Twenty years of songwriting have now passed, and still the void gapes wide. Still the inexplicable sadness, the duende, the saudade, the divine discontent, persists, and perhaps it will continue until I see the face of God himself. But when Moses desired to see the face of God, he was answered that he may not endure it, that no man could see the face of God and live. Well, me, I don't mind. I'm happy to be sad. For the residue cast off in this search, the songs themselves, my crooked brood of sad-eyed children, rally round and in their way protect me, comfort me and keep me alive. They are the companions of the soul that lead it into exile, that sate the overpowering yearning for that which is not of this world.
via: Vasco Brondi, Una cosa spirituale (Einaudi, 2025) — Shock telepatico
Info & reflection: the residue of the search for the unreachable: songs as companions of the soul.
Related in anthology
- Una cosa spirituale. Non fare niente, altre forme d'arte — In the chapter Shock telepatico Brondi quotes Cave on duende: the unexplained sadness that songs don't close but keep alive