DAY 8
SONGS OF A SAD SAILOR
LAST EPISODE
I AM THE SAILOR
I can by no means compare myself to Runar. My life and upbringing in safe and peaceful Sweden in comfortable modern times stand in stark contrast to the drama and the hardships he had to endure. And his talents and perseverance were truly outstanding.
Still, I can recognize several traits in him and his story in myself. And while I was working with this record, I felt more and more that the songs are as much descriptions of myself as they are of him. That childish, humorous and joyful fascination that takes over everything else, that I can sense so strongly when I look at his work, and the feeling of flow and fulfillment when you indulge in the things you are so passionate about. That recognition makes me feel a strong connection to this man I have never even met.
I’m just as obsessed with my music as Runar was with his model.
I can sacrifice a lot of things to get time and space to develop my art.
I’ve gone a long and winding road to come to the point where I am today, fighting many obstacles, external as well as internal, facing failure after failure but learning a lot along the way.
Music is the meaning of my life.
… and I just love sailing.
TODAY'S FIRST SONG: I AM THE SAILOR
ABOUT THE SONG
I am the Sailor. This is one of the pieces I wrote at VICC in Visby, that I told you about in an earlier episode, during the two sun-drenched weeks I spent there to compose.
Every day I went for long walks in this incredibly beautiful historic town, with its medieval city wall and an abundance of pretty old houses, and I strolled for hours along the sea humming melodies.
I could hardly manage to write them all down, there was such a crowd of ideas welling out.
This songs’ working title was 'By the Sea'.
EPILOGUE
Runar Husell never built a model again efter the completion of Ponape. But he showed it proudly to guests and he liked to tell the story of how it came to be to interested listeners. Until this day it stands in the private home of his son Folke Husell, who has been so kind as to letting me use his father’s life story and the pictures in these episodes.
The descriptions in these episodes of Runar’s state of mind and thoughts and feelings are of course only my own interpretations, and I hope I didn’t misunderstand too many details.
Many are the ship model specialists and connoisseurs that have come from all over the world to look at the remarkable Ponape model.
They’re all in agreement - it is an astounding accomplishment, with its beauty, accuracy and functionality, and with regards to under what circumstances it was made it is seen upon as almost an impossibility.
Runar died in 1968, at the age of 52.
WHERE TO GET TO KNOW MORE
Folke Husell wants his father’s amazing story to be told, and he has released a beautiful coffee table book about it, written by Dan Weissenberg. It’s in Swedish only, but it has an abundance of amazing photography of the model, taken by photographer Kjell Soderlund.
He has also produced a film together with talented film maker Michael Hancock - it’s called ‘The Ponape Sail Ship - A Dream of The Ocean’. This film is where I learned about this amazing story, which played on so many of my strings that it followed me during a long time before I decided to bake it into the piano album project that I was working on.
THE LAST SONG ON THE ALBUM: FINALLY
INTERLUDE: FINALLY
Prologue.
Our sailors life is going to an end.
He has finished.
He has reached his destination.
He has come to completion.
He is content.
He made it.
THANK YOU!
Wow, what an experience this has been for me! Thank you so much everybody who have participated! I’m overwhelmed by all the friendly and supporting comments I’ve gotten, here and on Facebook, live and in emails! It means so much to me to hear that my music reaches its destination - into people’s ears, hearts and souls!
And thanks everybody who helps me succeed on Spotify
and other platforms and social media by following me and listening, saving and sharing my songs! It’s all ruled by algorithms, so every time you listen to and interact with my songs there you increase the chances my music will be shown to more people. I can not do a single thing to affect that, but you can!
Thank you so much for your support! ❤️😊
Maria
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QUESTION FOR YOU
This is where the Songs of a Sad Sailor Album Experience ends.
I’m so glad you took part in this!
Did you like it? Any final thoughts and comments?