That evening there was a grand piano right in front of the adjoining garden. The doors were open
and so the interior and the garden merged into one. I had once again thundered through Europe
like a man possessed, had visited the southern tips 'Gibraltar' and and left 'Sagre' behind me. Still
before Lisbon, I met Akari, who invited me to her performance later in the night....
"And very many remain forever clinging to this cliff, cling painfully all their
lives to the irretrievably past, to the dream of the lost paradise, which is
the worst and most murderous of all dreams. "
✨__________________________________________________Hermann Hesse
"But how, when we make our most beautiful dreams, our life?! I find it amazing that we can have
all our moments – every single one – in absolute abundance. To perceive time as a linear process
is a dilemma. In this we experience the ups and downs of life .... must wait for the tide and linger
in the ebb. How if we anchor our perception in the infinite? "
That evening I sat in the garden outside the café and listened to the melancholy, yearning playing
of a great artist. And even though many things may have already taken on a life of their own and
changed in memory ... one thing has remained. The intensity with which I was able to perceive the
interplay between acoustics and visual impression.
The lighting was reduced to a minimum. There was a spotlight directed at Akari. The black lacquer
of the grand piano was hit by a Ferrari-red laser, as if the upper frame edge of the flap, which
protects the keys when not in use, had been painted red. Akari wore a black, velvet dress with long
thin straps. Her shoulders, back and arms revealed fine-pored, fair skin. Her rather petite figure
and fine limbs gave a transcendental impression. Akari's long and silky black hair and the lines of
her eyebrows gave an exceedingly coherent image. This was only – and deliberately – wonderfully
and expressively 'disturbed' by a lipstick that was also Ferrari red. If I had not long since been
trained in discretion ... the outcry of overflowing happiness would have drowned out the play of
the notes presented.
Although the concert was not overly long, I could hardly wait for it to end. I was looking forward
to seeing Akari by my side again and showering her with my enthusiasm. There was not the
slightest doubt in my mind that this was exactly what would happen. Unlimited eccentricity.
In the trees in the garden, the cicadas or crickets were singing their songs. There was a smell of
grilled fish, meat and rosemary in the air. The wind brought alternating hot air and somewhat
refreshing breezes. It seemed to come from all directions. Only when Akari rose from the piano
did I see that there was a transparent bowl with water and open caper flowers ... filigree beauty
wherever my eyes looked.
I waited patiently – in dynamic anticipation – but Akari left me to my longing. I was about to get
up and leave when she finally came over to me on the café. I felt my heart beat in my throat and
joy rise in my spine. I stood up and offered her a seat next to me. Under the gaze of her audience,
Akari took a seat as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
"I don't usually go among the audience after a performance, michael .... but that was
impossible today. You were beaming so much, I just had to come!"
"I don't normally go to concerts either, Akari but after we met on the beach I couldn't help
it and just had to come. And ... what you saw was just a reflection of what you accomplished,
Akari. It was a breath-taking play to the senses!"
We spent the rest of the evening and part of the night still in the cafe. Due to the fact that Akari
had made her performance, we were given a bonus ... but eventually we had to leave too. In
other words ... we were kindly kicked out the door. We would no doubt have 'gone through' and
then had breakfast together .... well, it turned out differently. The story has a second part – but I
don't know yet if I will write it here.
Love & Light
michael
___________________________________________________________________
🎹 "Essay was written on 22 January 2023, on the occasion
of the completion of my first month at PenPal-Gate. "
