Counterpoint
in the indecisive month of April
A counterpoint is something that acts as a counterbalance to something else. In music, this term refers to the addition of a second voice to an existing melody – a voice that acts as a counterbalance. That is why this second voice is also called a counter-voice.
This collection of recommendations, anecdotes, fun facts and more is a second voice - a counterpoint - to all the other voices that are telling you about what is happening in the world. This Counterpoint is for you, me and everybody else who needs something to enjoy from time to time.
Let’s dive into the Counterpoint episode for the indecisive month of April!
This first episode of Counterpoint is a soft launch with a mix of recommendations. You will discover something to listen to, something to read while listening to the first recommendation and when you are done with that, you can continue to relax while watching the last one.
1 Women and the piano
Sounds boring, but it really is a calming playlist. Instead of listening to Mozart, Bach or any other dead male composer, you can support female artists by listening to this playlist. On a more personal level: I don’t really like being home alone in the evening and every weird noise makes me jump a litte. To avoid my heart pumping as loud as ‘Pump it’ from the Black Eyed Peas, I connect my phone to the speaker, choose this exact playlist, grab a book and escape in a different world.
If you want to listen to the playlist, click here.
2 Octave Mirbeau - Le Journal d’une femme de chambre
My second recommendation is the book I’m grabbing while listening to the playlist. It’s called Le Journal d’une femme de chambre’ and was written by Octave Mirbeau. A Parisian housemaid in the 1920s accepts a job offer at a provincial estate and the reader - me and maybe you? - discovers her world.
And btw1, Bridgerton did what Downton Abbey did before. They included the servant’s POV2. Maybe they were inspired by this book? Because Mirbeau writes from the servant’s POV only. And I really appreciate this. It is like people watching, but in my imagination. Don’t you dare think it’s just an old house maid complaining about her work. Oh no, far from that. Spicy details and anecdotes - mistresses, lies, and so on - about previous households and people she worked for and with.
3 Mit Mut, Mörtel und ohne Millionen
You don’t know it yet, but this is a gem - I promise. As you might now, I was born in Northern Germany and the regional TV channel NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) has a programme called die nordstory (basically the north story) where they tell stories from the north (no kidding?!). This series is about abandoned - and mostly huuuuge - houses in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and people buying them to bring back their beauty, their stories, their charm. The title literally says With courage mortar and without millions because most of the buyers only have little money and they freestyle their way through the construction work. As a viewer you dive into the history and lives of manors, farms and other properties. Personally, I learned a lot of stuff about construction in the old days for example how to use clay as a sustainable building material. Just give it a go and turn on the subtitles or automatic translation if you are a non-german speaker or are still learning.
Oh, and another highly important thing to know: Even years later it is a success not only for the house owners, but also for the TV channel. They even made a new edition with the subtitle The new generation but still including the stars of the old one and intertwining their stories with the new ones. It is an absolute master piece. Especially if you want to learn some fun facts about Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and discover life and history of these manors, old farms and the people living there now.
And now I have to end this newsletter because I will definitely re-watch the old version of Mit Mut, Mörtel und ohne Millionen to get a good start for the new one.
Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe!
Stay tuned for the next Counterpoint in the merry month of May. Until then, enjoy the recommendations and tell your friends and family about this newsletter.
All the best,
Lena
btw: by the way
POV: point of view