![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Meta café: The Story of One Sky
If you wonder where I have been for the past week+, I have been living inside this work of art. And I’m not likely to emerge anytime soon.
A bit of context: Dimash has, over the past few years, occasionally said: ‘You’ve seen nothing yet’ — which seemed maybe… a little odd? Like, he’s already a crazy impossibly talented singer, singing and composing in multiple genres and languages, what more could he do?
The answer: This. Which is… literally on a whole other level. So much more than ‘just’ music, even if the music on its own is quite extra-ordinary. It might best be described as mastering his tools (all of his musical training since age 5, his voice/vocal register, his talents, his influence, his fame and reach), and now putting them to use for a greater purpose. He has apparently been working on this for 3 years, and it shows in the incredible attention to detail.
You know when you find something that is All The Things? Music, story, meaning, symbolism, layers, relevance; something emotionally devastating and yet uplifting? Something that means something, something that is created specifically to make a difference. Something with a message.
This is one of those things. And how. I can’t even begin to explain, just watch (it’s not even 14 minutes long). Although here is the summary from the CPI Film Festival, where it will premiere on the international film scene on 7 March 2023:
Two friends face off in a bloody war. People of all faiths join together to save the Earth from death and help the coming of a new Messiah.
Blurb from youtube:
DimashAli Creative Center presents the new video “The Story of One Sky”
DimashAli Director - Kanat Aitbayev
Music - Dimash Qudaibergen
Lyrics - Liliya Vinogradova
Directed by - Alina Veripia
Script - Dimash Qudaibergen
On September 23, on the solo concert of Dimash in Almaty we saw the premiere of his song "The Story of One Sky". On September 24, at the artist's fan meeting, the audience saw the clip of this composition for the first time.
Dimash Qudaibergen’s 12-minute work is dedicated to the unity of people on our planet. We are all divided into races, nations and religions, but we are all children of one planet and live under one sky. Life is the highest value.
No sacred book calls for the destruction of people. We must learn to be friends; it is impossible for a few adults to cause millions of children to suffer. The future of our planet, the future of people is in our hands, let there be peace in the world.
We are children of one Home, one Earth and one Heaven
Subtitles on — his English is much improved, but his pronunciation is still only about 80% I’d say. Plus there is just so much going on.
Also I feel that I ought to maybe put some sort of trigger warning here, but I’m not sure how to word it. Maybe the best description is that it’s a work that looks into darkness in order to reject it. Or as Dimash said — it features war, but it is about peace.
(If you want the song, you can find it on Spotify, iTunes etc. This post focuses mostly on all the imagery/meta, which neglects to talk about how incredibly beautiful and accomplished the music is.)
SO MUCH under the cut omg, I hereby declare the meta café open once more! \o/
Requiem: The Story of One Sky
I say this is a meta café post — which it is — but for once I am mostly quoting other people, since the Dears are the most amazing and resourceful people in existence, always busy analysing and wanting to understand every tiny detail. As always I’ll do subheadings. :)
(Dimash fans are called ‘Dears’. He named them that because they are as dear to him as his own family. Yes, it’s too adorable for words. ♥)
Although before I start digging into analysing the video, I want to point something out: the story of the video isn’t the message — the story is there to help convey the message, because we latch onto stories. So it’s important to look at what the story says (especially since it was written by Dimash himself), but ultimately the story isn’t the point.
I’m reminded of a little cartoon strip with a man pointing to the moon saying ‘Look, the moon!’ and another person replying: ‘That’s not the moon, that’s a finger.’ The story is important, the symbols are important, but don’t forget that they are not the thing in itself. See what they point to.
Sidebar: I cannot possibly convey to you the joy of having something like this — I love all my TV shows dearly, but at the end of the day their purpose is usually entertainment, not to convey a message. Of course there are exceptions and they are usually incredible; off the top of my head, for music/video I’d mention ‘This is America’ by Childish Gambino, for tv ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’ and for writing ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ by Ursula K. Le Guin. I’m sure everyone can add to this list.
Anyway, I have structured this post so that I delve into All The Things and then come back round to the message at the end.
The Story
Firstly this article from Dimash News where the director, Alina Veripa, talks about the creation of the music video for the new song and explains about the storyline/ideas:
The Story of One Sky: A new composition by Dimash Qudaibergen
Please read, the video is RATHER dense, and the way it jumps in place and time is not easy to follow. (It could have been made/written by an INFJ considering the sheer amount of story/symbolism crammed in, which I say with utter love and admiration, but it needs a bit of decoding.)
ETA: And here is a wonderful deep dive into the video by film maker and actor Cedric Gegel. He also spoke with the cinematographer for the video, and relays parts of their conversation.
Secondly this reaction, which is less of a ‘reaction’ and more of a spontaneous video essay:
Fable: WE LIVE & DIE FOR SYMBOLS!! Dimash Kudaibergen - The Story of One Sky (REACTION)
Digs into the imagery/symbolism as well as the ideas/message and the general state of the world. Long, but incredibly rewarding. Perfect illustration of how powerful the video is.
Thirdly, then this is not an unexpected direction for Dimash. Here is an instagram post from 27 January which has stuck with me. The post itself is in Russian, but with the help of google translate and a bit of smoothing out, here it is in English:
Photo of the planet Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance, showing it against the backdrop of space.
The tiny dot in the middle of the brownish band on the right is the Earth from a distance of 6 billion kilometres. This is our house. A house where there are constant quarrels and misunderstandings amongst the people who live there.
A place where large countries are fighting among themselves, led by people who imagine themselves to be practically gods, believing they have the right to say which people can continue to exist, and which should disappear from the face of the earth.
They impose on people, saying: these people are good, and those people are bad, or they divide people into races. In fact, there is no bad nation, there are just bad people everywhere.
