When rain pauses time

Parma, on an afternoon slowly yielding to evening.

Soft lights glow behind windows as the first raindrops slide across glass and thoughts alike. The rain isn’t heavy yet, but steady enough to blur the outlines, to turn every reflection into a liquid caress.

The main street is preparing for silence.

[photo dated 2025-04-17]

Someone quickens their pace, someone else lingers under a doorway, as if this stretched-out moment were a chance to see things differently. The sound of closing shutters blends with uncertain footsteps on the damp stones.

In this suspended moment, where everything seems to whisper, the city offers itself to the gaze.

And it is beautiful like this - wet and imperfect, with its heart still glowing behind each light that stays on just a little longer.

Released on January 26, 2004, as part of the album “Immortal Memory”, “Elegy” was born from the meeting of two kindred artists: Lisa Gerrard, the haunting voice of “Dead Can Dance”, and Irish composer Patrick Cassidy, known for his spiritually charged orchestral work.

Their collaboration began in Los Angeles around the time of “Gladiator”’s soundtrack, and eventually found its way into Gerrard’s home studio in Australia.

The piece unfolds through a minimalist structure: sparse piano, gentle orchestral textures, and Gerrard’s wordless voice, sung in a personal, invented language that echoes ancient chants.

The result is a timeless, suspended sonic experience, gently pulling the listener into an introspective space.

In an interview, Gerrard described her music as “a sanctuary” - a place where comfort is found in the human voice, the most primal of instruments.

In “Elegy”, every note seems to rise from silence and return to it, like the rain falling over Parma as evening quietly settles in.