Surviving DT

The first time I heard 69乐章, I was immediately captivated by the song Surviving Leopards. It is a strangely quiet song with an underlaying sense of utter hopelessness. During David's online chat in Bejing, he explained the meaning of this song. First he asked if anyone knew where in the world is the greatest surviving number of the endangered species, snow leopards? The answer is of course China where there is only about 2-3k left. He was driven to write this song when he learnt that the snow leopard is unable to roar so it is silent when it is being slaughtered. He compared this to the current destruction of our planet Earth & nature. Both too are unable to call out when it is being slowly destroyed until it is too late. So once again, thank you DT for being able to touch me with your masterful songwriting. I now know why I have unshed tears in my eyes whenever I listen to Surviving Leopards.
I feel that DT himself is a Surviving Leopard. Once again he is being criticised for suddenly changing his music style, 69乐章 is said to be not selling well & his market worth is in question. The media & critics are trying to drive him to a quick death cos David refused to conform to their ideal of a talented songwriter who produced only beautiful music to their ears. I wondered if Picasso got the same kind of criticism when he turned to Cubism. Before he turned to the style that he is now famous, Picasso produced the most hauntingly beautiful fine artwork. Who can forget the sensual Femme where he used only three lines to depict a woman's derriere?
But why should he go on producing the same beautiful artwork over and over again? Used two lines to draw a woman's body *roll eyes* He was an intelligent man who needed to be challenged so he turned to Cubism. Perhaps the same can be said about David. His latest album is a cacophony of music that to me is like Cubism. Cubism engages the eye with multitude of viewpoints, David heightens our aural acceptance of music & leaves us to decipher what he is trying to say. Like Surviving Leopards or Play with its playful play on 'gay' ^__^. Don't forget that the Stonewall riots which started the gay rights movement happened in the year 1969. So for those who think David's latest album is too 'frivolous', maybe they should go back to their history books :P
I love that he mentioned Don Quixote cos if I were to chose a word to describe 69 David Tao it would be quixote, a crazy David going wild about the music he loves & yet still so righteous & idealistic as ever. A freefalling David at last fighting windmills ^__^ I found this quote in Don Quixote which perhaps describes it best:
"When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? To surrender dreams - this may be madness; to seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness! But maddest of all - to see life as it is and not as it should be." Some good news is that the mini-movie Adoration dvd will be released this month. Can't wait to watch it! Also there will be a series of concerts in Taiwan starting 10/16. David was also invited to be a guest speaker in Fudan University in Shanghai. He asked a rhetorical question: Why songwriters in 1969 were able to use music to reflect current affairs but not songwriters in 2009? He didn't give an answer probably cos he didn't want to be too controversial ^__^