Sometimes it seems to me that we adults should take an example from children. Yes, children!
After all, they do not even think of dividing people into nations, into races, they are born pure and friendly.
Nowhere has it been that millions of adults suffer because of children, but millions of other people, including children, suffer because of a couple of adults.
Dear initiators of war and the slaves of billions of blood money interested in this, look at this photo and think about what your real greatness is before the Almighty.
Or watch his song 'War and Peace', another one of his own compositions.
I am sure you can easily see all these thoughts reflected in this video.
ETA:
Fourthly, this reaction/vocal analysis, for those interested in what he is doing with his voice in the song. (Very emotional reaction.)
Vocal Coach Reacts to DIMASH - The Story Of One Sky (ft. technique analysis & emotional breakdown
Also a reaction from a former soldier:
Director Reacts - Dimash - 'The Story of One Sky' | A Military Perspective
Insights/observations/thoughts/meta by Dears
So, the meta. As I say above, the Dears are amazing. I’ll start with this incredibly long comment from Baraka Bashad, which delves into a lot of the imagery and the symbolism and what it all means. I’ll add my own comments in italics, jumping off their thoughts. (I’m not saying I necessarily agree with everything they’re saying, but I don’t want to censor their analysis.)
Baraka Bashad (delving into allll the things):
This is subtitled "Requiem” but it is also a vision and a call to action. Dimash is steeped in sacred music and has a deep understanding of the mystic teachings and symbolism of the major world religions as well as Kazakh shamanism.
I’m not knowledgeable enough about music to offer any insights, but there is a lot of sacred/religious music in the composition. Not least the mournful Turkic lament for the dead (google “ağıt”), starting at 7 minutes in, although I believe Dimash has adapted it, the way he does most music he uses.
Everything Dimash does is intentional, and this piece has layers that would take a dissertation to unravel. I only touch on some of what struck me. The pendant is an interesting element. It is a gnomon from a maritime compass sundial. This triangular blade is attached to the sundial, casting a shadow on the sundial while the perforated pinhole projects the image of the sun onto the dial. It was used for both timekeeping and navigation, with the gnomon oriented to True North. In the MV, the child who later becomes the military commander never puts on the necklace. After Dimash, the boy, gives his friend the pendant, the camera focuses on his hand and shows that his friend has bent the gnomon in anger over being rejected by the girl. Thus bent, it can never be oriented to True North, and he has lost his moral compass. (Thank you, Snarky Tart for that information). Later, we see a version of the gnomon, but distorted and without the hole that allows light to shine through, as the military insignia on the uniforms of the commander and his soldiers.
Ye gods, the symbolism! *waves hands* Although only on later viewings did I pick up properly on the drama in the background — our little protagonist is busy looking for something to symbolise their shared friendship, but the older boy and the girl obviously have some sort of falling out, leading to the boy walking off in a sulk. I’m not sure the older boy actually bends the gnomon, but the fact that he never wears it is definitely a point, as is the distortion — a symbol of friendship and gratitude for saving a life, changed into an emblem of war and destruction. I feel this also speaks to the way religious symbols are used and abused.
Sidebar: All the props to Dimash for the screenplay, it’s captivating from the moment go. Every reaction I’ve seen, the viewers are immediately invested in the children and whether our little protagonist will survive.
Contemporary music is also present: With the phrase "We have passed the moment of Imagine," Dimash reminds us that we are past the sentiments evoked by the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. It is time to stop dreaming about a world of peace and harmony. If we choose life, if we wish for peace, if we want a world without war for our children and grandchildren, we must act and take up the long hard path up the mountain towards the light. It is the only way. The storyline is a very human one: we start as innocents until our hearts are broken, we fail, or our dreams are not realized. If in our pain and disappointment, we turn to anger and blame instead of acceptance, power instead of love, greed and envy instead of generosity, hatred instead of forgiveness, and revenge instead of justice, we sow the seeds for conflicts that can turn into war.
I was especially struck by the ‘Imagine’ line. ‘Imagine’ is an iconic song (and rightly so!) but was very much of its time (they really did believe that they could change the world…), however I think there is also something to delve into regarding how to save the world, and the differing perspectives of someone Western (specifically British, carrying the heavy legacy of Empire and colonisation), and someone from a post-Soviet country who has only had independence for 30 years…
Dimash’s message is don’t erase the differences, but learn to live together.
The Piper's call is seductive as it promises redress for our grievances, control over our circumstances, and power over those who thwarted us, and this appeals to our wounded ego. However, let's remember that the Piper is a symbolic figure of Death from the Middle Ages, often used as a metaphor for trusting and following charismatic but dangerous and malevolent leaders to certain death. Even if we resist, as the adult Dimash character does, we often employ the same methods and weaponry as the Piper, and thus those who fight back betray peace as well because peace cannot be won through violence. That is the dilemma of those of us who did not start the war, who do not support the war, but are forced to respond in order to defend ourselves and those we love. How can we rid the world of evil without becoming what we fight against?
This work is not specifically about Ukraine, what with Dimash working on it for three years, but it definitely feels prescient. How can we fight against evil without becoming that which we fight?
Sidebar: Russia is one of Dimash’s biggest markets, I can’t imagine he won’t get blacklisted now. Mind you, I don’t think that matters to him; his convictions, his belief, is/are what drives him. And he trusts that he has been given his gifts for a reason.
It also shows what an artist can do they are free to do whatever they want — he is not signed up to any record company or tied into any contracts. (More in this video.)
The burning sign "Waldenberg" is a reference to the end of WWII when the US Army destroyed the last of the resistance by the German Wehrmacht to end the war in April 1945. As a native German, I have seen the aftermath of war as I was born a few years later when much of Germany was still in rubble. Waldenburg is only 28 miles from my hometown and was completely destroyed as you can see from the picture. Many of the dead in those bombed out buildings were women and children. The good guys defeated evil but at what price? (Link)
This gives me chills. It’s Good Omens levels of ‘Everything is meant’, and then some. What a place/moment to evoke.
