Amara Isis
"Changing people. Transforming our world."Archive for Creativity
Goodbye 2011: A tribute to the beautiful Amy Winehouse
Amara~Isis
“Changing people. Transforming our world.”
I always thought, when looking at the beautiful Amy Winehouse, with all her talent and all her troubles, that she lived her life as if she had been born without a skin. As if all the pain and sorrows of the world poured directly into her; and out again in the form of her amazing songs. All great artists, creative types, have this quality in common - an emotional porousness that can, if not carefully managed, overwhelm and consume them. This, I think, is what happened to the beautiful and talented Amy.
For people like Amy, it is essential that the flow of their prodigious talent finds a continuous outlet.
Her genius was so great, her talent so prodigious, how could she help but be overwhelmed by it? Indeed, deep down inside, I think that Amy knew such talent was given to her as a gift. It was never ‘Hers’ in the way that something we work for is ‘Ours’. She had been blessed, ‘chosen’, and who would not struggle to feel worthy of such a blessing. Who would not be drawn to counter-balance the weight of it, the pressure, the expectation, with its polar opposite?
The paradox of Amy’s life is that she was at once desperately attracted to being brilliant and to being ordinary, both at the same time; she acknowledged the light and the darkness within her. She just did not know what to do about them. Had she been older when her talent blossomed, more mature, she might have survived. Might have learned to harness her brilliance, riding it like a crest of a wave, releasing it into her music. There was more, so much more, that her voice had to give. Yet, she could not make the transition from ordinary person to superstar in a way that did not destroy her.
The contradictions of Amy’s life remind me of a diamond covered with mud to obscure its brilliance. So that it does not shine too brightly, does not attract too much attention, to allow itself to retain something of itself, for itself. But, this is impossible. A magnificent diamond is what it is; beautiful, brilliant, eternal – with the power to move people in ways that they do not themselves understand. The late Diana, Princess of Wales, too had this unusual quality. Such people take us out of our comfort zone, particularly emotionally. But, in a way that we feel safe to ‘feel’. We experience our own emotion through them. Through their moments of glory; through the depths of their despair.
Like the proverbial rabbit caught in the headlines, the more brightly they shine, the less they can find their way out of the tunnel
In the end, they get hit by a fast-moving train or the light they shine consumes them – returning them to the brilliance from which they came. To us, it can feel like a waste. Yet, is such a life wasted? I do not think so.
When Amy died, many female musicians credited her with making their own creative journeys possible. Her success enabled their success. She had changed the landscape of music for female artists forever with her honest lyrics. Amy was not afraid to be a 21st century woman, giving a different perspective on the female experience – in all its beauty and its ugliness. Amy changed the world’s expectations of female artists. Made it acceptable to show our intelligence in our art. Allowed women with a story to tell to speak their truth in song, without needing to wrap it up in sugary words, all frills and pretense.
Amy was real. And, in sharing her reality, she allowed women to be more real too. Those who come after her honour her, and this is as it should be. She will never be forgotten, because her songs continue to tell her story. And, we will continue to love her through her words. Whilst we might not wish to emulate some of her life-choices, we aspire to her humanity. Amy understood the human experience. She loved people and people loved and felt loved by her. This was, in the end, her greatest gift.
2011 is now at a close and we have entered 2012. Is there a difference that we want to make in the world? Perhaps it is a difference only in our own lives or in the lives of the people we care about. That does not make it any less significant. Or less important. We may not have the talent of an Amy Winehouse. But, the gift we have to share in the lives of others may touch them as much as Amy touched us. For the people whose lives we touch, the change may be as great as the transformation that Amy brought to women in song.
I have always loved the New Year and I feel very excited about the one we have just entered. “2012″. It has something of a ring to it. The ring of change.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, I wish you a happy, prosperous, exciting and wonderous 2012.
With love and blessings,
Amara~Isis
© 2011 Heather Salmon and Amara Isis Ltd
