Like stardust
and feathers
exploding in
perpetual flower
with unending grace
into the permeable night
we pass
My first port of call was to think about what we know of the first cities on Earth, should we resurrect them in the name of exploration and settlement of mankind’s first off-world home – The Red Planet. The first one would need to be auspicious. About names and some contenders later, first a light flurry on naming.
City names on Mars may be named in respect to their location, founder, company or space project. Location for early settlements and particularly the first settlement or city on Mars will need natural resources such as water and fuel source for power, vital minerals and construction materials, protection from the sun’s radiation and small meteorites, and steady temperature control eg underground or near the equator:
- Martian pole with access to water
- Caves provide shelter from the Martian sun and surface
- Martian lava tube and skylights on the flanks of Arsia Mons
- Hellas Planitia is a large meteorite impact basin in the Mars southern hemisphere with some of the deepest points on Mars where there might be water
- Near the equator at low altitude where there is accessible water perhaps a few meters below a regolith, protection from radiation and highest temperature up to 20c at noon, much of the planet is very cold (dry Antarctic desert)
- Northern Lowlands
- Phoenix landing site maybe one of the most habitable zones
Some named geological features on Mars: Tharsis (volcano), Valles Marineris (deep canyon), Hellas and Borealis (crater/impact basins), Mount Olympus (highest mountain), Phoenix (Mars explorer landing, meaning firebird) – But landing on Mars is a challenge.
Urban Architecture studio ABIBOO has revealed plans to create the first self-sustainable city on the Red Planet, which is set to be ready for residents in 2100. The city will be called Nüwa, located at Tempe Mensa on a Martian cliff. Nüwa is a mother goddess in Chinese folk religion, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven.
Why – and How – NASA Gives a Name to Every Spot It Studies on Mars – But then why should NASA have it all their way, this is the whole of humanity we are speaking of, stepping out of their comfort zone.
Naming the first city on Mars
Some tributes – this was fun researching:
Anthropolis, Anthropos, Tetratos, Tessares, Tetra, Tetros, Eruthros, Erithrea, Elpis.
Anthropolis Ἀνθρόπολις (‘Human city’: Invented name derived from ‘metropolis’, large city or capital, combining anthro- ‘human’ and -polis ‘city’ from ancient Greek: The Acropolis, ancient citadel on a rocky outcrop, acro- ‘high’ above the city of Athens), Anthropos ἄνθρωπος (mankind), Tetratos τέταρτος (meaning ‘fourth’ referring to first city on fourth planet from the sun) or Tessares τέσσαρες (four) and could be abbreviated just to Tetra or Tetros, Eruthros ἐρυθρός (Red, ‘red city’ erythrocyte, a living planetary red blood cell), Erithrea Ἐρυθρὰ (derived from the Greek term Sinus Erythraeus meaning Red Sea), Elpis ἐλπίς (hope, ancient Greek goddess who saved mankind from evils of the world unleashed by Pandora).
Terra Nova, Urbs, Urbs Mons, Primus, Initium, Mamart, Martis, Maris, Hominum, Rubrum.
Terra Nova (‘new land’ in latin), Urbs (latin for ‘city’), Urbs Mons (‘city mountain’ in latin after Olympus Mons largest mountain on Mars), Primus (latin: first), Initium (latin: beginning/from the, going in), Mamart (oldest recorded latin form of Mars and likely of foreign origin), Martis (of Mars in latin), Maris (derivative of Mars and Etruscan child-god), Hominum (mankind), Rubrum (red).
Çatalhöyük, Perkunos, Perkuna.
Çatalhöyük (first city/proto-city in human history in Anatolia, Turkey from 7,500 BC and translated means çatal ‘fork’ and höyük ‘tumulus’ or mound from human settlement, located close to the river Euphrates), Perkunos or Perkuna (proto-Indo-European weather god of rain invoked in times of drought).
Primera, Lejos, Casa, Sierra Marte, Casa Marte, Casaroja, Colorado.
Spanish new world – Primera (first), Lejos (far away), Casa (home or house), Sierra Marte (saw or mountain range on Mars), Casa Marte (home on Mars), Casaroja (red home), Colorado (red).