The imagery of the denouement is powerful: The cries over the loss of a beloved child and the cries of his wife giving birth to new life are presented as a call-and-response grounded by a powerful Om chant that creates a sacred space, reminding us that death and life are both sacraments and are interwoven.
I feel this is also an explicit visual reference back to these lines from the beginning of the song:
Billions of hearts
Should never turn to senseless horror
So, tears and blood
Won’t follow death
They should flow
With tears of Life
With blood of birth, they flow
Here we have both — tears and blood following death and flowing from a birth. A juxtaposition in the narrative to highlight how war destroys and creates only grief, not life.
Dimash's vocalization and the pilgrims representing world religions and religious leaders, past and present, walking together shift the narrative toward the final conflict and finally redemption.
There is something interesting in the fact that all the pilgrims appear to be men; as are all the soldiers — I think it’s a deliberate choice to latch onto male/female symbolism. Now, obviously this doesn’t mean that women can’t do terrible things, but symbolically the men wage war (death) and the women give birth (life). All-the-women-are-one-woman; the innocent child who becomes the mother, and her daughter, the victim. And then she brings forth new life again, after it has been destroyed. Whereas even the protagonist is caught in the cycle of violence and it’s his son who breaks the cycle and joins the men who have to climb the mountain and seek redemption. A man started the cycle, a man has to break it. However since Dimash plays both father and son, it can definitely be read as all-the-men-are-one-man, and he needs to make a choice. (A whole separate essay could probably be written about destroying the Patriarchy, but how it needs destroying from the inside.)
When Dimash’s character decides to revenge the murder of his daughter, his state of consciousness is reflected in the darkening sky with lightning bolts of anger accompanying the storm of his emotions that buffet the pilgrims. The fog of war obscures the light. When he is killed after exacting retribution, he is dropped back into the "sacred womb" of Earth, the ocean of love and mercy, and is cleansed of the old hatreds and grievances that only bring more death and suffering. He breaks the wheel of endless war and suffering by choosing life. Dimash's scream of “we’re choosing life” is that of giving birth: the old earthly consciousness of an eye for an eye has to die to make way for a new spiritual consciousness that embraces all life. Soul is breaking free to return to its natural state of love and purity.
The water. I love it too much for words and wish my meta writing wasn’t so rusty. But never say never, I may yet write an essay going through the whole vide frame by frame, the way I used to.
The blowing of the shofar signals God's mercy for humankind when it turns from wrong to right: in the Zohar, the book of Jewish mysticism, it says: “When human beings repent of their sins, they blow the shofar on earth. Its sound ascends On High and awakens the heavenly shofar, and so mercy is aroused and judgment is removed.”
Reborn as a leader for peace and love, Dimash's character in the form of his son becomes a guide for all of mankind on our shared journey up the mountain towards the light of God, however we may interpret or name the divine. We are all on the same path, even if our personal narratives, cultural heritage, and spiritual orientations are very different from one another. By focusing on our common destination rather than on our differences, we can walk together in peace and love and mutual respect.
Carl Jung wrote: “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
This is what Dimash has done with this work; he has made the darkness conscious. We can only raise our individual and collective consciousness by bringing to light what needs to be healed in our lives and our world, and then we need to work together to restore wholeness to what is broken and bring about peace and unity, one step at a time.
We don’t have to wait. We can start right now. As the hymn tells us: "Let there peace in the world, and let it begin with me." -Baraka Bashad
~
Loveyoutube (on the growly words that are spoken when the protagonist discovers his dead daughter)
Translation for the growl words he says while his character hugs his daughter that died : it’s in kazakh, and the words I believe they are : "Adam kerve ömir şol” - "The life of Man (Adam) is like this" (behold the life of Man ; such is Man`s life ; full of pain ; this is what man is capable of, making his life full of pain, with no winners and losers ; everybody loses when love is gone and we turn to war)
And a later addition to the thread:
The ultimate meaning is similar - "The life of man is like this" while showing the pain of war and the danger of wrong choices (Adam kerve ömir şol) --- and "Life is a long and dangerous trip, one must be careful" (Adam kerwen ömir zhol), again, in the midst of war and the consequences of wrong choices, and on the verge of the troublesome choice of revenge.
~
Most expensive video:
Dimash posted a teaser for the video on his instagram on September 11 (it has the whole speech that the Leader delivers), starting with these words:
“The Story of One Sky": A teaser of Dimash's new music video has been released. On September 24, at a fan meeting of Dimash Qudaibergen with fans in Almaty, the premiere of the most expensive music video in the world "The Story of One Sky" will take place.
Becky Nicholas (commenting on the word ‘expensive’):
Dimash actually corrected the word "expensive" to "valuable". Translations from other languages to English are often incorrect. Dimash himself is very private in regards to his charities, donations and $ in general. Dimash has been very anti war and a huge humanitarian for peace his whole life but as he's matured its become so very important he share that in his art and his heart is breaking with the state of the world. He puts full value in life of all nationalities, cultures, religions - none of that matters to him. Life is equal and to be valued
~
All of these comments were from the comment section of this video by Cedric Gegel: Actor and Filmmaker REACTION and ANALYSIS - DIMASH "THE STORY OF ONE SKY" FILM — which is well worth watching, he analyses a lot of the cinematography and is generally a great reactor (and person).
The premiere at the concert
On the 23rd of September, Dimash held a huge concert in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he (amongst other things) performed The Story of One Sky for the first time for a large audience/his fans.
