”We are living in a time where many people are asking themselves, what is truly important, both in my own life and in the life of the planet. Many of the rules and structures that shape our international community are outdated and harmful, and still many of us feel powerless to change them because we don´t have political or economic power.
I think the first step towards creating a better world is maybe to change the way we look at it. What if we see the planet as a living being, what if we see our own life as an animal, uncaged and curious. What if we stop listening to what everyone is telling us to do, and start listening to our own inner voice – maybe things are not as locked and closed as we fear. Maybe we can take back the magic of our own story, and live as free beings on a free planet. Maybe we can find ways to help each other, and invent a new system that secures everyone´s safety and freedom, including the animals and plants and the planet itself. Life is meant to be an adventure, not a measure of success or status. Make sure you´re living your own story, and creating the world you want to live in. And don´t let anything stop you.”
-The Musical Slave
MUSICIAN AND FILMMAKER
THE MUSICAL SLAVE
Background story
"Back in 2011 I decided to leave Norway and start a new life somewhere else, but I didn’t know where. So I decided to do an experiment based on this quote I had found: “Every journey has a secret destination that the traveler doesn’t know about”. So the plan was to not have a plan, and just set out on a road trip and see where I´d end up. I also decided to document everything with a small video camera.
Before leaving I soldpancakes in the street for about a year to save up for my Volkswagen van, and then I drove off into the world. I made my way through Denmark, Holland, Scotland, and England, selling pancakes and singing in the street. And then, for some reason, I got a strong feeling that I should take the boat to Ireland...
On my first day in Ireland, I was driving around looking for a place to park, when this man came up to me and asked if I was lost. I said no, not really, I just need a place to park. And then he pointed to this laneway, (off Thomas Street in the Liberties, Dublin 8) and said I could park there for free. But it was kind of narrow and filled with cars, so my van got stuck and I ended up reversing into the wall and smashing my backlight...
I was swearing to myself when, suddenly, I saw this horse come out of the wall (?!) I didn´t understand what the horse was doing there, but I was filled with this feeling of freedom and love. So I ran over to the horse, and soon I was surrounded by this group of 15 year old boys. And there was one older guy who asked if I wanted to come for a spin, and he took me all around the block with a horse and two-wheeler, dodging buses and cars. And when we came back, he showed me the stables, and there were actually 5 horse yards and about 20 horses, hidden behind the walls, right in the middle of the city! And from that day on I was hooked. I kept going back to this laneway (“the Lane”) with the horse yards almost every day, and I played my music for them, and they let me get up on the horses. And the whole time I was filming as much as I could, because I felt I just had to show this laneway with the horses and the boys to the world.
After about a month of hanging out in "the Lane" I decided to get a flat and stay in Dublin. And a few months later, I got my own horse, Danu, and now I was jockeying round the streets every day. And I felt happy, like I’d found my secret destination..."
-Kristin Vollset (aka The Musical Slave)
