Everyone loves a good story.  I don’t have to hang a storyteller sign around my neck for you to believe I am one. I am no wordsmith, though. I prefer telling my stories by word of mouth, the same way I prefer listening to live music; – but, ever so often I find myself having to write a story down, so as to reach as many story-lovers as possible. Why? Because this one is a magical story.

Here we go!

In May 2012, Cristina and me started recording some videos in our new home, which we were to leave soon and move to London. The series was to be called The Acoustring Sessions.

We got to work. Two of the songs were my interpretations on  Lewis & Clark by Tommy Emmanuel and Scott Joplin’s ragtime – The Entertainer. But it’s the third song that really tells the TALL story.

Sometimes the best things that happen are the things that you didn’t plan. Let me explain. I didn’t plan to write a song, it just came to me. I didn’t plan to get inspired by looking at the beautiful painting we had in our living-room, called Sshh…. It just happened. It was meant to happen! The painting inspired me to go to that beautiful creative place that I always long to revisit and write a song – The Quiet Song.

And so, The Quiet Song became the original one of The Acoustring Sessions, and later on was recorded in the studio and uploaded on the internet.

One year passed and, come July 2013, I received an e-mail.

Deborah Azzopardi, the Artist of ‘our’ beautiful Pop Art painting that inspired me to write The Quiet Song was writing to me, saying she had come across and listened to my song.

How incredible is that?!? How often do such things happen?  Was it a happy accident? I don’t think so. A pleasant surprise? Undoubtedly. The accident of finding something extraordinary while not specifically searching for it or just one of life’s miracles? Take your pick, I go for the miracle.

And that’s not all. I was about to have a show in the Kew gardens, I invited Deborah Azzopardi, and guess what? She came!! And she is the most amazingly human being one can ever meet, an unbelievably humble artist, one you feel you’ve known forever, even though you’ve just met her 5 minutes ago. Her paintings are absolutely seductive, full of life and colour. See for yourselves!

Deborah Azzopardi, the Artist that painted “SSHH…” the painting that hangs in our living room – and the homes of many others around the whole world – painting that inspired me to write The Quiet Song, got to listen to my song LIVE, in person!

***Here’s the video of this incredible experience.

It all happened!! It’s one of those tall stories that is actually HUGE, because it’s true. Magic did happen! A story that started with an Artist creating a painting that inspired a musician, who wrote a song and got to meet the Artist who created the painting that inspired the musician to write a song…

A miraculous story that came full circle. A story that, even though it started quietly, could not stay Shushed…

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