This is probably the best fancam recording I have come across:
However I will also embed this video. It’s not quite as good quality-wise, but here you can see the video that plays on the screens behind him [more or less throughout]:
The interesting thing is that the actual MV wasn’t shown until the following day (at a big fan meet), so this video contains none of the actual storyline elements. It has extended footage of the pilgrims, and it has Dimash singing on top big cliffs (in fairly standard music video style) — but at towards the end (from around 8 minutes in, during the last ‘verse) the video switches to [harrowing] black and white war footage for about 30 seconds.
ETA: Adding a transcript of the speech (translated) that he did before performing:
"Many thanks dear friends, before I perform the next song, let me say a few words. Thank you very much.
We, the people sitting in this stadium, each of us is different, not totally alike one another, but we are all God's children, each of us with different talents.
And, as I mentioned just now, right now is a bad time. In fact, I am not satisfied with the present situation.
I have not seen how such situations evolved in the past, therefore I don't know what will happen next.
But many people are suffering today because of a few individuals, it's really true.
We, we the adults, consider ourselves to be "smarter" than the small children and innocents, but while we do our best to teach and educate our children,
we forget that we also have some things to learn from those children.
They are pure-hearted, kind, friendly, untainted and without egos and their love for people are pure. Young children have such qualities.
I started writing this song I'm about to perform, three years ago.
Generally speaking, my main purpose in writing this work is to call for peace in the world.
It's a small composition that has burst out from deep within my heart.
To tell you truth, many thanks to god and with your wishes I traveled to many parts of the world and met many different people during my tours.
One thing I understood is that if you look at ordinary people, there is no such thing as a bad nationality, there is no bad nationality!
I don't need to tell you what you already know about the reason for mentioning the topic of nationality here...
Let there be peace in the world, Let there be peace. Let there be no war.
Let no people, let no nationality, let no country suffer!
Because after all, ordinary individuals, ordinary people are not at fault.
The truth of the matter is, no ordinary person is guilty of starting a war!
That's why the next song I'll be performing in your honor is about our common fate under one sky, it's called "The Story of One Sky".
Hope you like it.
I think the performance is best summed up by this Dear:
Divina Albay
I don't remember a moment that I did not cry while watching this. It's profound. Makes you speechless just feeling. I never thought that this will be something that could topnotch this. But yes, dimash outdid himself in his concert in Almaty. He sung as if it's the last song he did. He was pounding fist on the floor jumping for dear freedom.... it's indescribably beautiful. He left his heart in that stage. Watch it.
The Message
However, the Almaty concert wasn’t the very first performance. That took place during The Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan (the Kazakh capital), 14-15 September. (This has been held in Kazakhstan every 3 years since 2003. I keep learning new things! Fandom — any fandom — is a whole education in itself.)
Yet another fancam video below:
Interestingly, this is a third version of the video. Again, none of the story of the official MV and here there are no war scenes at the end. Instead (added to the footage of the pilgrims intercut with Dimash singing) there are clips of various religions from around the world: pilgrims in Mecca, Jews at the Wailing Wall, Buddhist monks, a church, a baptism…
(Sidebar: For those who don’t know, Dimash is devout Muslim and takes his faith in God very seriously. In the summer he took both his grandmothers to Mecca.)
Thoughts on the Pilgrims
Let me briefly dig into the video from a different perspective, because the pilgrims interest me. They are the only characters who feature in every version of the video, almost unchanged. And they exist in a time and space away from everything else. Within the story of the MV they are from the future, although Fable (in his analysis) speculated that they were from the past, which I also liked.
Mostly I like to think of them as somehow out of time — Eternal Pilgrims, symbols of those who have always, since the beginning, gone searching for truth and the divine rather than power and wealth. All different faiths and cultures and beliefs, walking together up the steep, hard mountain side by side.
Now we can’t all set off on bare feet to Jerusalem or Rome or Mecca or [insert holy place of your choice], however we can turn away from the metaphorical war raging all around and instead focus on the harder road; one that will lead to a better place by far.
This isn’t just a religious point. The protagonist in the MV — ravaged by grief and anger — goes to revenge his daughter, sacrificing himself in the process, and it’s a very understandable impulse. However in doing so he leaves his wife a widow and his unborn son without a father. (How can we fight without becoming that which we fight against…)
I will probably end up writing ‘proper’ meta on this later, and this point of the video will definitely feature: Showing the wrong approach, and then a better one. Be a pilgrim, not a soldier.
~
Back to the Congress! Now Dimash didn’t just perform the song, he also met the Pope and the Supreme Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayeb, both of whom I believe were in the audience, watching.
I don’t think the timing was serendipity, or just a chance opportunity — I think it was carefully planned. You see, the written statement at the end of the video, the message that is the point of the whole thing, is directly lifted from “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed jointly on February 4, 2019, by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad el-Tayeb. The whole document is worth reading. I think everyone will agree with the overall points, even if they skip the parts about faith.
Dialogue, understanding and the widespread promotion of a culture of tolerance, acceptance of others and of living together peacefully would contribute significantly to reducing many economic, social, political and environmental problems that weigh so heavily on a large part of humanity.
~o~
Other links:
The Story of One Sky - Digital Booklet Information Portal
Beautifully produced and puts the work in the context of Dimash's life and other work.
And Dimash playing The Story of One Sky on piano:
ETA:
A music video using The Story of One Sky.
'Soul of Humanity' by Dimashzone (ENG/ESP SUBS)
This video is inspired by Dimash's newest song "The Story of One Sky." By now, it is well known how Dimash feels about the subject of war and the collateral damage that the innocent humans, especially children, are subjected to as a result of global conflict.
The storyline in this video, although fictional, shows that humans have an inexhaustible capacity for good will and that they can share in a common struggle and help one another overcome adversity. I hope you will find this fan-made video worthy of your time and worthy of Dimash's message of peace.
