A City Full of Light (THE SOUNDTRACK)

For me, music has always been the basis and root for everything I do - many may not know this but I pledged my life to the pursuit of music - to compose, perform, write, and live it; from an early age I spent all my time on my guitar, totally immersed in it, it was, and continues to be, my whole world. I loved to play, and I also loved to teach, spending most of my adolescence in a guitar store teaching kids and adults - and when the sun went down I would frequent the bars and clubs jamming with the local ringers and soaking up everything I could, and not just the music - their life stories and experiences as well, for a musician is an artist, usually with life choices to match.

To me music wasn't something we simply listen to, it was something I could feel in my bones and soul, but I could also see it, all around me in the emotions it brought out in people and myself, the timbre, tone, quality and energy of each instrument and the style in which it was played echoed the personality and innermost feelings of the player, I would feel closest to people after hearing them play - or playing with them, and some of my most treasured friendships in this life have always revolved around these connections. For even when I am far away from them, or we have been at opposite ends of the globe for years, this connection is rekindled immediately when we play together again, a bond that cannot, and will not ever be broken.

When I was in my late teens I was asked to teach a jazz improvisation class at Santa Barbara City College in California, the prospect of me teaching a group of college students all older than me was daunting. What I chose to teach was my personal way of connecting with music, how I composed and played, and also how I felt and experienced music: through the strong connection of hearing, seeing, and feeling. For me I could see colors with the sounds, emotions and feelings were automatically attached to imagery in my mind, impossible to have one without the other, creating a powerful connection between oral and aural, sight and sound, a symbiotic relationship - perhaps a unique way of experiencing music, but this was how it was for me, and this is what I taught. So when I am filming or shooting, there is this same connection - between what I am seeing and hearing, and the emotions, colors, light and depth that are captured by the camera, to me there is no difference, they are inseparable. When I make a video the music is quite possibly more important than the video, though the imagery that is created by the painting of color and sound, the combination of the two is, for me, where the magic really happens. I could not live without them both in my life - and I feel my projects would never be the same without the music, composed and arranged for each, giving me a chance to continue to play and write, a beautiful partnering that gives my soul room to breathe, letting color and light, music and sound, space and shape, all dance in front of my eyes, and in my mind.

As the second half of my new video, I present to you the all original soundtrack for “A City Full of Light”. Please follow the link for free download!

https://soundcloud.com/tokpa-korlo/a-city-full-of-light-official-trailer-soundtrack

If you haven't seen the video yet, please follow this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_whMlRVQmI

Thank you all so much for all the support and comments, and for helping to spread this all over the world! Dharma can, and should be exciting, colorful, full of depth and life, and with your continued support and care, my hope is that dharma-imagery-project will continue to do as much as possible to make this happen!