Nāgarī नगर, Mangala मङ्गल, Lohita लोहित, Pratidhi प्रतिधी, Apêksh आशा, Manvantara मन्वन्तर, Antara अन्तर, Turiya तुरीय, Aruna अरुण.
Sanskrit is commonly regarded as the first spoken human language, 5,000 BC from which all languages of the world have originated – Nāgarī नगर (City), Mangala मङ्गल (personification of Mars and name for planet Mars – also means auspicious and successful), Lohita लोहित (the red one), Pratidhi प्रतिधी (Hope), Apêksh आशा (Hope), Manvantara मन्वन्तर (Mankind), Antara अन्तर (Interior, of a body), Turiya तुरीय (meaning ‘the fourth’ and referring to first city on fourth planet from the sun, also refers to the true self (atman) beyond the three common states of consciousness (waking, dreaming, and dreamless deep sleep), Aruna अरुण (charioteer of Surya the Sun god and means ‘red’).
Tolkāppiyam தொல்காப்பியம், Akananuru அகநானூறு, Akanuru.
Tamil may be older than Sanskrit 5,000 BC – Tolkāppiyam தொல்காப்பியம் (means ‘ancient book, text or poem’ is the most ancient extant Tamil text and classical work mentioning Hindu deities including god/s and godess of Mars), Akananuru அகநானூறு or shorten it to Akanuru (‘the 400’ – oldest classical Tamil work of 400 love poems).
Eridu.
Sumerian dated 3200 BC – Eridu (oldest city in Sumer, ancient Mesopotamia and its patron god Ea (Enki) ‘lord of the sweet waters that flow under the earth), current southern Iraq.
Memphis, Menes, Thebes, Thebos, Faiyum.
Egyptian – Memphis or Menes (first city in ancient Egypt/and founder), Thebes (may be as old or older) and could vary name to Thebos which would resonate with the two Mars moons Phobos and Deimos, Faiyum (also listed as oldest city in Egypt and Africa) kind of resonates with Elysium and Initium (suggested earlier).
Madjedbebe, Uluru.
Aboriginal: DNA/genomic study has found evidence of a single human migration out of Africa and confirmed that Aboriginal Australians are the world’s oldest civilization dating back at least 75,000 years, and of course Australia is a red continent with a famous red centre, as Mars is the red planet with its famous Mount Olympus – Madjedbebe (oldest known site showing presence of humans in Australia, first occupied by humans 60,000-70,000 years ago), Uluru (red inselberg ‘island mountain’ ancient rocky outcrop at heart of Australia’s red centre)
City of Khoisan.
Africa: Long regarded the cradle of modern human civilization – City of Khoisan (modern Khoisan people are indigenous to South Africa and split from other Homo Sapiens 150,000-90,000 years ago).
Something simple – Red City (RC) or space age and Monty – RC Prime. A century or two earlier HG Wells would have had a bash, but in 1898 Martians invaded us, enter Holst.
To see the great province of houses, dim and blue through the haze of the smoke and mist, vanishing at last into the vague lower sky, to see the people walking to and fro among the flower beds on the hill, to see the sight-seers about the Martian machine that stands there still, to hear the tumult of playing children, and to recall the time when I saw it all bright and clear-cut, hard and silent, under the dawn of that ‘first’ great day…
(February 29, 2024) OMG a Leap Year, maybe we will get their sooner!
UPDATE – 3 OF NASA’S MISSIONS TO MARS
Operating on Mars’ Chryse Planitia for more than six years, Viking 1 performed the first Martian soil sample using its robotic arm and a special biological laboratory. While it found no traces of life, Viking 1 did help better characterize Mars as a cold planet with volcanic soil, a thin, dry carbon dioxide atmosphere and striking evidence for ancient river beds and vast flooding [JPL, California, Mars landing 1976].
Viking 1 (NASA), launched aboard a Titan IIIE rocket August 20, 1975 and arrived at Mars on June 19, 1976. The first month was spent in orbit and on July 20, 1976 Viking Lander 1 separated from the Orbiter and touched down at Chryse Planitia.