Dimash Masterpost
A bit of context: Dimash has, over the past few years, occasionally said: ‘You’ve seen nothing yet’ — which seemed maybe… a little odd? Like, he’s already a crazy impossibly talented singer, singing and composing in multiple genres and languages, what more could he do?
The answer: This. Which is… literally on a whole other level. So much more than ‘just’ music, even if the music on its own is quite extra-ordinary. It might best be described as mastering his tools (all of his musical training since age 5, his voice/vocal register, his talents, his influence, his fame and reach), and now putting them to use for a greater purpose. He has apparently been working on this for 3 years, and it shows in the incredible attention to detail.
You know when you find something that is All The Things? Music, story, meaning, symbolism, layers, relevance; something emotionally devastating and yet uplifting? Something that means something, something that is created specifically to make a difference. Something with a message.
This is one of those things. And how. I can’t even begin to explain, just watch (it’s not even 14 minutes long). Although here is the summary from the CPI Film Festival, where it will premiere on the international film scene on 7 March 2023:
Two friends face off in a bloody war. People of all faiths join together to save the Earth from death and help the coming of a new Messiah.
Blurb from youtube:
DimashAli Creative Center presents the new video “The Story of One Sky”
DimashAli Director - Kanat Aitbayev
Music - Dimash Qudaibergen
Lyrics - Liliya Vinogradova
Directed by - Alina Veripia
Script - Dimash Qudaibergen
On September 23, on the solo concert of Dimash in Almaty we saw the premiere of his song "The Story of One Sky". On September 24, at the artist's fan meeting, the audience saw the clip of this composition for the first time.
Dimash Qudaibergen’s 12-minute work is dedicated to the unity of people on our planet. We are all divided into races, nations and religions, but we are all children of one planet and live under one sky. Life is the highest value.
No sacred book calls for the destruction of people. We must learn to be friends; it is impossible for a few adults to cause millions of children to suffer. The future of our planet, the future of people is in our hands, let there be peace in the world.
We are children of one Home, one Earth and one Heaven
Subtitles on — his English is much improved, but his pronunciation is still only about 80% I’d say. Plus there is just so much going on.
Also I feel that I ought to maybe put some sort of trigger warning here, but I’m not sure how to word it. Maybe the best description is that it’s a work that looks into darkness in order to reject it. Or as Dimash said — it features war, but it is about peace.
(If you want the song, you can find it on Spotify, iTunes etc. This post focuses mostly on all the imagery/meta, which neglects to talk about how incredibly beautiful and accomplished the music is.)
SO MUCH under the cut omg, I hereby declare the meta café open once more! \o/
I say this is a meta café post — which it is — but for once I am mostly quoting other people, since the Dears are the most amazing and resourceful people in existence, always busy analysing and wanting to understand every tiny detail. As always I’ll do subheadings. :)
(Dimash fans are called ‘Dears’. He named them that because they are as dear to him as his own family. Yes, it’s too adorable for words. ♥)
Although before I start digging into analysing the video, I want to point something out: the story of the video isn’t the message — the story is there to help convey the message, because we latch onto stories. So it’s important to look at what the story says (especially since it was written by Dimash himself), but ultimately the story isn’t the point.
I’m reminded of a little cartoon strip with a man pointing to the moon saying ‘Look, the moon!’ and another person replying: ‘That’s not the moon, that’s a finger.’ The story is important, the symbols are important, but don’t forget that they are not the thing in itself. See what they point to.
Sidebar: I cannot possibly convey to you the joy of having something like this — I love all my TV shows dearly, but at the end of the day their purpose is usually entertainment, not to convey a message. Of course there are exceptions and they are usually incredible; off the top of my head, for music/video I’d mention ‘This is America’ by Childish Gambino, for tv ‘Torchwood: Children of Earth’ and for writing ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas’ by Ursula K. Le Guin. I’m sure everyone can add to this list.
Anyway, I have structured this post so that I delve into All The Things and then come back round to the message at the end.
Firstly this article from Dimash News where the director, Alina Veripa, talks about the creation of the music video for the new song and explains about the storyline/ideas:
The Story of One Sky: A new composition by Dimash Qudaibergen
Please read, the video is RATHER dense, and the way it jumps in place and time is not easy to follow. (It could have been made/written by an INFJ considering the sheer amount of story/symbolism crammed in, which I say with utter love and admiration, but it needs a bit of decoding.)
ETA: And here is a wonderful deep dive into the video by film maker and actor Cedric Gegel. He also spoke with the cinematographer for the video, and relays parts of their conversation.
Secondly this reaction, which is less of a ‘reaction’ and more of a spontaneous video essay:
Fable: WE LIVE & DIE FOR SYMBOLS!! Dimash Kudaibergen - The Story of One Sky (REACTION)
Digs into the imagery/symbolism as well as the ideas/message and the general state of the world. Long, but incredibly rewarding. Perfect illustration of how powerful the video is.
Thirdly, then this is not an unexpected direction for Dimash. Here is an instagram post from 27 January which has stuck with me. The post itself is in Russian, but with the help of google translate and a bit of smoothing out, here it is in English:
Photo of the planet Earth taken by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance, showing it against the backdrop of space.
The tiny dot in the middle of the brownish band on the right is the Earth from a distance of 6 billion kilometres. This is our house. A house where there are constant quarrels and misunderstandings amongst the people who live there.
A place where large countries are fighting among themselves, led by people who imagine themselves to be practically gods, believing they have the right to say which people can continue to exist, and which should disappear from the face of the earth.
They impose on people, saying: these people are good, and those people are bad, or they divide people into races. In fact, there is no bad nation, there are just bad people everywhere.
Sometimes it seems to me that we adults should take an example from children. Yes, children!
After all, they do not even think of dividing people into nations, into races, they are born pure and friendly.
