I like gypsy music

Gypsy Music

This morning I woke up with a sore throat. It hurt like hell to talk. Okay, let’s just say I had reached the point of untalkableness. Making any vocal noise was rather painful and swallowing the fluids that my mouth naturally produced also became rather unpleasant because it felt like someone was rubbing a cheese grater against my pharynx.

I’ve had laryngitis and pharyngitis before and they have both inherently sucked. My mum takes to giving me this ridiculous Asian stuff called watermelon frost. I instantly think of an land where the ground is made of watermelon crust and I can make pink snowballs and untouched ice is the pale lime green that the edges of watermelon slices are like.

In fact, watermelon frost is the complete opposite. It’s this… powder that looks like someone probably coloured heroin a green colour. Not the pretty green colour of the exterior of watermelons, but the green that the colour of your stool is if you ate too much spinach the night before.

That’s often hard for me to imagine, so sometimes I imagine I’m a cavewoman with a crummy mortar and pestle made from two really sketchily shaped rocks. And I just crushed some leaves into a powder until it was… powder.

Nonetheless, this crap is horrible to put in your throat. I dislike unnatural remedies a lot of the time, especially when it comes to things like headaches, sore throats, and colds. Whenever I’m sick, I opt for honey tea, vitamin C, warm soups, and my personal favourite – water. And maybe some grapes. I don’t like taking painkillers because I’ve had experiences where they don’t really help.

I developed a headache throughout the day, which was really unpleasant. For the most part, watching Futurama cured it. I took apple cider vinegar for my throat, and I can tell you it burned like hell. Probably just as bad as chugging down plain vinegar. I can tell you though, if you think salt water is bad, this burns about a hundred times more than salt water could ever.

I’m listening to gypsy music now, since James told me about Armik, a flamenco guitarist with over twenty albums under his belt. I have listened to some gypsy music and it’s the kind of music that puts you to sleep. I dearly love instrumental music, and I really love listening to orchestral versions of classic songs or sonatas. Songs are very lovely when they can put you to sleep, and they can be very relaxing. I find that a lot of music from Japanese animation can be very lovely as well (think Laputa and Naruto – I don’t even watch Naruto but the music is beautiful). And then you get to artists like Explosions in the Sky, whom I saw last year with James. When you get to things like shoegazing and post-rock, it’s where it starts getting interesting.

I begin to see the structural and melodic similarities between instrumental post-rock and Mozart. Not all music does that, I guess.

I don’t feel like I hit many dead ends. I can sleep to heavy metal. I’ve tried dancing the Macarena to a rap song. Surprisingly, it works. I plan to develop a theory out of that.

Until then, I need to make sure my nose stops running and my throat stops feeling like it’s being poked with a flamethrower.

Comments on this post

Hau zat wugs! :3

Whenever you mentioned watermelon frost in high school I pictured some sort of magical pale-green sorbet in a small crystal bowl, as a magical cure for everything. Haha. Guess not, eh. /frog

Armik’s awesome; do you have that gypsy album I’ve had for ages? /um I think you do /sweat

(Y)

Awe, poor you! I hope that you get to feeling better real quick. :) I admit that the name Watermelon Frost makes me think of a pale pink frosty lipstick from the 80s. Although, your description of the color kind of made me go – EW! :D

I am definitely going to check out Explosions in the Sky per your suggestion on my blog. I need to come up with something to help me fall asleep and stay asleep…that doesn’t involve self-medicating. :(

I had to smile when I read dancing the Macarena to a rap song, as I used to watch Football practices in my hometown while listening to classical music. I found it interesting in that they somehow kept to the beat of the classical music. It is amazing how much music has an effect on our lives, on the way that we move. :D

Aw, that sucks Georgie. :) I hope your throat feels a lot better. That watermelon frost sounds… disgusting, to say the least. I’d just stick to natural remedies if I were you!

I have not heard any gypsy music, but I also love instrumental songs. Songs with no words have the power to tell a story, even without speaking, and I guess I just like that. That’s why I like being in the band, our songs always tell stories.

Also, I’m glad you liked that song. :) I thought it was a pretty one.

I was going to say Watermelon Frost sounds delicious–until you actually explained it, haha. I find that grapes always help a sore throat for me. I actually put them in the freezer and let them stay for about an hour or so and eat them frozen. It’s really very soothing.

Also, strange question but if you drink Whiskey (idk if you do?) put a shot of it in your hot tea with honey and lemon. I usually use Jack Daniel’s (which is a sour mash type of whiskey) and it actually kills the pain and will help you sweat out the cold. It’s not going to taste great, I’ll be honest (which is why you load up on the honey and lemon in the tea) but the alcohol is a natural analgesic and will also kill some of the bacteria. It’s called a Hot Toddy, lol. Feel better! Sore throats are the worst! =[

Medical terms; I feel like I’m reading Grey’s Anatomy or something, only you never mentioned that you fell for the doctor, so…

…I thought of watermelon frost as some sort of frosty watermelon fruit pop – which would taste amazing, by the way! That’s disappointing that it is merely a powder, though. -.-

I’ve never heard of gypsy music, though. o.o Is it like ‘hippie’ music? Or is that not really real thing at all? o.o

Gypsy music is wonderful! Actually, if you want me to be honest, I love playing it more than listening to it. Or maybe in my case, that applies to all kinds of music. You should try playing flamenco on your guitar sometime!