First Mars Landscape Panorama, Viking 1 Lander (NASA) Chryse Planitia, July 20,1976
Smart little codger preparing the way – Curiosity Rover landed on the Red Planet in Gale Crater on 5th August 2012. Mission: Has Mars ever had the right environmental conditions to support small life forms, microbes? Curiosity explored the ‘habitability’ of Mars. It found evidence of water, chemicals, minerals, nutrients and energy sources that microbes could have used, and established that Mars had regions that could have supported life in the ancient past.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at the ‘Big Sky’ site on October 6, 2015, 1,126th Martian day (sol) of the mission, collecting it’s fifth sample of Mount Sharp. The rock drilled at this site is sandstone in the Stimson geological unit in Gale Crater.
Dingo Gap (Mars), Curiosity Rover, February 9, 2014 – Looking back at dune – NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover drove across on the 538th Martian day (sol), three days earlier.
More than 11 years over a harsh, extremely cold and dusty, radiated landscape without company or maintenance and still roving in 2024.
Curiosity Rover’s younger cousin and later mission – Perseverance landed on 18th February, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars. Mission: To seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for return to Earth. Did life take hold on the Red Planet? Perseverance takes the next step by looking for signs of past life itself. Main objectives:
- Geology: Study rocks and landscape at landing site to reveal the region’s history
- Astrobiology: Determine whether area of interest was suitable for life, and look for signs of ancient life itself
- Sample Caching: Find and collect promising samples of Mars rock and soil that could be brought back to Earth in future missions
- Prepare for Humans: Test technologies that would help sustain human presence on Mars someday
The rover has made discoveries about the volcanic history, habitability, and role of water in Jezero Crater. It has been collecting diverse, compelling samples of rock and regolith for retrieval and return to Earth. Scientists hope to advance the search for signs of past life on Mars and gain insights into the evolution of Mars.
Technology aboard Perseverance has made significant strides towards future human exploration on Mars – Small lightweight oxygen-generating technology (MOXIE) which can be scaled up, completed its final run in September 2023 and created up to 12 grams of breathable oxygen an hour from the Martian atmosphere. Continuous operation over 24 hours would be sufficient to sustain an astronaut for up to 10 hours. These studies are all programmed and conducted by remote control over huge distances.
Perseverance (NASA) Rochette, September 10, 2021
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on September 10, 2021, 198th Martian day (sol) of the mission. Two holes are visible where the rover used its robotic arm to drill rock core samples in Jezero Crater.
Mars Ingenuity Helicopter (NASA) at Wright Brothers Field on April 6, 2021, its third day of deployment on Mars (sol 46)
(March 3, 2024)
UPDATE – Q & A
Q1 Where will we get oxygen to breathe and water to survive on Mars?
‘Technology aboard Perseverance has made significant strides towards future human exploration on Mars – Small lightweight oxygen-generating technology (MOXIE) which can be scaled up, completed its final run in September 2023 and created up to 12 grams of breathable oxygen an hour from the Martian atmosphere. Continuous operation over 24 hours would be sufficient to sustain an astronaut for up to 10 hours’.
The Martian atmosphere is 96% Carbon Dioxide, which means there is significant locked atmospheric oxygen (despite low pressure and concentration) that could be extracted through plants and bacteria cultivation in an ecologically closed environment through photosynthesis. There are plants on Earth that are able to do this night and day and have a high capacity to convert C02 to 02, and Pre-Cambrian Earth was naturally terraformed by cyanobacteria from a predominant methane atmosphere to oxygen and nitrogen, known as the great oxidation event. We don’t have the resources and technology to terraform the planet surface-atmosphere, but we can produce an artificial atmosphere in an enclosed surface structure or in subterranean environments.
Thirdly, there is evidence of substantial water, mostly in the form of ice at the poles, deep canyons and underground, which could provide recyclable water for drinking, enclosed hydroponics, irrigation and potential further source of conversion to oxygen and hydrogen for power. Mars once had abundant surface water which was stripped by the sun’s rays, weak magnetosphere and gravity, but not all water was lost from Mars, just as we find underground water on Earth and in our artesian basins. The Great Artesian Basin under the Australian Desert contains one of Earth’s biggest reservoirs protected from surface evaporation. Its waters sourced from trapped rain which fell millions of years ago has never seen light of day.
