Olá!

I'm 26 and have been visiting Progarchives regularly for the past 8 years at least - I used to be fairly regular on this forum towards the beginning, but I guess I lost interest in it for whatever reason. Anyway, I'm back now with a new account, hopefully for good.

My first serious exposure to prog happened on my first year of college at the age of 16, through a close friend who introduced me to Tool - and I got hooked instantly. I also discovered bands like Muse, Anathema, Sigur Rós and Dream Theater long before I started listening to any of the quintessential prog acts such as Yes or Genesis. Tastes grow and mature though, and I'm not that much of a Tool fan anymore, much less a Muse fan (although my love for Anathema has not dwindled to this day), my preferences now lying with 70s prog (especially symphonic, folk, and electronic), particularly that of a mellower and more pastoral, cosmic, or mystical nature, as well as with classic jazz fusion, atmospheric gothic rock and metal, and the folk and sacred music traditions from around the world. 

I find much truth in Inayat Khan's contention that "music is nothing less than the picture of the Beloved", and for that very reason I tend to appreciate music inasmuch as I can find in it an archetypal reflection of transcendent celestial beauty; a manifestation, to a greater or lesser extent, of the Source outside of Which all is vanity.

It would be wrong to think that music

Is noble only if it is of a sacred kind;

Lyrical music also has its value,

Whether dramatic or delicately intimate.

After all, there is a spiritual value too

In the wild violin playing of gypsy bands;

And I would praise many noble folk songs —

Beauty is Truth, and it comes from Above.

 

Divine wisdom, poetry, music,

And feminine beauty are profoundly linked.

Their essence is Truth and Love;

They are nourishment for the Spirit and joy for the soul.

Wisdom blossoms in a wondrous way;

Precious is poetry that points to the Truth;

Noble music is a journey to Heaven;

And beauty is a symbol that leads us to God.

- Frithjof Schuon

"If music be the food of love, play on,

Give me excess of it that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken and so die.

That strain again, it had a dying fall.

O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odour. Enough, no more,

’Tis not so sweet now as it was before".

(William Shakespeare)

Thank you so much for these wonderful verses! I'm a great lover of Shakespeare myself 

Welcome (back) Artur! Portugal is a country wife and I want to visit. My father's family comes from Spain, we have been there already although need to go back. 

We were gonna go to Lisbon for Marillion Weekend but waited to long to buy tickets due to planning here, I had the flights all lined up and then we could not get any Marillion tickets, we were sad .

I don't speak Portuguese but I can understand some of it enough to get by for sure.....I hope to make it there in the next couple yrs.

Cheers

José