Music good for the soul

Music... It may seem so significant at times but it plays such a huge part of our day to day lives. 

It can change a mood bring on sadness, happiness, a feel good moment. We do not realise the influence music has on us. A good song and a Friday and suddenly the mood is up! having recently moved to the United Kingdom I now spend a great deal of time on trains and walking all over London for work. My only companion is my phone and  music I feel lost without my headphones in and some good music playing. The music invokes different thoughts and feelings while I am on my journey. With the long train rides and walks its a time out from the rush and work, a de-stressing moment. 

I wake up most days with a different song playing in my head where this comes from I have no idea. I find certain music or songs brings up particular emotions or memories. Jazz, my dad is in mind as we are both great lovers of some good smooth jazz. There are some songs that bring back memories of great parties or moments shared with friends, some that bring back memories of a loved one who has passed on. I think we can all relate to this and we all have our own special songs for our own particular reasons.

If there is one thing I have seen which I think we should all be grateful or is how music can unify people. A stadium full of people listening to their favorite band or artist all united in support brings people together no matter, race, age, gender whatever it may be. I have found I have more in common with people who have similar taste in music to me we can relate and have similar emotional connections to the music. 

Think about a life with no music? I cannot that would take a way half of my life, memories, stories, laughs, friends. I think if we all look back at our lives music has been a big part of it from a child listening to the songs in church, to the school choir, to dancing in the club, to playing in a band it has always been a part of our lives. 

My favorite era would be the 90's soulful music with good messages behind the words. It encouraged unity, love, freedom. The message the music has to portray was awesome. I feel a great deal of modern artists have lost this, music has some what lost its meaning and we have many one hit wonder songs that come and go quickly spreading a negative message. Technology has also moved so rapidly that genuine music is rare to find, artists can change so many variables in a sound booth. Older artists had their voice or their instrument raw talent that was it. 

I do feel some of the modern artists are going back to the roots of music, If you have never heard of David Foster research him now! one of the greatest men in the music industry. If you would like to go back to some of the roots of music listen to David Foster and Friends if you are not left amazed and feeling good after this you are not human. A rollacoaster of feelings and thoughts from a wide variety of great artists and bands.

At the end of the day music is in bred and a part of all of us keep listening, keep smiling, keep laughing, keep crying music can do that to you! 

The BEST BRANDS!

I found this online today thought I would share, fully agree 100% Mr Starbucks

Interesting Economic Times

The start of 2015 proves to be rather interesting in the world of economics.

In South Africa many people are happy with the serious drop in the price of a barrel of oil with the price currently sitting at around $48 a barrel and economists expect it to go as low as $40.

While this is great in the short term and for us as fuel becomes much cheaper and in turn other commodity prices may drop in the short term, in the long run and in the bigger picture of things this poses a serious problem. 

If the price of oil has dropped so drastically from the last year this can only generally mean one thing the demand has dropped and why would the demand drop ? lack of economic activity. With Europe struggling at the moment and China also on a slow down this situation needs to be analysed further.

A slow down in economic activity world wide will affect everybody and each country's ability to boost its GDP. A country may be able to produce various goods however not be able to export as there will not be enough demand and in turn prices will drop.

South Africa at this point in time is in an advantageous position, with investors now rushing to invest in something more stable the demand for gold has increased and the price in turn. Being a large exporter of gold this could give the economy and the rand a boost. 

The rand has weakened drastically I believe due to poor government, a great deal of strike action in important sectors of business and lastly due to Europe's slow down. South Africa exported a great deal to Europe with them slowing down and not buying as much from us this has caused a decline in the rand and lack of foreign trade and currency coming into the country. We are in others words importing a great deal more than we are exporting and struggling to keep the economy thriving. 

It is interesting to see how various factors in the economic world has a knock effect and a vicious circle begins, A large drop in oil prices does not necessarily mean a good thing in the long term yet it may help South Africa in some ways as investors are now buying gold as a safer investment. However the drop in economic activity world wide means South Africa does not export as much as before in turn affecting us in a negative way,

It will be interesting to see the future where oil supplies are scarce or non existent how some countries will survive and how this will in turn affect the economic world. The UAE has seen this coming from a while back and has invested huge amounts and continues to do so in the tourism sector the infrastructure is mesmerising, but will this be enough to sustain them?

It is all a catch 22 and a difficult situation to control or monitor. 2015 seems like it is going to be a very interesting economic time world wide we shall just have to wait and see what happens...!