Nowhere has it been that millions of adults suffer because of children, but millions of other people, including children, suffer because of a couple of adults.
Dear initiators of war and the slaves of billions of blood money interested in this, look at this photo and think about what your real greatness is before the Almighty.
Or watch his song 'War and Peace', another one of his own compositions.
I am sure you can easily see all these thoughts reflected in this video.
ETA:
Fourthly, this reaction/vocal analysis, for those interested in what he is doing with his voice in the song. (Very emotional reaction.)
Vocal Coach Reacts to DIMASH - The Story Of One Sky (ft. technique analysis & emotional breakdown
Also a reaction from a former soldier:
Director Reacts - Dimash - 'The Story of One Sky' | A Military Perspective
So, the meta. As I say above, the Dears are amazing. I’ll start with this incredibly long comment from Baraka Bashad, which delves into a lot of the imagery and the symbolism and what it all means. I’ll add my own comments in italics, jumping off their thoughts. (I’m not saying I necessarily agree with everything they’re saying, but I don’t want to censor their analysis.)
Baraka Bashad (delving into allll the things):
This is subtitled "Requiem” but it is also a vision and a call to action. Dimash is steeped in sacred music and has a deep understanding of the mystic teachings and symbolism of the major world religions as well as Kazakh shamanism.
I’m not knowledgeable enough about music to offer any insights, but there is a lot of sacred/religious music in the composition. Not least the mournful Turkic lament for the dead (google “ağıt”), starting at 7 minutes in, although I believe Dimash has adapted it, the way he does most music he uses.
Everything Dimash does is intentional, and this piece has layers that would take a dissertation to unravel. I only touch on some of what struck me. The pendant is an interesting element. It is a gnomon from a maritime compass sundial. This triangular blade is attached to the sundial, casting a shadow on the sundial while the perforated pinhole projects the image of the sun onto the dial. It was used for both timekeeping and navigation, with the gnomon oriented to True North. In the MV, the child who later becomes the military commander never puts on the necklace. After Dimash, the boy, gives his friend the pendant, the camera focuses on his hand and shows that his friend has bent the gnomon in anger over being rejected by the girl. Thus bent, it can never be oriented to True North, and he has lost his moral compass. (Thank you, Snarky Tart for that information). Later, we see a version of the gnomon, but distorted and without the hole that allows light to shine through, as the military insignia on the uniforms of the commander and his soldiers.
Ye gods, the symbolism! *waves hands* Although only on later viewings did I pick up properly on the drama in the background — our little protagonist is busy looking for something to symbolise their shared friendship, but the older boy and the girl obviously have some sort of falling out, leading to the boy walking off in a sulk. I’m not sure the older boy actually bends the gnomon, but the fact that he never wears it is definitely a point, as is the distortion — a symbol of friendship and gratitude for saving a life, changed into an emblem of war and destruction. I feel this also speaks to the way religious symbols are used and abused.
Sidebar: All the props to Dimash for the screenplay, it’s captivating from the moment go. Every reaction I’ve seen, the viewers are immediately invested in the children and whether our little protagonist will survive.
Contemporary music is also present: With the phrase "We have passed the moment of Imagine," Dimash reminds us that we are past the sentiments evoked by the song "Imagine" by John Lennon. It is time to stop dreaming about a world of peace and harmony. If we choose life, if we wish for peace, if we want a world without war for our children and grandchildren, we must act and take up the long hard path up the mountain towards the light. It is the only way. The storyline is a very human one: we start as innocents until our hearts are broken, we fail, or our dreams are not realized. If in our pain and disappointment, we turn to anger and blame instead of acceptance, power instead of love, greed and envy instead of generosity, hatred instead of forgiveness, and revenge instead of justice, we sow the seeds for conflicts that can turn into war.
I was especially struck by the ‘Imagine’ line. ‘Imagine’ is an iconic song (and rightly so!) but was very much of its time (they really did believe that they could change the world…), however I think there is also something to delve into regarding how to save the world, and the differing perspectives of someone Western (specifically British, carrying the heavy legacy of Empire and colonisation), and someone from a post-Soviet country who has only had independence for 30 years…
Dimash’s message is don’t erase the differences, but learn to live together.
The Piper's call is seductive as it promises redress for our grievances, control over our circumstances, and power over those who thwarted us, and this appeals to our wounded ego. However, let's remember that the Piper is a symbolic figure of Death from the Middle Ages, often used as a metaphor for trusting and following charismatic but dangerous and malevolent leaders to certain death. Even if we resist, as the adult Dimash character does, we often employ the same methods and weaponry as the Piper, and thus those who fight back betray peace as well because peace cannot be won through violence. That is the dilemma of those of us who did not start the war, who do not support the war, but are forced to respond in order to defend ourselves and those we love. How can we rid the world of evil without becoming what we fight against?
This work is not specifically about Ukraine, what with Dimash working on it for three years, but it definitely feels prescient. How can we fight against evil without becoming that which we fight?
Sidebar: Russia is one of Dimash’s biggest markets, I can’t imagine he won’t get blacklisted now. Mind you, I don’t think that matters to him; his convictions, his belief, is/are what drives him. And he trusts that he has been given his gifts for a reason.
It also shows what an artist can do they are free to do whatever they want — he is not signed up to any record company or tied into any contracts. (More in this video.)
The burning sign "Waldenberg" is a reference to the end of WWII when the US Army destroyed the last of the resistance by the German Wehrmacht to end the war in April 1945. As a native German, I have seen the aftermath of war as I was born a few years later when much of Germany was still in rubble. Waldenburg is only 28 miles from my hometown and was completely destroyed as you can see from the picture. Many of the dead in those bombed out buildings were women and children. The good guys defeated evil but at what price? (Link)
This gives me chills. It’s Good Omens levels of ‘Everything is meant’, and then some. What a place/moment to evoke.
