Time Traveling with Music

Certain types of music have a way of putting us in a certain type of mood.  And it's not limited to just feelings of happiness, sadness, or anger.  Certain types of music can put us at ease, other types of can get us in the mood to party.  Some songs can bring up images of road trips or particular places in our mind.  Sometimes individuals may even associate a specific song with a specific place, person, event, or feeling.

As a history buff, I like it when music can also take us back in time.  Big band music doesn't just bring up images of New York and Chicago, but images of New York and Chicago from 1920s-40s.  Bluegrass music brings up images of the Appalachian mountains during the 1940s.  Music played on a nay and oud often bring up images of medieval Persia or ancient Egypt.  Bagpipes bring up images of medieval Scotland.

Many instruments are capable of playing different styles of music though.  It just depends on how the artist tunes and plays them.  What inspired me to write this post today is a song I heard a few days ago called "The Ancient Forest of Elves."  The artist, Luca Turilli, has essentially merge old English/Celtic sounds with modern rock and, in my opinion, did a good job of doing it.  The song brings up images of Arthurian England with a hint of Lord of the Rings legendarium.  Not only do I like the period of history, I think I find it even more appealing because of the time of the year.  Here in the American South, its very hot and humid here all summer, so it gets annoying to be outside for long periods of time over the summer (unless you're at the beach!).  So when autumn arrives and it starts to cool down, it's nice to be able to go outside and actually enjoy being outside.  It's the best time of the year to go on a hike in the woods.  I think that's why this song has been stuck in my head the past few days.

Do you suddenly feel like hiking through Sherwood Forest to find a sword to pull out of a stone now?