Swedish poet Transtromer (80), who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature this week, had a debilitating stroke 20 years ago, which almost totally destroyed his power of speech.
According to a report in The Independent, as he is unable to make the usual spoken acceptance at the ceremony, he will play the piano, instead. And, what's more, he will play only with the left hand, as he lost the power to use his right hand, too.
Tomas Transtromer has become accustomed to expressing himself in music. Here, he is photographed (in wheelchair) after a performance of a chamber music piece that was inspired by one of his poems. Called "Transtromersanger," it was commissioned by the New European Ensemble. The composer, Benjamin Staern, is behind Transtromer's left shoulder.
2 comments:
Music, the universal language, transcends.
You must have seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, too -- assuming I am thinking of the right SF blockbuster, the one where the aliens communicated with music ...
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