The imagery of the denouement is powerful: The cries over the loss of a beloved child and the cries of his wife giving birth to new life are presented as a call-and-response grounded by a powerful Om chant that creates a sacred space, reminding us that death and life are both sacraments and are interwoven.
I feel this is also an explicit visual reference back to these lines from the beginning of the song:
Billions of hearts
Should never turn to senseless horror
So, tears and blood
Won’t follow death
They should flow
With tears of Life
With blood of birth, they flow
Here we have both — tears and blood following death and flowing from a birth. A juxtaposition in the narrative to highlight how war destroys and creates only grief, not life.
Dimash's vocalization and the pilgrims representing world religions and religious leaders, past and present, walking together shift the narrative toward the final conflict and finally redemption.
There is something interesting in the fact that all the pilgrims appear to be men; as are all the soldiers — I think it’s a deliberate choice to latch onto male/female symbolism. Now, obviously this doesn’t mean that women can’t do terrible things, but symbolically the men wage war (death) and the women give birth (life). All-the-women-are-one-woman; the innocent child who becomes the mother, and her daughter, the victim. And then she brings forth new life again, after it has been destroyed. Whereas even the protagonist is caught in the cycle of violence and it’s his son who breaks the cycle and joins the men who have to climb the mountain and seek redemption. A man started the cycle, a man has to break it. However since Dimash plays both father and son, it can definitely be read as all-the-men-are-one-man, and he needs to make a choice. (A whole separate essay could probably be written about destroying the Patriarchy, but how it needs destroying from the inside.)
When Dimash’s character decides to revenge the murder of his daughter, his state of consciousness is reflected in the darkening sky with lightning bolts of anger accompanying the storm of his emotions that buffet the pilgrims. The fog of war obscures the light. When he is killed after exacting retribution, he is dropped back into the "sacred womb" of Earth, the ocean of love and mercy, and is cleansed of the old hatreds and grievances that only bring more death and suffering. He breaks the wheel of endless war and suffering by choosing life. Dimash's scream of “we’re choosing life” is that of giving birth: the old earthly consciousness of an eye for an eye has to die to make way for a new spiritual consciousness that embraces all life. Soul is breaking free to return to its natural state of love and purity.
The water. I love it too much for words and wish my meta writing wasn’t so rusty. But never say never, I may yet write an essay going through the whole vide frame by frame, the way I used to.
The blowing of the shofar signals God's mercy for humankind when it turns from wrong to right: in the Zohar, the book of Jewish mysticism, it says: “When human beings repent of their sins, they blow the shofar on earth. Its sound ascends On High and awakens the heavenly shofar, and so mercy is aroused and judgment is removed.”
Reborn as a leader for peace and love, Dimash's character in the form of his son becomes a guide for all of mankind on our shared journey up the mountain towards the light of God, however we may interpret or name the divine. We are all on the same path, even if our personal narratives, cultural heritage, and spiritual orientations are very different from one another. By focusing on our common destination rather than on our differences, we can walk together in peace and love and mutual respect.
Carl Jung wrote: “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely. Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
This is what Dimash has done with this work; he has made the darkness conscious. We can only raise our individual and collective consciousness by bringing to light what needs to be healed in our lives and our world, and then we need to work together to restore wholeness to what is broken and bring about peace and unity, one step at a time.
We don’t have to wait. We can start right now. As the hymn tells us: "Let there peace in the world, and let it begin with me." -Baraka Bashad
~
Loveyoutube (on the growly words that are spoken when the protagonist discovers his dead daughter)
Translation for the growl words he says while his character hugs his daughter that died : it’s in kazakh, and the words I believe they are : "Adam kerve ömir şol” - "The life of Man (Adam) is like this" (behold the life of Man ; such is Man`s life ; full of pain ; this is what man is capable of, making his life full of pain, with no winners and losers ; everybody loses when love is gone and we turn to war)
And a later addition to the thread:
The ultimate meaning is similar - "The life of man is like this" while showing the pain of war and the danger of wrong choices (Adam kerve ömir şol) --- and "Life is a long and dangerous trip, one must be careful" (Adam kerwen ömir zhol), again, in the midst of war and the consequences of wrong choices, and on the verge of the troublesome choice of revenge.
~
Most expensive video:
Dimash posted a teaser for the video on his instagram on September 11 (it has the whole speech that the Leader delivers), starting with these words:
“The Story of One Sky": A teaser of Dimash's new music video has been released. On September 24, at a fan meeting of Dimash Qudaibergen with fans in Almaty, the premiere of the most expensive music video in the world "The Story of One Sky" will take place.
Becky Nicholas (commenting on the word ‘expensive’):
Dimash actually corrected the word "expensive" to "valuable". Translations from other languages to English are often incorrect. Dimash himself is very private in regards to his charities, donations and $ in general. Dimash has been very anti war and a huge humanitarian for peace his whole life but as he's matured its become so very important he share that in his art and his heart is breaking with the state of the world. He puts full value in life of all nationalities, cultures, religions - none of that matters to him. Life is equal and to be valued
~
All of these comments were from the comment section of this video by Cedric Gegel: Actor and Filmmaker REACTION and ANALYSIS - DIMASH "THE STORY OF ONE SKY" FILM — which is well worth watching, he analyses a lot of the cinematography and is generally a great reactor (and person).
On the 23rd of September, Dimash held a huge concert in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he (amongst other things) performed The Story of One Sky for the first time for a large audience/his fans.