One thing that’s interesting about rock music is that everyone who plays jazz, rock, etc. usually has a solid foundation in classical music and classical music theory. Classical music, to me, is the easiest style to teach and also the most straightforward. The music theory that Mozart studied still applies to most popular music these days.

Get well soon, Georgie! I’m a lucky person who’s never had a headache before, but headaches sound awful, and I wish them away from this world.

“I’ve tried dancing the Macarena to a rap song.”
That is . . . amazing. XD

Thanks for showing me that list! You were right, there are definitely bands in there that I love! Haha :)

I don’t really listen to gypsy music, but like you I can sleep to loud music.

Anyway, I hope you feel better! I’ve never really had sore throats like that. It sounds horrible! D:

Being sick sucks. I have been trying to fight off colds for the past couple of months because the weather temperatures have just been too up and down and is doing quite a number on my immune system. So far I have been successful and I’m hoping it will stay that way. I hate those feelings you get like the lightheaded-ness, that scratchy tinkling in your throat … ugh … hate it.

I hope you feel better!!!!

I was just having a convo with someone about music the other day and we realized we LOVE the incorporation of violin in songs whether it be classical or contemporary. It’s a very”under-realized” instrument and I think a lot of peole take that beautiful sound for granted.

Drink lots of fluids and sleep lots. The more you sleep, the more your body can have the time to recuperate.

That has been one of the most descriptive blogs I’ve read about having a cold. That being said, it sounds like crap so I hope you get better soon!

Acoustic guitar is ACE to fall asleep to. It’s been done so often.

Wow. Watermelon frost does sound like something pretty and bright, not the way you describe it as actually being! That’s crazy! Who comes up with names for things like that? :P

I hope you are feeling better soon Georgina, it really sucks when your throat hurts so much you can barely handle swallowing your own spit :(

I’ve never listened to gypsy music, but I definitely could fall asleep to soft instrumental stuff… :)

Oh no! I hope you are feeling better soon!
I don’t know if I really know what gypsy music is. I will have to investigate this because I love music that has guitars in it.

I hope you feel better soon, it always sucks when there’s something wrong with your throat or mouth and everything hurts. Watermelon frost sounds lovely when you just say it, but your discription really put me off! A friend of mine swears by apple cider vinegar but I can’t go near the stuff…
I love shoegaze music!
Can’t wait to hear your Macarena – rap song theory.
Take care xx

I hope you feel better soon. I do know how you feel, hopefully your cold won’t vanish just for something else to sneak up. Normally if my throat is soar, lots of warm lemon & honey tea. Even with this earache I’ve been drinking a lot of warm tea.

I have a deep love for the classic composers, always have. And major love for Glenn Miller. :)

Gypsy reminds me of Gypsy Kings and then reminds me of the song BOMBALEYOO not sure about the spelling :P But yeah, it reminds me of all fun stuff in my head … so thank you for that.

My throat too was on fire the other day. I was not happy. The chemist told me it was allergy related so I got some numbing gargle and then I kept biting my tongue and gums, heh!

In my aerobics class we danced the nutbush to really dodgey music. God it was fun I couldn’t stop laughing ♥

I can relate about instrumental music, not only for the reasons you mentioned — but also because, sometimes it feels obstructive to your mood if a song has words. Sometimes your subconscious wants to, or is the only thing able to narrate. @_@

I’ve tried Traditional Chinese Medicine myself. I was surprised to encounter not only herbs but bug/insect remains as well, in my prescriptions — like silkworm and cicada. I later found out that even silkworm feces are used medicinally. TCM can be a little bizarre, I guess, but it’s worked for centuries, so I can’t argue lol.

I hope you are feeling better by now — no more watermelon frost! :)

I hope you’re feeling much better now! Is this why you were asking about Strepsils? I’ve never heard of watermelon frost. I wonder if they have that here. Whenever I have a sore throat, I usually do a salt water gargle as well, and it’s definitely helped soothe the pain. I think it has something to do with salt reacting with the inflammation or something? My parents tried to explain it to me in medical terms, but I’ve forgotten. I do your cure as well with honey and soups and such. Anything warm, right? Sometimes I even eat ice cream. That probably makes it worse, but I’m not gonna let a sore throat stop me from enjoying the coldness of ice cream! :P

Gypsy music is new to me, I think. I’ll have to look it up. Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve been receptive to any kind of music, except for country music. I’m not sure what I don’t like about it, but I just always have a negative reaction whenever I hear. I just can’t enjoy listening to it. I’m weird, I know.

Yes that’s exactly why I was asking, haha. I am actually feeling a lot better throat-wise, now to rid of this cold! At least my nose is much clearer now as well. I usually go for the ice cream too, but the weather’s been really rainy and I haven’t minded a good bowl of warm soup.

Country music is okay to me, I guess it also depends because some really ooze the farmyard line-dancing vibe more than others. :P