Ice and ice rock is abundant in our solar system, especially in the asteroid belt and Mars has two moons. Some moons around our gas giant planets such as Europa, Ganymede and Titan may have more water than here on Earth, and we have a family of wandering comets and meteors traversing the solar system. These reservoirs, natural resources may become more accessible and transportable than from Earth in future missions to sustain or grow that supply over longer periods.
(March 7, 2024)
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be gratefully accepted.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
[/textblock]
Burroughs
Lowell.
“Roswell” would be the ideal name. After all, it goes well with all the UFO and alien stuff that goes on out there.
Slartibartfastville comes to mind, as a worthy nod to the brilliance of Douglas Adams. And maybe the first pub on the red planet could be called the Mars Bar? 🙂
Martia nullius
or
Sol 4 Mine 001.
I’m shattered. I thought “Roswell” would be enthusiastically endorsed by all.
Maybe a suburb might get the nod.
Hey Roswell, forgive me. I thought your suggestion was both worthy and appropriate. Slartibartfastville was a bit of tongue in cheek. But what a surprise it will be if the pioneering Martian settlers – Musk and the muskettes perhaps, along with a willing coterie of mega-rich apocalyptic escapees – find that the place is already inhabited!
Under the illusion of finding another Terra Nullius they’ll be faced with Martian indigenes who assuredly won’t be impressed with what they will undoubtedly see as a form of reverse colonialism – the savages intent on usurping the intelligentsia. Can’t wait for the feedback… SOS signals flying back to planet Earth, earnest efforts at rescue missions, zap guns holstered and ready for action. Yee hah…
Roswell, well the fictional, the secretive, the outsiders and aliens (legal or illegal) who settle on the fourth planet will need a suburb and habitat somewhere in this far off city on a lonely planet, otherwise they’ll be shattered too.
Mars Bar, first pub on Mars. Can’t have a planet without a pub and chocolate factory. Lister, Jules and Rimmer won’t get far without them, nor Brian, Startibartfast and Beeblebrox. Martia Nullius, let’s hope we get it right this time before we mine the shit out of Sol 4 like we are doing in Western Australia and NT.
In my job I met a few Martians. Nasty types.
Expect resistance! Colonists won’t be welcome.
In August, the US plans to deploy a US Space Force ‘guardian’ (yep, that’s the job title) up to the international space station.
Apparently, Col Nick Hague (USSF) will be piloting one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rigs under NASA insurance.
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3662607/space-force-guardian-set-to-launch-to-international-space-station-on-nasa-missi/
Just in case you missed the significance, Trump’s US Space Force (extraterrestial branch of US forces) is still an existent and expanding entity, that is actively recruiting ‘guardians’ and starting to exercise military authority over NASA scientific missions (aboard rented corporate vessels).
A small but significant step towards the militarization of our surrounding spacescape.
Meanwhile, NASAs ‘Artemis’ program aims to have a semi-permanent lunar encampment established by the end of this decade.
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis/
‘Guardians’ – I guess an inevitable and interesting layer of human-military resources, though I detect a slight paradox and oxymoron here, particularly given Trump’s lack of moral compass, intelligence, responsibility; and general or specific suspicion/accountability, benevolence and transparency of government/partisan administrations.
Defining the role – Guardian, governance or stewardship, effective leadership and management vs corporate and/or military control, HR vs MP (organisational integrity vs micromanagement and control), security, military (defensive/offensive), civil/military/corporate policing, protection from or conduct of espionage, marshalling/marshal law; judicial, legislative and executive oversight/reach or jurisdiction in space, and which country’s law, governed by whom? The integrity of project and enterprise, the investment, ethics, legal and civil aspects of all these are significant and complex on space projects undertaken, impact and motive for space exploration. The resources acquired and managed, the interests of State governance (interests of government vs the people vs corporate vs foreign vs humanity, go far beyond the jurisdiction of a single country and its administration or regime). Otherwise we repeat all our histories, conflicts and political wars and mistakes in space.