This is probably the best fancam recording I have come across:
However I will also embed this video. It’s not quite as good quality-wise, but here you can see the video that plays on the screens behind him [more or less throughout]:
The interesting thing is that the actual MV wasn’t shown until the following day (at a big fan meet), so this video contains none of the actual storyline elements. It has extended footage of the pilgrims, and it has Dimash singing on top big cliffs (in fairly standard music video style) — but at towards the end (from around 8 minutes in, during the last ‘verse) the video switches to [harrowing] black and white war footage for about 30 seconds.
ETA: Adding a transcript of the speech (translated) that he did before performing:
"Many thanks dear friends, before I perform the next song, let me say a few words. Thank you very much.
We, the people sitting in this stadium, each of us is different, not totally alike one another, but we are all God's children, each of us with different talents.
And, as I mentioned just now, right now is a bad time. In fact, I am not satisfied with the present situation.
I have not seen how such situations evolved in the past, therefore I don't know what will happen next.
But many people are suffering today because of a few individuals, it's really true.
We, we the adults, consider ourselves to be "smarter" than the small children and innocents, but while we do our best to teach and educate our children,
we forget that we also have some things to learn from those children.
They are pure-hearted, kind, friendly, untainted and without egos and their love for people are pure. Young children have such qualities.
I started writing this song I'm about to perform, three years ago.
Generally speaking, my main purpose in writing this work is to call for peace in the world.
It's a small composition that has burst out from deep within my heart.
To tell you truth, many thanks to god and with your wishes I traveled to many parts of the world and met many different people during my tours.
One thing I understood is that if you look at ordinary people, there is no such thing as a bad nationality, there is no bad nationality!
I don't need to tell you what you already know about the reason for mentioning the topic of nationality here...
Let there be peace in the world, Let there be peace. Let there be no war.
Let no people, let no nationality, let no country suffer!
Because after all, ordinary individuals, ordinary people are not at fault.
The truth of the matter is, no ordinary person is guilty of starting a war!
That's why the next song I'll be performing in your honor is about our common fate under one sky, it's called "The Story of One Sky".
Hope you like it.
I think the performance is best summed up by this Dear:
Divina Albay
I don't remember a moment that I did not cry while watching this. It's profound. Makes you speechless just feeling. I never thought that this will be something that could topnotch this. But yes, dimash outdid himself in his concert in Almaty. He sung as if it's the last song he did. He was pounding fist on the floor jumping for dear freedom.... it's indescribably beautiful. He left his heart in that stage. Watch it.
However, the Almaty concert wasn’t the very first performance. That took place during The Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions in Nur-Sultan (the Kazakh capital), 14-15 September. (This has been held in Kazakhstan every 3 years since 2003. I keep learning new things! Fandom — any fandom — is a whole education in itself.)
Yet another fancam video below:
Interestingly, this is a third version of the video. Again, none of the story of the official MV and here there are no war scenes at the end. Instead (added to the footage of the pilgrims intercut with Dimash singing) there are clips of various religions from around the world: pilgrims in Mecca, Jews at the Wailing Wall, Buddhist monks, a church, a baptism…
(Sidebar: For those who don’t know, Dimash is devout Muslim and takes his faith in God very seriously. In the summer he took both his grandmothers to Mecca.)
Thoughts on the Pilgrims
Let me briefly dig into the video from a different perspective, because the pilgrims interest me. They are the only characters who feature in every version of the video, almost unchanged. And they exist in a time and space away from everything else. Within the story of the MV they are from the future, although Fable (in his analysis) speculated that they were from the past, which I also liked.
Mostly I like to think of them as somehow out of time — Eternal Pilgrims, symbols of those who have always, since the beginning, gone searching for truth and the divine rather than power and wealth. All different faiths and cultures and beliefs, walking together up the steep, hard mountain side by side.
Now we can’t all set off on bare feet to Jerusalem or Rome or Mecca or [insert holy place of your choice], however we can turn away from the metaphorical war raging all around and instead focus on the harder road; one that will lead to a better place by far.
This isn’t just a religious point. The protagonist in the MV — ravaged by grief and anger — goes to revenge his daughter, sacrificing himself in the process, and it’s a very understandable impulse. However in doing so he leaves his wife a widow and his unborn son without a father. (How can we fight without becoming that which we fight against…)
I will probably end up writing ‘proper’ meta on this later, and this point of the video will definitely feature: Showing the wrong approach, and then a better one. Be a pilgrim, not a soldier.
~
Back to the Congress! Now Dimash didn’t just perform the song, he also met the Pope and the Supreme Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayeb, both of whom I believe were in the audience, watching.
I don’t think the timing was serendipity, or just a chance opportunity — I think it was carefully planned. You see, the written statement at the end of the video, the message that is the point of the whole thing, is directly lifted from “A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed jointly on February 4, 2019, by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmad el-Tayeb. The whole document is worth reading. I think everyone will agree with the overall points, even if they skip the parts about faith.
Dialogue, understanding and the widespread promotion of a culture of tolerance, acceptance of others and of living together peacefully would contribute significantly to reducing many economic, social, political and environmental problems that weigh so heavily on a large part of humanity.
Other links:
The Story of One Sky - Digital Booklet Information Portal
Beautifully produced and puts the work in the context of Dimash's life and other work.
And Dimash playing The Story of One Sky on piano:
ETA:
A music video using The Story of One Sky.
'Soul of Humanity' by Dimashzone (ENG/ESP SUBS)
This video is inspired by Dimash's newest song "The Story of One Sky." By now, it is well known how Dimash feels about the subject of war and the collateral damage that the innocent humans, especially children, are subjected to as a result of global conflict.
The storyline in this video, although fictional, shows that humans have an inexhaustible capacity for good will and that they can share in a common struggle and help one another overcome adversity. I hope you will find this fan-made video worthy of your time and worthy of Dimash's message of peace.
Dimash Masterpost
no subject
*HUGS*
no subject
Please let me know your
thoughtsemotional damage if/when you are able to watch.no subject
no subject