M is for

Magpies

They are often seen as a sign of bad luck. As a child, I didn’t think much of magpies apart from that they like shiny things. I rarely saw them where I lived. During going to university to Leeds, that all changed, and the issue really struck me from 2010, where magpies seemed to hang around where I lived. Normally I detest pigeons, but they now had a rival for most disliked bird. The worrying thing was that I only used to see one sole magpie, flying around, stuck in a tree, scampering across the path, sitting outside the kitchen window. Now the infamous rhyme dictates that one magpie indicates sorrow. With superstition, if you latch onto something you will soon think it to be true. Any sadness or disappointment in my day, no matter how big or little, became attributed to the one magpie. Somedays I used to see a lone magpie twice in one day (I’m not sure whether it was the same magpie trying to taunt me, or perhaps the first magpie has recruited a magpie gang to freak me out) – does this mean twice the sorrow? Some people bought it as it cancels out, or becomes 2 for joy, but this doesn’t make sense. The one magpie has its power of sorrowness, so 2 times the one magpie surely doubles the sorrowness! Rarely have I seen 2 magpies but it did happen on a few occasions, and I did have fairly good days. One time I saw about 8 or 9 magpies travelling on the train to Manchester, which was worrying. I can’t remember what it meant – a kiss or a secret to never be told says the standard rhyme but there are variations. I think some talk of hell.

I’ve heard of saluting the lone magpie and asking “How do you do, Mr Magpie?” to cancel out the sorrow. Apparently, the magpie is lonely and depressed which is why it passes the sorrow onto others, but acknowledging him makes him feel happy, and henceforth, no sorrow is transferred. I have half-heartedly tried this, by which I mean a lame attempt at a salute quickly disguised as me fiddling with my fringe, but I think whoever came up with this is having a laugh. It did not stop the sorrow, but I was at university campus at the time, in public, with people walking around – to do this properly surely causes more embarrassment, and then more sorrow! Perhaps this was concocted by magpies themselves, they like a joke don’t they?

After finishing university, I moved back to my hometown, which is relatively magpie-free, except for the time my friends came to visit and a magpie or 3 were hanging outside the train station, but recently I have seen baby magpies. They are quite cute, but think about what they stand for. They must count as mini sorrow, no? Only to manifest itself in awful doooom. I’m not mad. Honest. Rant over.

My Small Help – I used to run a fair-trade stall for this charity, selling bags, stationary, jewellery, scarves, hats, gloves and finger puppets (which were probably the most popular items). My Small Help is a charity that raises money to help schools and hospitals in Nepal and Peru. Visit their website for the great work that they do, more information, and items for sale on www.mysmallhelp.com

Music

I never realised it before, but music is a big part of my life. When I was younger I used to be a big fan of acts like SCLUB(7), All Saints, Hear’Say, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Steps and so forth, where I would often make dance routines and learn the lyrics to each of their songs, probably to the annoyance of the rest of my family. During secondary school I began to like more indie/rock bands, possibly due to the influence of my school friends who liked Evanescence and Maroon 5, but also because it was so clever. Razorlight and The Kooks were some of my favourite bands, and Hard-Fi’s Hard To Beat was a great song that signified summer. Now…well I have started to find my own musical identity. I still like old pop music, in fact, maybe I like it more now. The 90s/early 00s pop scene is a genre that is lost, with its catchy music, cheesy lyrics and the amazing dancing that went with it – e.g. N*Sync, it reminds me of a lost time in music where no-one was afraid to be cheesy.

Nowadays there is a move for music to be cool, not that I don’t like the music scene now, which has seen a lot more variety in the last few years. Whilst it has lost the pop feel, I begin to understand music more now, and I like the way that emotions and ideas are expressed into song. N-Dubz is a group that I wouldn’t have liked 5 or 10 years ago, but some of the songs are great – depicting relationships, grief and life. Ed Sheeran is a great singer-songwriter – his album + is a bit hit and miss, but his songs often reveal a hidden depth or story to its seemingly middle-of-the-road make up.

During the last 3 or 4 years, I have also forayed into international music. I love listening to Chinese music, particularly its lyrics which seem more heartfelt and poetic than Western music does. The way in which it mixes different genres is amazing too. Some employ Western style dance beats into Chinese songs, such as Vaness Wu, whereas others include aspects of traditional Chinese music and fuse it to their modern style, such as Jay Chou and Lee Hom Wang, which makes for an interesting diversity of musical styles in the C-Pop genre. Female singers such as Cyndi Wang and Rainie Yang are extremely talented and some of the ballads are great. I also listen to J-Pop (Scandal are just cool and Ayaka has an amazing voice) and K-Pop (bands such as 4minute, SNSD and BEAST churn out great dance music but occasionally turn out a good slow song or 2), as well as European music. I studied French during secondary school, so I can understand some of the language.

Sexion D’Assaut is a hip hop group, and French rap sounds good. Desolee is a song that I would recommend, well it is the only one that I have heard. Jena Lee is a singer-songwriter who describe her musical style as Emo/RnB. This is evident in her debut single J’aimerais Tellement, which accompanied with the MV makes for an exquisite piece of music.

Her songs also infringe on the dance genre, in particular, US Boy, which is unbelievably catchy and I admire the reference to American culture.  And then there is Ben, who represents all German pop music, as I wrote before. Ben.