Finally, Peter Wohlleben’s (2016) compelling work ‘The secret life of the trees’ was another seed of the HumanTree. It emphasizes the reasons why trees, as well as humans, are social beings. He (2016) describes how the advantages of working together are present in the life of trees as well as through many great examples of human collaboration. Wohlleben (2016) also remarks how trees care for each other even by providing nutrients to sick trees and protecting them until they have recovered. What is more important in a true collaboration than caring for each other? Similarly to the tradition of La Tronca where the log is being kept warm and nourished by many people.
These seeds comprised my initial path for discovering more of a connection to myself, with and for others. The understanding that the music project could be a 'means to achieve a purpose' (Hendrickse, 2005, p. 396) made me decide to create a project that emphasizes a collaborative way of working together with different musicians for raising awareness for oneself and for the world we live in. The possibility that this project could create some benefit for others became a more important motivation to start it than a purely personal reason.
2.1 My seeds
While you read this following section I suggest listening to the following audio with sounds from an early morning in the village I was living in Nepal.
I grew up in a remote village in the Catalan Pyrenees simply experiencing all that its nature had to offer, its sounds, its sights, its scents. This was important to my development as a musician. There was also one particular concert, involving a crowd of joyful accordionists. I will never forget it! It was that concert that was responsible for igniting my desire to recreate that joyous experience for and with others. That concert represented the beginning of a resurgence of the instrument in my area. My grandparents had memories with accordion and similar joyful experiences, a seed that was rooted in our history. For the older generation, the accordion carried inherent memories that now were recreated to be never forgotten. I am so grateful that time, education, nature, and generations, allowed these seeds to be sprouted into life.
The area in which I grew up lacked an abundance of music education. That did not hinder my determination or the realization of my dream: to study a music degree in Classical Music at the Catalan College of Music (ESMUC). My personal motivation remained leaning towards strengthening my skills of creation and improvisation rather than interpreting a repertoire that was mainly solistic and was not connected enough to my musical self. My curiosity as a performer was developing towards exploring new repertoire that would emphasize a collaboration between the composer and the musician. Furthermore, my tendency was towards breaking the rigidity of a performance, exploring ways on how to connect and involve the audience as well as creating musical journeys with a common thread.
Moving to another country and studying in the Sibelius Academy has played a great role towards unfolding my creative potential. Being part of the Global Music Master Programme (henceforth GLOMAS), has for me been so far one of the most meaningful academic and personal experiences. The joy and openness sprouted by the teachers and students supported a creative path where the artist is approached integraly. Emphasising the ways in which people work together and using music as a means to achieve a purpose truly called me. During these studies I acquired many tools on how to create music. This experience has been the turning point for me, in which I started to not only improvise but create my own compositions. Coming from a classical education, this opened my eyes to the world of creation.
While searching for my honest musical identity during my GLOMAS studies, I looked back to my own culture and discovered a folk community of accordionists from the Pyrenees region. Learning some of the music that Artur Blasco, a catalan ethnomusicologist, retrieved from the old people from the Pyrenees impacted me. It helped me understand my musical roots yet it did not satisfy my search for an honest musical identity as I always had a tendency to vary and look for something more personal and creative.
Another turning point has been by collaborating throughout the GLOMAS studies with Prem Gurung, a musician from Nepal. It has been a clear example of creating a meaningful project where our individual goals merged. My trip to Nepal in 2019, as part of the field trip studies, arose from the curiosity this collaboration produced within me. In Nepal I had the opportunity to participate in social projects, play with local musicians, explore nature, as well as expand my knowledge in sound healing and meditation. Playing the accordion for people who were curious about the instrument in a foreign land was as freeing as I ever experienced. Learning some Nepali music by ear was also a beautiful experience and I felt free from the pressure to succeed. It demonstrated the beauty of learning from a different culture. The essence of their culture supported my path to an honest musical identity.
During the trip to Nepal I decided that the HumanTree would be the topic of my final master concert. I was curious to start a new process of collaborative creation and trusted trees to give me the connection to my roots. While exploring the nature around the village where I was living, I found a tree that made me laugh and cry. The tree made me wonder if a story from my childhood or from my latest trip–this tree that made me laugh–or a feeling of growing love could become the creative source material.
Some other important seeds relate to my trip to Nepal. The pollution in Kathmandu city and the frustration that local people shared with me about the considerable decrease of green areas in the city impacted me strongly. Their eyes lit up when they recalled those green areas that now, because of urbanization, were becoming more and more grey. I really wished I could make even a little contribution to support initiatives that plant trees and respect nature. On the other side, the colour, joy, warmth, music, movement, inspiring energy and spontaneity present in the culture created within me a sense of real inner peace and purpose.
Another seed that had a large impact on the HumanTree was experiencing the death of my grandfather while I was still in Nepal. This experience reinforced within me an understanding of our place in this wide universe that was influenced by the knowledge shared during the classes with Mr Nuchhe Bahadur Dangol, a distinguished Newar musician from the Kathmandu Valley (for more on the life story of Mr. Dangol see Westerlund & Partti, 2018). Thus, simple facts such as breath, seasons and a common cycle of life and death, shaped different aspects of the HumanTree. By remembering the essence of my grandfather, I realized the many seeds that he planted in me and that have been growing ever since. The memories of walks in our village garden when he was sharing with me the importance of appreciating nature and its purity are still with me today. ‘Listen to these birds and make a symphony’, he would say to me.
In relation to my grandfather's death, the HumanTree included a traditional farewell song for loved ones, which has Christmas roots. You can hear it in the following video played with Mr Nuchhe Bahadur Dangol (Used with his permission, see figure 3.0). Through this song I chose to share aspects of my home land. Perhaps this seed was a result of ‘distance lends enchantment’, as the English saying goes. The Catalan Christmas tradition of La Tronca stems from a very old ritual that symbolizes nature, winter solstice, simplicity and abundance. For instance, it brings families together, singing and sharing stories that keep the essence of the tradition alive. La Tronca, the seemingly dried and empty log, is nourished with oranges and blanketed for warmth, by all the members of the family. The process of feeding and caring begins two weeks before Christmas Eve when in return La Tronca, the log, issues forth simple presents for us all to share. In my opinion, it is a great example of a true collaboration.