Space reminds us of the threats and dangers of our territorial behaviours, conflict and notions of ownership. It belongs to no-one or country, not even humanity (solar system excepted pending complex life within, other than Earth which is now highly improbable) – yet we can’t even resolve our differences here on earth and navigation of our oceans. Trump can’t comprehend or be allowed to marshal all this, not even the US demonstrates such integrity falling far short on its current performance and short history – space exploration, innovation and vision excepted which has largely rested in civilian and scientific hands.
Rather like a futuristic Star Trek model – integrated, symbiotic checks and balances but relying so heavily on integrity and human ethic that we ourselves cannot seem to grasp on a unitary, responsible, stable, sustainable, reliable, tolerant, intelligent, political-economic-social-ethnic-species level, not even within our own human communities, let alone animal kingdom we have evolved and grown up with over half a billion years.
And think of the implications for that initial semi-permanent base on the moon, colony and city on Mars or anywhere in our solar system in years to come. Our colonial history is appalling and violent, as is our wealth, resources, workforce, corporate, political and intellectual exploitation. Are we even ready for this or do we have to take the risk anyway and invent it as we go along with idiots and megalomaniacs like Trump, Putin and Netanyahu and a few billionaire corporate elites I’d care to mention at the helm?
We need guardians yes, in the form of ethicists, philosophers (and poets ha ha), scientists, humanists, analysts, witnesses/observers and overseers (no politicians elected or otherwise) – guardians with governing, safety, integrity and leadership roles or powers, military advisers/experts/strategists can be one of them when required, but they must be accountable to a higher governing representative, democratic, humanitarian, civil, expert, ethical, global unitary authority.
I well remember 35+ years ago, I went to a seminar by Delloitte (I think) about the new foreign accruals legislation, including the implications for the ‘property’ industry.
During the Q&As, I asked about the effects re outliers like Panama, Marshall Islands etc etc, and also about jurisdictional matters relating to ‘space’, after all, the moon had been visited by ‘us’ in the 60s.
I was scoffed at, and they attempted to belittle me in the presence of my peers.
Then I thought, “How convenient for them!” And now I just reflect on the accumulation of desperados, despots, freebooters, tax-dodgers and their flunky lawyers and accountants, and the governments, the seas and terra firma held to ransom.
Smart little codger – preparing the way. Curiosity Rover landed on the Red Planet in Gale Crater on 5th August 2012. Mission: Has Mars ever had the right environmental conditions to support small life forms, microbes? Curiosity explored the ‘habitability’ of Mars. It found evidence of water, chemicals, minerals, nutrients and energy sources that microbes could have used, and established that Mars had regions that could have supported life in the ancient past.
More than 11 years over a harsh, extremely cold and dusty, radiated landscape without company or maintenance and still roving in 2024 ✨
Another ‘little tugboat that could’ of exploration, Voyager 1, returned signal to a ‘gday’ from outback Straya last August, temporarily allaying fears of permanently lost contact.
https://www.npr.org/2023/08/02/1191341035/nasa-voyager-2-spacecraft-contact
Launched 5/9/1977, Vgr officially exited Sol’s sphere of influence and went interstellar in 2018.
NASA estimates about another 3 years till the batteries lose their last spark, whenceforth it will sail silently onwards, blindly bearing it’s cargo of golden sounds
https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/golden-record/whats-on-the-record/
cb, putting a record (to be played by ET) on Voyager was embarrassing. I find it highly unlikely that an alien life form would know what a record is, or how to play it, or understand the gobbledygook being played.
Roswell,
Not that embarassing when you consider it as a single element in the approach plan of an eternally optimistic forlorn-hope taking a hail-mary at a long-shot.
Sagan & co, tasked to fit big asks into small allotment, included a few inert-metal records & styluses (+ visual instructions) in order to include potential sound clues amongst the overall package of potentially decipherable scratches and images.
Can’t think of a better immediate solution within available technologies
Put simply, it’s kinda based on an assumption of complex problem solving and sonic-auditory abilities being also existent within the myriad other collective capabilities of cooperative intelligence and dexterity required for interstellar lifeforms to be actively encountering then inquisitively examining a wayward piece of metal/silicate space-junk.
