Wind, Sand and Stars

Here is the tale of a composition, and how it overtook its creator. The song opens with the composer doubting its very existence, "Einmal ist keinmal", meaning "What happens but once might as well never have happened at all". Influences on this piece are various, ranging from the books of Antoine de Saint Exupéry and Milan Kundera, to the music of Eric Whitacre and Béla Bartók.

But most of all, with the inputs and criticism of the entire choir, an idea became a song. By the end of the song, we hope you will feel the thrill with which the composer declares, "Einmal IST!"


[1st public performance IIT Delhi, won 1st in Western Group Song competition, part of Rendezvous '08, 20th September, 2008. Composed May-September, 2008]

Wind, Sand and Stars

Einmal ist keinmal
Once there was a letter
Then there was a word and
Then she wrote a sentence
And one day they heard a

SONG!
(she sang them,
hesitatingly,
hesitatingly)

(Swept away by wind)
"Swept away by the wind
Or should I let the stream take me?
Should I let the wind sweep me off my feet or
Should I let the stream drag me underneath, oh?"

She sang to herself and no one else

Einmal ist keinmal

Under the stars, over mountains of sand
Taken as light as a feather by wind
(Windblown sands and stars all twinkling)

Colours waltzing

Fingering the light
She tasted words
Oh sleepless nights she wasted

Trying to fathom (lands all unexplored)
Biplaned through her mind (driven on by wind)
Spiralled inward (endless poetry)
She was writing

Words come tumbling
And forgotten images
Remembered verses

Then in her ears she heard a multitude of voices
Come tell us all the tale of the dream that made a song

Winds may stall
Sands blow away
Stars disappear in the clouds

Listen for this song
Till the end of TIME!

Einmal
IST!