Mind the Gap by Sara Al Hamad: Dear London, I love you!/Dragi London, volim te!
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Dear London, I love you!
At the beginning I would like to make one thing clear – living cheaply in London is more than possible. To be honest, you can live however you prefer.
In Croatia people tend to live deep in the red, which I found really frustrating. How are they not bothered by all that debt? In London, on the other hand, it’s perfectly possible to live, in the real sense of that word, in accordance with your income. I will never forget when I said to my boss that my salary wouldn’t allow me to travel to work every day, and asked to work from home instead. His exact words were “Of course, I completely understand, let’s try that and see how it goes”.
On the other hand, if all you want to do is laze around over cups of coffee at work, London is probably not the best place for you, but if you have the ambition to achieve your full potential, and step out of your comfort zone, you will thrive in this environment. It’s like a create-your-own-videogame here. In each level you need to conquer obstacles to get new augmentations needed for the next one, and you make your way to the point of GAME OVER, when you either make your dreams come true or decide to “reprioritise your values”, which is a nice way of saying you didn’t make it. Knowing that you will inevitably reach the game over moment is at the same time exciting and terrifying – but isn’t that what (show) business is all about?
Anyway, enough of my personal drama and lets continue with this week’s music news. I would like to describe you a private party hosted by a rising afrobeats star, whose YouTube view count exceeded 35 million mark on some songs – Mr Eazi. He is the pioneer of Banku music, a fusion sound he describes as a mixture of Ghanaian highlife and Nigerian chord progressions and patterns, and also a great host for more than 500 people. When attending this type of party, there are a few essentials to abide by – your heels should under no circumstances be under 5 inches high, and your dress more than 5 inches long – give or take. Your hair – now this is a big one. In order to really show your personality, all your effort should be concentrated here. If you can get some seashells braided into your hair, so it falls over your eyes in a way that you are not even able to see where you are going – you are doing it right! Besides Mr Eazi’s jumpy concert, there were a bunch of other artists performing, and all in all it was a really smokin’ hot party.
Right after I thought that this party will be the highlight of my week, my friend asked if I wanted to help out at a wedding. Little did I know I was once again in for a treat! The first unexpected thing happened when we were instructed to set the bar up – in a church, right next to the altar. The little Croatian in me gasped in wonder. Then the wedding started, and I realised I was actually attending a gothic ceremony. All was in red and black, the bride wore a type of baroque wonder-dress, and I was trying to understand all the drunk people stumbling around me. And then, a band appeared at the altar, and started playing this experimental electronic-gothic-synth music, with lights blasting all around the place, and smoke filling up the room. In the midst of all that ‘blasphemy’, I knew London was a place I would gladly give my youth to. When I get old I will probably want peace, nature and longs walks, but for now, this is IT.
Until next Monday, I am leaving you with my favorite tune of the week. Enjoy!
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Dragi London, volim te!
Na početku želim jednu stvar raščistiti – živjeti jeftino u Londonu je više nego moguće. Da budem iskrena, možeš živjeti kako god želiš.
U Hrvatskoj ljudi obično žive duboko u crvenom, što smatram dosta frustirajućim. Kako ih ne muči tolika količina duga? U Londonu, s druge strane, apsolutno je moguće živjeti u punom smislu te riječi i u skladu s vašim prihodima. Nikad neću zaboraviti kad sam rekla svojem šefu da moja plaća ne dozvoljava da putujem svaki dan na posao i pitala mogu li raditi od doma umjesto da putujem. Njegove točne riječi su bile – „Naravno, u potpunosti te razumijem, pokušajmo tako i vidjet ćemo kako će funkcionirati.“
S druge strane, ako je sve što ćeš raditi na poslu ljenčariti uz brdo šalica kave, London i nije baš najbolje mjesto za tebe, ali ako imaš ambicije doseći svoj maksimalni potencijal i izaći iz svoje komforne zone, preživjet ćeš u ovom okruženju. To vam je kao ono – sâm kreiraš svoju sudbinu. Na svakoj razini morate preći određene prepreke kako bi dobili mogućnost da pređete drugu prepreku i približite se završetku igre, gdje se tvoji snovi ostvaruju ili gdje ponovno preslaguješ svoje prioritete, što je dobar način za reći da nisi uspio. Spoznaja da ćeš definitivno doći do game over trenutka je u isto vrijeme uzbudljiva i zastrašujuća – ali nije li u tome smisao (show)businessa.
No, dosta o mojoj osobnoj drami, nastavljamo s ovotjednim glazbenim vijestima. Željela bih vam opisati privatnu zabavu koju je organizirala sve popularnija afrobeat zvijezda čiji YouTube pregledi prelaze 35 milijuna na jednoj pjesmi – Mr Eazi. On je pionir Banku glazbe, fuzije zvuka koja opisuje mješavinu ganskog highlifea i nigerijskih progresivnih akorda i uzoraka, a ujedno i domaćin za više od 500 posjetitelja. Kad pohodiš ovakvu zabavu, potrebno je znati nekoliko pravila – vaše štikle ne smiju imati potpeticu manju od 5 inča, a vaša haljina ne smije biti dulja od 5 inča. Vaša kosa – pazite sad, ovo je važno. Kako bi stvarno pokazali svoju osobnost, svaki vaš trud treba biti koncentriran na kosu. Ako možete nabaviti neke morske školjke i ugraditi ih u kosu, tako da pada preko vaših očiju tako da ne možete vidjeti što radite – ona ste na pravom putu. Osim Mr Eazija i njegovog koncerta, tamo je bilo dosta drugih umjetnika koji su nastupili i sve u svemu bio je dosta vrući party.
Taman kad sam mislila da će ova zabava biti highlight mojeg tjedna, prijateljica me zamolila da joj pomognem oko vjenčanja. Nisam ni slutila da će mi se dogoditi još jedna stvar koju neću moći zaboraviti. Prva neočekivana stvar koja se dogodila jest kad smo dobili instrukcije kako postaviti šank – u crkvi, pokraj oltara. Mala Hrvatica u meni jedva je disala. Onda je vjenčanje započelo i shvatila sam da sam zapravo na gotičkoj ceremoniji. Sve je bilo u crvenoj i crnoj boji, mladenka je odjenula baroknu haljinu i pokušala sam razumjeti sve pijane osobe koje su se nalazile u mojem društvu. A onda se pojavio bend za oltarom i počeo svirati eksperimentalnu elektroničku gothic-synth glazbu sa svjetlosnim efektima koji su frcali po cijelom prostori, te dimom koji je zamaglio crkvu. U središtu cijelog tog „bogohuljenja“, znala sam da je London mjesto kojem bih dala cijelu svoju mladost. Kad ostarim sigurno bi htjela malo mira, prirodu i duge šetnje, ali sada je OVO što želim.
Do sljedećeg ponedjeljka, ostavljam vas uz moju najdražu pjesmu tjedna. Uživajte!
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