In the Light of the Luna I took a walk along the streets of Beirut. The city was my companion and its music was my guide. As the music began to play in my ear, I was taken on a journey through Beirut. The music carried my every footstep and guided my every turn. It was as though it transformed into matter as it passed through the fibers in my headset and manifested itself onto the city lights.

Beirut was initially the solo musical project of 23-year-old Santa Fe native Zachary Francis Condon, which later evolved into a band. Their music combines elements of Eastern European, folk, and Western pop music. Though it is not technically related to my city, never have I had a better guide. The sounds of the trumpet accompanied by the guitar, violin, organ, and tambourine, shed a different light on the city that I know. My feet may not be able to take me there, but the music opened the door to a place that is new; a place waiting to be discovered.

This place reminds me of a dream, as soon as the sun comes up it’s gone. You walk through a wall to get here, and once you’re in nothing is the same. Time here works differently than it does elsewhere. Everything happens so quickly yet time passes by so slowly. Your eyes have to adjust to all the light; light that is hidden by the sun during the day, and wrapped in a bubble during the night. Your ears have to adjust to the sound; sound that carries you on your way.

This place reminds me of a dream, so real but such a fantasy. It seems as though I’m floating, watching myself while I pass by. Maybe that’s why it feels like it’s all going by so slowly, yet I knew that it was going on so fast. You can say that I could control what I was seeing, like a camera can see things we usually can’t. I could focus on the movement of light; I could slow it down and speed it on to see the path it takes. Entering this place was like being embraced by a life form of color and warmth, and music was the essence of this transformation.

The toys and games that stood at the entrance made me feel the places surreal nature even more. It was as if these toys existed for the sake of mere existence. Their purpose was to be, and they were.

This place reminds me of a dream, the fantasy, but I know I am not dreaming. The ride was spinning round and round. It traveled so high into the sky, and there was nothing I could do but watch it soar. I could feel like I was seeing every step of its way. The motion that it followed was fast yet I could follow every instance as if my eyes were a stroboscope. I could see the path that light was taking, the path that gave life to this circle of light. I couldn’t wait to be up in the sky, to see the secrets that can be revealed once a new perspective is gained and new eyes are born. Born out of the light and warmth that this place has to offer me; this place that was introduced to me by sounds and embraced me in its music.

This place reminds me of a dream, the time here stops and I’m left moving. I get on the ride, and even as fear constricts my movements the motion around me prevails and is so powerful. I can’t help but embrace this mobility that so amazingly lies within the stillness of light. It’s in fact quite ironic that what is so still can posses an essence so mobile. From the top of the skies I can see it all, I can see as far as light will let me, as far as this place will allow me to experience, as far as the sound waves of Beirut can travel. Up in the skies time is frozen and all I can do is sit in wonder and observe a beauty that was meant to be seen in silence, but that I never would have seen without Beirut’s music.

This place reminds me of a dream, the pIace outside of time and space. I embraced sound all through my experience of this place; it seemed to me that through these wavelengths of sound I could better feel the changes in the pace of time and motion. I know where I am and yet I chose to call this place by no other name, because here I found my self somewhere I have never been before. A place where the city lies below me, where all I can see is all that is there.

This place reminds me of a dream, the place I can return to when I sleep. Leaving is hard, because I am jolted back into a world where time moves constantly and continuously. Leaving here is like waking up from a dream that I never wanted to end.

This place is a dream, this place is light, and this place is sound. A dream you can touch without sleep, a light you can feel without sight, but a sound you can not hear without music…