Myself, as a native of Sol 3, I’m not personally embarrassed that a message-bottle flung into outer space included some Beethoven amongst the various rolled-up notes.
Roswell, given that we humanoids have the capacity to be simultaneously smart and stupid, it’s no surprise that the spaceniks would chuck in an album of their Top Ten for the benefit of anyone out there who might want to listen in on what floats earthlings’ boats. [facetious alert]. Actually, they did put a fair degree of careful consideration into what went on the Golden Record. The question is, though, would the alien life forms have access to a record player?
I think the question is a bit like asking someone here on Earth if you could borrow their stone axe for a bit, ’cause you have to chop down a tree, or something similar like ‘got a rubbing stick mate, and some tinder… I need to light a fire?’
The section of footage about the Ariel School UFO incident in Zimbabwe in the 2020 doco The Phenomenon was pretty compelling with regard to establishing the actuality and veracity of visitations of little guys from outer space to this earthly orb; this earthling at least found it hard to disbelieve… dozens of kids all witnessing the same thing, and the follow-up doco Ariel Phenomenon in 2022 which interviewed these former kids now adults more than twenty years later only confirmed the authenticity of their initial encounters, so yeh, eh, pretty amazing, and FWIIW, we’re the dumb bunnies at this stage of our evolution.
We gave it our best shot nearly 50 years ago by including a composite collection of music and languages on board the Voyager, just in case, ya know, this 815kg lump of (at that time) best practice technology should happen to zip into someone’s zone of attention somewhere out there in the huuuugenessss of deep space.
My money’s on we’ll never know the answer.
[and in late-breakng news; meanwhile, back on earth nations continue to squabble over territorial boundaries, different groups of humanoids continue to slaughter each other, opinionated individuals continue to ceaselessly argue for the correctness of their points of view, natural resources continue to be exploited at unsustainable rates, economic disparities continue to allow miniscule groups of humans unfathomable degrees of privilege and material wealth whilst the huge majority of the rest of the biped mammalian species suffer deficits of basic life-supporting essentials, and planetary stresses compound relentlessly due to the biped mammalian population’s fascination for powering their energy requirements with toxic byproducts derived from ancient reserves of carbon-based life forms.]
And a big heads up to John Chesterson for his magnificent poem Crossing Eternity, beautifully rendered here on Soundcloud.
Canguro,
Kinda that.
Homo sapiens, aka humanity,
Engineers of the Anthropocene era,
Enthusiastically disassembling critical planetary life support systems without forethought or knowledge of functional repairs,
Pillaging the elementarily irreplaceable to fuel eternal territorial conflicts and waves of conspicuous consumption,
Ingesting complex biodiversity,
Defecating aggregated extinctions.
Yeah, given the state round here we probly should clean up a bit before we send any more RSVPs to ET.
PS just glanced at the greconomics thread; Godot’s still a no-show.
Beethoven I can deal with cb, even Mozart. Some Pachelbel would be a definite yes.
Roswell,
Although Pachelbel’s canon in D is considered one of the finest multi-string instrument melodic compositions in recorded musical history, fact remains that it is also a batshit boring piece for the compulsory cellist, who is obligated to repeat the exact same 8 note ostinato 28 PHUQQEN TIMES!(!!!).
Point of order cb; and I could be completely wrong about this if you’re a cellist and have had personal experience on this matter of ‘boring’; my son is an extremely competent cellist with extensive orchestral experience as well as being a teacher of the instrument; I truly doubt that he would admit that any piece, of whatever complexity, is boring to play. Fact of the matter is that to play the exact same notes ostinato 28 times requires discipline, skill, concentration… which to state the obvious should be bedrock elements of any competent musician. Not to overlook the matter of keeping in perfect timing with the violinists. Or for that matter, the intrinsic enjoyment of performing with others.
Canguro,
Chaotic concession to relevant point of order: I am completely unqualified to speak on behalf of the attitudes of accomplished cellists regarding the inherent/potential satisfaction within the challenges of providing essential metronomic groundbass for performances of the Canon in D.
I guess my point, if any, was a vague nod towards the oft-unacknowledged contributions of consistently dependable “keepon keepinons’.
