Introducing Farlan Hardy

[arifah]

Hello,

My name is Arifah. I'm not a musician at all, I joined up to songstuff in order to introduce the music of my husband Farlan Hardy.

Farlan passed away in 2001, leaving behind a large body of work, songs that he wrote and sung and recorded during the final three years of his life. He took up music in his mid 30's and was 58 when he died, but it is only the music from the final years that we have recorded.

I've been looking through the forums these past couple of days, trying to find a post I saw a while back about compression settings, I think it was by Hari Ossa. I didn't have any luck finding that post, but I did find quite a lot of other interesting writing. I had an idea from some of the posts I read that there are quite a few people who might like Farlans music. He was a very unusual man, and his approach to music was unique, as was his approach to life and death.

I haven't managed to listen to that many of the songs here on songstuff. I've tried to, but a lot of the links don't seem to work, or maybe I'm doing something wrong.

I've not been much of a music fan in my life, apart from my husbands music. Of all the music that I've heard, the type of music that I like best is blues. I do occasionally catch something on the radio or television that intrigues me. I heard a song on the radio over 20 years ago that has stayed with me ever since. It was a blues song, the singer was not a young man, the recording creaked and grizzled, which added to the charm, but what was particularly lovely about this song was the way the singer kept breaking out into happy chuckles and giggles that sounded like a natural part of the song, almost like a new and delightful instrument. Another musician that I've never forgotten was an African singer from Mali. I saw him on television on an educational programme about musicians from different parts of Africa. Mostly they were very poor, barely making a living. This mans voice was especially beautiful. I thought he should be famous, making millions, because he really had something to give, but he's probably still scraping a living in Mali with only a lucky few hearing his lovely voice.

So, that's my introduction over, now I'll go and continue my search for Hari Ossas post about compression.

Arifah

[Steve]

Hello Arifah and welcome to songstuff! That's a sad introduction, but you'll find a warm welcome here. I hope you stay and chat so we can find out more of your husband. He sounds like an interesting chap!

I have had a quick look for Hari's post but can't seem to locate it. Here is a link to an article on compression by John Moxey, Click here. I hope you find this useful. If not, then just ask anything you like on the forum and I'm sure somebody here can help out.

[Lazz]

Hi Seraphina.

What a lovely introduction.

I would now love to hear Farlan's songs.

Welcome.

Lazz

[Rudi]

Hello Arifah,

Yes, as been said, a fine introduction. Welcome. Where are you based?

[arifah]

Thank you all for the friendly welcome. You know Steve, It's not as sad as it might seem. We had a fantastic life together. I met Farlan when I first left home age 17. We were friends for 9 years before we became husband and wife, so he was there for all of my adult life. Everything good that happened to me happened because of Farlan and everything bad happened when he wasn't there. He gave life his all, gave his family his all and gave his music his all. He was an end of the roader, and when his personal road ended, he embraced it with the same tremendous spirit that had forged and enriched our family life for 16 years.

58 may seem like a young age to leave this world, but when you've lived as Farlan did, wide open with great courage, always seeking new challanges, new borders within himself to cross, and impacting so positively and profoundly on those who loved him, then 58 years of Farlan's life seems more like 158.

And of course the spirit of Farlan is still very much here within his music. Listening to him sing continues to fill me with inspiration and optimism. When life deals another rock, another hard place, another untennable position, listening to Farlan will often help me find the way foward - just as he did so often when he was alive.

Life threw Farlan a lot of curved and very dodgy balls. But he met everything with an uncompromising and indomitable will, a great sense of humour and an enormous capacity for love. These things, along with his kindness, his understanding of life, with all its struggles and imperfections, are still there. Still reachable within his music, which more than anything else that he did, contains the spirit and the essence of Farlan.

So it's not really a sadness that a life like Farlan's ended so soon. Looking back we can see that it could be no other way. He burned bright and he burned fast and his light continues to shine in the wonderful work that he left behind.

Arifah

[Karen]

Hello Arifah. Lovely intro. I am also new to songstuff and am slowly finding my way around. I hope you enjoy the site.

karen

[nigel lawry]

hi seraphina,

another warm welcome to you

[Nightwolf]

Welcome to SongStuff

[saran]

Hello Arifah,

I've not been here long but it's a great place to be and I love it, I hope you will too! Welcome!

[Hope4Peace]

Hey there, Arifah Welcome to Songstuff! Thanks for Introducing yourself and your husband. I hope youve found whatever it was you needed. If not, feel free to ask for help, someone will surely be able to help you.

Anyways, take care and enjoy your stay

Peace and Love,

Amanda Hope

[arifah]

Thank you for more warm welcomes.

To answer Rudi's question I'm based in Norwich now, though I'm from Glasgow originally, same as you Karen. I left Glasgow when I was 18 and haven't been there now for well over 20 years. I should think it's changed quite a bit since I was last there. I read in your profile, Karen that you are art and craft based and only recently come to music. That's a very exciting stage to be at. I came to Art when I was 23 from a point of absolute zero. No training, no preconceptions. It's a great place to be. Not knowing the rules, you don't need to pluck up the courage to break them and therein lies freedom and the chance to find something new and different.

Do you have a website for your work? I always enjoy looking at other peoples Art and it sounds like you have quite a range.

A forum question: Is it possible to change my user name? I'd like to use my own name rather than Seraphina but I can't figure out how to change it.

arifah

[john]

You can't change it yourself until you've made a certain level of posts, but I will happily change it for you if you want? What would you like your name changed to?

Your log in name will stay the same, only your display name will change.

Cheers

John

[Steve]

A forum question: Is it possible to change my user name? I'd like to use my own name rather than Seraphina but I can't figure out how to change it.

arifah

Your wish is our command!

[Nightwolf]

Definetly an interesting bio you have on that sie. I was sad to come to the end of it as I wanted more

[arifah]

Hello Nightwolf,

I'm glad you enjoyed my biography. And it was nice of you to tell me. If people were as keen to tell you positive things as they are negative I would have a very healthy ego by now. If people knew how far an appreciative comment could go they'd do it more often.

Farlan once made a tape for a friend and sent it off. We waited a few weeks for a response. The weeks turned into months and - nothing! We didn't know if he loved it, liked it or ever listened to it. There was just silence. One day, several years later our friend happened to mention in passing that he couldn't drive while listening to Farlans music as it altered his state in such a way that he couldn't focus on his driving properly. It was belated and a little crab wise - but it was a positive reaction.

I hope to add the next part of my biography soon. After I wrote the first part, the act of writing it and making it public brought about a great deal of inner change which is just starting to level off, so I feel that I'll be able to write the next part very soon.

Best Wishes

Arifah

[David Allen]

Welcome aboard Arifah! After the Mrs. goes to the barn later on this evening I'll finally have a chance to listen to some of Farlan's music. The biography was both humbling and inspiring. I hope Lisa takes this much care and consideration of my work when I'm gone as you do with Farlans. Dave

[arifah]

Hello Dave,

You said some very nice things about my biography. It is lovely to have such a warm and open response, thank you.

it wasn't entirely my will to be so open and so public, but that was the direction the river was flowing, and if there's one thing I've learned it's not to fight the river, you just end up bedraggled and half drowned on the river bank, going nowhere. Even if the river is flowing somewhere unknown and scary it's still best to flow along with it. You can shut your eyes and scream if you have to, just so long as you don't stop moving.

I hope that you will find Farlan's music uplifting. He was a wonderful man with a lot to give, and so much of what he had to give is in his music.

Arifah

[john]

Hey

I've moved the compression/EQ discussion here:

http://forums.songstuff.com/index.php?showtopic=8229

Cheers

John