Corsica has a special place in my affections – impossible to explain why in a short post. But there is one song that, if ever I were asked to be on Desert Island Discs, would have to be among ‘the eight’ and that would be Un soffiu di libertà. My flight got in at gone eleven this evening so I missed out on the welcoming dinner, but I joined a few EESC members in the restaurant where they had dined. They had been entertained by three Corsican musicians who had retired to a back room and started practising. I found myself as the last guest in the restaurant (we’re talking the not so small hours). I went through to the back room and asked the musicians about Un soffiu di libertà and on the spot they played and sung it to me and afterwards wrote out the chords and the lyrics. It was one of those moments of unforgettable privilege that, like my moments alone with Magritte’s Empire of Light, sometimes occur and will always be treasured.
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