Deserted - Empires And Cities May Fall But Art Endures

'look On My Works, Ye Mighty, And Despair! Nothing Beside Remains. Round The Decay. Of That Colossal Wreck, Boundless And Bare. The Lone And Level Sands Stretch Far Away.”

The Desert Ghost Town Of Al Madam An Hour’s Drive From Dubai In The United Arab Emirates Brings To Mind The Words Of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Poem Ozymandias. Shelley Was One Of The Epic Poets Of The19th Century. His Poems Rank Among The Greatest In The English Language.

In Ozymandias He Describes The Ruins Of A Crumbling Statue Of The Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses Ii, Half Buried In The Egyptian Desert As A Symbol Of The Transience Of Political Power Contrasted To The Permanence Of Art As A Way To Preserve The Past.

Even Great Rulers Along With Their Kingdoms Eventually Fall To The Sands Of Time. Ozymandias Boastfully Called Himself The “king Of Kings” Whose Mighty Achievements Invoked “awe And Despair” But Now Whose “colossal Wreck” Of A Sculpture Mirrors The Collapse Of His Power And Legacy, The People He Ruled Over And Kingdom Lost To The “lone And Level Sands”. Time And The Relentless Desert Sands Not Only Destroyed The Sculpture But The Entire Empire The Statue Was Built To Overlook.

The Poem Reminds Us That History Is Full Of Rises And Falls Of Empire. The Deserted Village Of Al Madam Is But A Tiny Microcosm - A Reminder Of How Powerless Time And Decay Make Us All.

However Amid The Ruined Pieces Of The Statue In The Poem There Is One Thing That Has Withstood The Ravages Of The Centuries And That Is The Sculptor’s Art And The Words Carved Into Its Remains, Preserving The Story Of Ozymandias. The Pharaoh’s Legacy Only Exists Because Of A Work Of Art.
Art Endures. Art, Even When Broken And Buried In The
Sand Can Preserve Humanity’s Legacy. Perhaps My Small Contribution In Composing “deserted” With Its Haunting Piano Will In Some Way Preserve The Spirit Of Al Madam, The Relic Of An Unknown Past.

As I Let The Sands Of Al Madam Sift Through My Fingers And As I Embraced The Warmth And Energy Of The Eternal Sun, The Eternal Universe, I Pondered Over These Thoughts About The Lasting Nature Of Art.

I Wondered - What Happened To Al Madam? And How It Reflects Humanity’s Impotence In Face Of The Natural World. The Relentless Sands Have Gradually Engulfed The Tiny Village, Rolling In Like Waves, Pushing Through The Open Windows And Doors, Consuming And Engulfing The Empty Rooms, Burying The Furniture .

Why Did The Inhabitants Leave In Such A Hurry? Doors Have Been Left Wide Open, Personal Belongings Left In A Jumble. Rumours Of Supernatural Influence Abound. People Describe A Feeling Of Being Watched. True There Is An Eerie Silence To The Place Locally Referred To As “buried Village”. Nearby Villagers Describe An Evil “djinn” Or Genie Who Haunts Al Madam - A Female Spirit With Feline Eyes And Machete Like Hands. Others Say The Spirits Are Supernatural Creatures Made Of Air And Fire.

They Say The Village, Built Around 50 Years Ago, Was Once Inhabited By People Of The Al Kutbi Tribe, One Of The Three Main Tribes Living Nearby. They Also Say That There Is Something Mysterious In The Sand That Causes It To Invade Houses.

Now All That Remain Are Two Rows Of Well Built Houses, Half Buried In Sand, And At One End, A Simple Mosque. The Only Foot Prints Are Scorpion Tracks In The Sand. It’s Hard To Believe That Just An Hour Away Lie The Towering Skyscrapers Of Dubai, The Fastest Growing City In The World.

More Likely It Is The Ferocious Invasive Sands And Lack Of Infrastructure And Electricity That Drove Residents Away. But Vestiges Of Art Remain In The Beautiful Mosaics Gracing What Remains Of Some Walls.

Will My Composition, My Art, Help The Story Of The Village Live On? Will It Quell The Roaming Spirits? Only Time And The Spirits Themselves Will Tell.

Catégorie Music Video  /  General