While Canguro and cb are on the merits of discipline vs boredom, chaos versus order, qualification vs experience, imagine how these pan out in the depths of space. Nah, that’s not where I was going, but from Ravel’s Bolero to Albinoni’s Adagio in G, those repetitive notes, bars and phrases, up to entire passages accumulate in their simplicity like haunting echoes tug at the heart strings and mesmerise the soul or imagination, I know not which.
I sometimes think how many times have I listened to a particular work or song from the first time I heard it and each time I do I can be transported back and forth in time, but it is only I who am time travelling, only I who play the full orchestra of memory in my head, and never, not once do I get bored, from Genesis to Mozart, Beethoven to Floyd and back. Though I can say there are many popular repetitive chants across our radio, correction Spotify, today of cult status who after just a few bars, and my mind hits the monotony button like a chimp on the trumpet. But that was not where I was going either.
And then this MAMM visualisation of Giazotto’s variation on a theme by Albinoni (did he actually write it) synthesised neo-baroque came along and mesmerised me once again but in a different way, where I saw more repetition than I had ever heard before, but each bar and phrase, each time remarkably and subtly, hypnotically different, whether one might experience the same playing it or listening, god only knows. We often watch the musician playing and the experience can be much the same, just different gestures and expressions from the line of spheres below. I think there are hidden mysteries in some compositions no matter how simple they may be broken down or repeated, like my grandfather’s marble clock on the mantelpiece (actually I don’t have a mantelpiece, but I like to think I have); or the comforting timeless ticking of my first Timex (with feint resonance of a tuning fork) under the pillow at night, flying through space many miles from home ’til awoken by the nauseating ringing of the school bell in my ears. Our music teacher at school used to conduct voluntary music appreciation lessons, the art could be heard as well as played. So while we flirt with the music, and I suppose we could remember Holst on Mars too, and orbit once more before we land – But this clip brought me here after Pachelbel’s Canon… I guess if I was stuck on Mars, city or no city, I’d be lost without the music. And now it’s time to land.
Canguro – Thanks for the heads up, which I brutally embellished as it were with a snip of melancholy from Mozart’s Requiem. I’d swear some of these composers were either space farers or time travellers – Me, I’m just a time waster, you can tell me by the way I talk.
JC
I thoroughly enjoyed the samples of baddylbachs poetry linked to by Canguro
Next time you are in touch with that particular author, please pass on my sincere compliments 😉
Thanks CB, that will be horrendously easy to pass on, it’s me. Guess I should have made an open disclosure ha ha. Further interest only, read on –
I have been writing and publishing my poetry on-line and print, in published books (poetry anthologies) under the pen name of Barrdylbach or AB, since 2010. I haven’t yet published my own selected works because I write on an occasional basis and Barddylbach is quite easily distracted and hard to track down (you know imaginary companion).
The Barddylbach Soundcloud link Canguro shared is one of two profile pages, my main author page is at AllPoetry (AP), where I think you can view all my poems, and navigate my pages without being a member of AP (My settings are set to public). I have linked the two sites and where a Soundcloud version of each poem exists, it is linked and embedded on the AP page for ease of access. I don’t promote or market my on-line works publicly, other than occasional reference and citation to broaden the appreciation of poetry in some aspects of life, critique and writing i.e mainly here and on FB, being an off-the-streets social activist/humanist, and usually have something to say in a world where many seem to remain silent.
Barddylbach also has a small poetry interest group on FB, ‘Half Eaten Cake’, where anyone can join and share stuff, and I tend to throw out a range of pieces from modern and classic poets as I come across them including a few of my favourites and enjoyable YouTube clips (suffer the adverts). It is a small and generally quiet group as FB groups go, unlike the ‘Friends of Guardian Australia’ group where we rage somewhat like we do here, and the political commentary and satire here, the word is platinum! And of course Dylan Thomas showed us how to rage with grace and style as well, I haven’t quite mastered that yet, But Barddylbach has a good handle on it, well… he has his own world far away from here. Enjoy if and when you will –
AP – @AllPoetry – https://allpoetry.com/Barddylbach
SC – Talking Poems Vol 1 – Out of the Blue (Selection of 30 tracks/stream) https://soundcloud.com/barddylbach/sets
PS Apologies if this sounds like a promo, none of us are perfect.
