The rhythm of the Moon

photo of moon

This is the problem. That we have gradually freed ourselves from the rhythms of the Earth, of the seasons, of the cosmos. Until we build a synthetic and precisely artificial life, with temporal scansions that are out of this world, which make us strange and tire us. Because we are in the world, we are made of stars, intertwined with universal matter. The cycles of the cosmos are the cycles of our body, the cycle of female fertility itself is in suggestive agreement with the cycle of revolution of the Moon around our planet.

That’s why I understand well what the musician Peter Gabriel writes in the notes accompanying the release of the song Panopticom , the first of the forthcoming i/o album 

‘Some of what I’m writing about this time is the idea that we seem incredibly capable of destroying the planet that gave us birth and that unless we find ways to reconnect ourselves to nature and to the natural world we are going to lose a lot. A simple way of thinking about where we fit in to all of this is looking up at the sky… and the moon has always drawn me to it.’

In fact, the phases of the Moon will also give the rhythm to the releases of the songs of this highly anticipated new album, by a musician who, together with Genesis, has really written the history of progressive rock, to then embark on a solo career characterized by great expressive originality. Specifically, a new song will be released every full moon. We have already started, in fact, with the song Panopticom , which was unveiled on the full moon of January 6, 2023.

For aficionados, another reason to wait for those days when the Moon is mostly present – ​​almost invasive – in our sky. For me astrophysicist, admirer of Peter’s art, a device that effectively connects two of my affective universes, music and astronomy.

For everyone, a gentle invitation to reopen to the rhythms of the cosmos, to the rhythms that have always regulated the life of man and animals. More evocative, mythical and richly symbolic of so much dry and hurried life governed by the imperative of 24/7 efficiency, by the neon god (as Simon & Garfunkel already sang in the Sixties of the last century) that we have created for ourselves.

Going back to the rhythm of the Earth, the Moon, the cosmos, seems to me an act of happy and peaceful insurrection against a positivist and commercial system that would like us to be slaves to consumption, it can really represent a beginning of a path to freedom. The Moon also carries with it a political and social meaning. And if you think about it, it can only be like this.

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