Thank you for the direct links, John.
I read and enjoyed a couple of your other poems linked to off the SoundCloud recital of ‘Crossing Eternity’ this morning before work.
I’ll be reading some more from your AP page this evening.
PS kinda-sorta guessed that barddylbach was your nom de plume / internal muse.
I do like being among fellow space enthusiasts. My area of interest is in who and what lives out there.
Roswell,
I’ve never sat and studied complex physics enough to even begin to try and wrap my head around the what and how of spacey cosmic science, but I know that every announced discovery continues to confound with ever-expanding layers of infathomability.
Resident of Sol 3, part of an outer arm of the Milky Way galaxy, part of the Virgo cluster, circling the Great Attractor as an element of the supercluster of Laniakea (‘big sky’), itself a piece of the Pisces-Cetus galaxy filament, a grouping dwarfed into insignificance against the scope of the Hercules Corona Borealis Great Wall.
https://www.space.com/33553-biggest-thing-universe.html#:~:text=The%20biggest%20single%20entity%20that,Hercules%2DCorona%20Borealis%20Great%20Wall.
The sheer incomprehensibility of scale when contemplating space and time is somehow simultaneously both terrifying and comforting.
I also find it hard to believe that we denizens of Sol 3 are all alone in our contemplation on how/why life matters existing in space.
PS, turning the lense backward, did you know that bodymass of the average Homo sapien consists of somewhere between 1 to 3 percent associative microbiota?
Roswell, given the interest piqued in intelligent bipeds other than humans who may or may not inhabit extraterrestrial landscapes, I went off on a search to see what else the media landscape might serve up as a viewing platform cf. reading material.
Found the 2023 Netflix series, Encounters. Having already watched The Phenomenon [2020], and Ariel Phenomenon [2022], this 4-episode series adds more; including interviews with witnesses to the presence of aliens in south-west Wales in the late seventies, along with a further unpacking of the Ariel visitations in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, in 1994 and interviews with the now adult witnesses…
Encounters may, possibly, add a little more to your sense of whom these extraterrestrials are.
‘Hominids Investigating Spacecraft’
(Two handfuls of sound’ by Manu Delago 2010)
Crazy monkey slapping unusual spacecraft.
(‘Down the Road’ by Bob Brozman)
Roswell March 4, 2024 at 6:26 pm I do like being among fellow space enthusiasts. My area of interest is in who and what lives out there.
Don’t forget that Dog made the whole universe just for us to go out there and wreck and ruin it just like we’re doing here. Not that I see we’re still going to be in here in a couple of hundred years (maybe less) the way we’re going now. Extinction beckons.
Oh yes, all this crap about aliens visiting and probing and crossbreeding? If they were real The Spud would be screaming they be locked up and/or deported and The Donald would be demanding a great big beautiful 15 metre high wall be built around the planet.
In their hubris, humankind tried to construct shields against rocks chucked by Dog.
CB – Interstellar ping-pong… knockout billiards, the game begins.
Expanded chaos theory;
If a rocket headbutts a rock from the belt, could it cause a black hole off Arcturus?
I call bullshit on the Pentagon’s rebuttal of the existence & sightings of UAPs / UFOs within the atmosphere and on land on this planet.
I say this as a detached consumer of various documentaries such as The Phenomenon [2020], Ariel Phenomenon [2022], and the more recent Encounters [2023], of which all three productions with their respective contributors and their verbatim reports of witnessing such phenomena would appear to provide compelling evidence for such sightings and encounters.
Call me a sceptic, but I think it’s fair to say that the American military machine has form when it comes to concealment of truth along with bald-faced lying to the public.
Admin… lost post on this thread… can it be resuscitated?
Maybe the aliens… or the Pentagon, took offence. 🙂
Can it be resuscitated?
Best ask a doctor…
Hi, Canguro.
Found it. Sometimes comments get caught up for moderation due to the links in it.
Thank you Roswell. Muchas Gracias. 🙂